A momentous occasion

Sometimes you just know you'll remember something for the rest of your life. That happened to me Sunday.

No, I'm not referring to my 500th cache find, though that did happen Sunday. Not sure what that signifies, other than a celebration of the base 10 number system. Did have a great time with fellow cachers, though.

I'm talking about what happened after that. After my "play date" out geocaching, it was time for me to hang with the mini-double-bass for the rest of the day while secondbass (oh she would love that! so paternalistic) got her time. At the park, W. (mini-bass 1) and H. (mini-bass 2) asked me to take the training wheels off their bikes. It usually takes several shouted requests to get me to go to the tool box, but on Sunday I practically sprinted to grab the wrench.

I only found out afterwards why H. suggested taking off the training wheels and why she insisted on calling them "stabilizers". H. watches a cartoon called "Charlie and Lola" (link warning: extreme animated cuteness). The characters are from England, so the show fits my Anglophile Education Program. Yes, I have shamelessly told H. that Lola is an Arsenal supporter. In fact, W. and H. think that every person who wears a red shirt with white sleeves plays for Arsenal. Come to think of it, who wears such a shirt and doesn't play for Arsenal?

Anyway, in one episode Lola has the "stabilizers" removed from her bike, and in the course of 22 minutes she goes from being afraid to riding her bike happily. This also explains why H. was so frustrated when it didn't happen so quickly for her. H. is a bit of a perfectionist -- it's nice to know that I gave H. my perfectionism and W. my obsessive-compulsive tendencies, so that neither of them has to deal with both at the same time.

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Grey Wolf took two of my geocoins to the Bahamas! I thought initially that he was taking them to Key West, because he thinks "math sucks" like Jimmy Buffett. I realized that I have no idea what "The Bahamas" are, so I will repeat here what I learned on Wikipedia: it is an independent country, having earned full independence from the United Kingdom in 1973, but QEII is still the Head of State.

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Who knew? Not all blogs are about geocaching. I like to read UniWatch, a blog about athletic uniforms. [Aside: shoestorm was wearing something on Sunday that looked suspiciously like a geocaching uniform.] The obsessive attention to detail on the blog is very appealing to me, but there is so much there that I find it a hard blog-slog sometimes. Two things led to my uniform interest: (1) being in thrall of TBDBITL and the greatest uniform tradition in college sports: the Ohio State Buckeye helmets;
and (2) the fact that in 1981 the Cincinnati Bengals changed their helmets from the worst helmets in the history of American football
to the coolest helmets (in the eyes of an 11-year-old) EVER.

Then, the Bengals went to their first Super Bowl, and I was convinced that it was because of the helmets. I had to admit that the 49ers may have ultimately had superior helmets to win the Super Bowl.

My history with football helmets also foreshadows my move to the Twin Cities. I used to collect the football helmets that came out of grocery store vending machines, and at one point I had 25 of the 26 helmets, and no matter how many quarters I wasted, I could not get that last helmet. And then, in one of the most memorable moments of my young life, my dad returned from the late night milk run and placed on my desk, in its correct position in the NFC Central Division standings, the helmet of the Minnesota Vikings. A momentous occasion indeed. About a week later, I found in the drawer of my father's nightstand EIGHT Tampa Bay Buccaneers helmets.

I have been an affiliate fan of the Vikings because of this ever since. Not to mention several (infamous?) Buckeye-Vikings, such as Cris Carter and Robert Smith. Ask me to do the Ickey Shuffle, though, and you'll see where my true loyalties are.

Yoda (and his blogging owner) is back in action

I need to post more often. If I wait a week, then there are so many possible topics bouncing around in my brain that I can't remember them all.

• After being disabled for a week, my puzzle cache Where's Yoda? (I like puzzles) is back in action. A couple weeks ago, after three consecutive (and compelling) DNFs I walked over to GZ from work. I saw the camouflage, but the cache container was missing. Extra disappointing because there are three TBs logged into it. I got a new container together and found a much better nearby hiding location. This cache has been doomed from the start -- allegations of malware, being banned by Blogger, container (probably) chucked into the Mississippi River -- but Yoda keeps coming back. You wouldn't expect anything less of a Jedi master.
  
• Stumbled across two Twin Cities blogs -- Sokratz and Lazy Lightning (Silent Bob's blog not just about geocaching) -- and noticed on the MnGCA forums that minnesotabrad is writing a newsletter. meralgia -- who has been keeping up with geocaching virtually but who is coming out of hibernation for hiding and finding -- told me about Sokratz's blog, and his post about cache containers caught my attention because I have a puzzle cache container (I like puzzles) that is a large polyhedral die and may have slipped through the cracks of the reviewing process. If I go out there and put it in a ziploc bag, is it OK then?
  
• Interesting discussion on the MnGCA forums about the effect of puzzle caches on the proximity guideline. I like puzzles.
  
• Shoestorm drove Bunganator and me up to Fridley Weeknight caching on Wednesday, where we met Millah for a couple pre-caching puzzles. Interesting discussion on the MnGCA forums (and here) about the integrity of puzzle solvers. I like puzzles. Also was nice to see broken_tooth, Bus&Betty, cstjohn, minnesotabrad (whom I pestered until he finally gave me his 2nd pathtag), sir_zman, MN_Cavepeople, fireman121, Red_Devil35, oneied_cooky. It was also nice to meet mall security at this cache.
  
• Finally solved Millah's fun puzzle About Time. I like puzzles.
  
• I have an important piece of the solution to Shoestorm's puzzle cache Dr. Strangecache. I like puzzles. I'll take cash offers for that piece of the solution via email.
  
• Shoestorm, Millah, and I are planning a suite of three caches about football (the beautiful game), specifically the rivalry between Manchester United (shoestorm's club) and Arsenal (mine). They'll be "unknown" caches, but not necessarily puzzles. I like puzzles. Too bad Arsenal mucked things up by almost sealing a trip to the semifinals of the Champions League with a late, late goal against Liverpool in their quarterfinal second leg, only to give it away on a B***S*** penalty about 30 seconds later.
  
• Millah and I tried to go to Cottage Grove Ravine Park last Sunday for all the Party caches, but we never got there because there were too many interesting things along the way. Maybe we'll crash that Party tomorrow.
  

April Fools!

Read the note I posted on the cache page for Millah's baseball-themed puzzle cache. Though I didn't intend it, this note had the effect (assuming that INATN counts words in notes) of pushing me back on to the list of Top Ten Wordiest Cachers in Minnesota. Once again, geocaching achievements attained by cheating...