Thanks for the nomination to re-run as a WGA board member.

A little about me:
I’m 37 years old and married, two sons ages 12 and 17, and a dog. Professionally, I work in emergency communications at the Waukesha Police Department. I’m Vice-President of the WGA, and Vice-President of my union at work.

My hobbies include: Hunting, fishing, camping, ATV’s, motorcycles, hiking, biking, Ham Radio (call sign: KC9GMW), training hunting dogs, field trials, storm chasing, guns, archery, starting to dabble in R/C Helicopters, and of course geocaching.

Some of my co-workers think I have some pretty goofy hobbies. I have to admit I’d rather be chasing tornados that watching the football on TV.

Geocaching background: I’ve been geocaching since April 2001. I was very lucky to be one of the first geocachers in the state. I say that I was lucky, because the game was a lot different back then. When my family started geocaching, there were about 10 geocaches in the state :).

Like many, I used to spend most of my free time Geocaching. My Geocaching activity has tapered off over the years as I became more involved in the WGA and as an approver.

For more than 3 1/2 years, I acted as a volunteer Geocache reviewer for Geocaching.com. I recently retired this past October. I retired because I was finding it very difficult to keep up with the increased workload and emails. I found the reviewer job as being a real eye opener. My philosophy was to treat everyone fairly, equally, and in a friendly manner. The worst part of the job was archiving a newbies first cache before it could be listed. Knowing how excited a new person is to hide their first cache, it was hard to break the news that there was a problem that needed to be fixed.

My geocaching activity tapered down over the past few years. I was once a gung-ho geocacher like many of you. Over the past few years, my geocaching activity has turned into reviewing Geocaches, and planning events. While I don’t find as much Tupperware as I used to, I am still very involved in Geocaching, but on the Internet and planning side.

WGA involvement: I’m one of the founders of the WGA. I’ve also served on the BOD ever since it’s inception. I’m proud of the work we’ve done with DNR. I’ve also come to truly love the planning of our events.

For those who know me, I’m somewhat of a preparedness freak. I have a toy or gadget for everything. I think that half the fun of planning an event, is the preparation. This is what helps me love planning the events. There are a lot of things to do and consider when planning an event for hundreds of people, but I think I’ve become pretty good at it. I really love organizing the events.

I’m always looking for a more efficient way of doing something. Our pancake breakfasts are so much fun and successful, but we lacked proper equipment. Last year, I suggested we invest in a large stove and griddle for cooking at the campouts. We subsequently purchased the WGA’s 3 burner stove and mega griddle. What a huge improvement!

My philosophies:

• I prefer quality over quantity.
• My favorite caches involve hikes to scenic locations.
• I don’t have any favorite cache type, but I don’t care for parking lot caches. I love a creatively hidden micro. I don’t do puzzler caches.
• I don’t like being put in situations where I look suspicious. That’s why I prefer caches in remote areas. Playground caches are OK if you have kids, but I question the appropriateness of them in general. I wouldn’t want some stranger looking under the playground equipment that my kids are playing on.
• Be nice! I believe our WGA forums are a great place to exchange ideas and opinions. I despise “flaming” and feel it has no place in our forums. We can differ in opinions, but we should be civil when we disagree. I don’t watch “Jerry Springer” and I don’t like to see those antics in our forums. The GC.com forums are the place for taking jabs :).
• The DNR’s policy puts weight on geocachers to get permission. It’s not fun, but it helps insure our ability to Geocache on State lands. I Don’t feel that Geocaches should be allowed in SNA’s. SNA’s are set aside as areas to be protected. While Geocaching would have no effect on some SNA’s, it would do damage to other SNA’s. We don’t need a Geocache on every square inch of the planet. I disagree on the DNR extending the SNA ban to existing virtual caches. It seems silly to say that a sign on a walking trail can’t be a virtual cache :(. The volunteer reviewers have their hands full when it comes to SNA’s. They need to carefully review each cache to make sure it’s not in a SNA. That means comparing maps for each SNA in the area. There would be no good system of allowing Geocaches in one SNA, but not the other. I see no need to allow Geocaching in SNA’s.

My goals for the WGA:

• We’ve been wanting to get “tax exempt” for too long. We need to get this done! If it means hiring an attorney to do so, we must. We keep hoping that one of our members has the expertise to help out, but we haven’t found anyone yet.
• I think we need to be a resource for those giving presentations. I think we should have a special forum for presenters. It seems that presenters are always looking for loaner gps units, projectors, handouts, etc. I’m in favor of the WGA creating a “Presentation Pack”, which would included loaner GPS units, compasses, handouts, electronic files, and perhaps even a projector. This items could be checked out by someone giving a GPS presentation. A special “forum” for presenters would allow them to exchange ideas and information.
• I would like to see the WGA use it’s financial assets to purchase a large shelter, just like the “geopink shelter” used at the last year’s campout. I think we should own the tools we need to host the events.
• I think our event caches should be a showcase of creative geocaches. The events are a great opportunity to place geocaches that wouldn’t otherwise be able to stand the test of time. I’d like us to institute new ideas and concepts at the events to keep everyone interested.
• Besides the “membership” meetings held at the events, I think we should hold yearly business meeting of the members. Members would have the opportunity to attend and be heard. Logistics would be a big obstacle due to driving distances, but I think we should be doing this on a yearly basis.

I’m really looking forward to seeing some new faces on our Board of Directors. One of the great things about election time, is the possibility of new faces, fresh ideas, and renewed enthusiasm.

I really think we need to revitalize our Board of Directors. I’m hoping that new people will bring new energy. If you think that someone else would serve the board better then me, please vote for that person. If you don’t agree with my philosophies, vote for someone that more represents you. If you vote me me, I’ll keep plugging away and loving the WGA :).

Thanks.