[Team Deejay]

I don’t understand. The only ways to make a forum thread appear “read” are to either open the thread or hit the “mark all topics as read” link. If you don’t open the topic, it will stay unread. Note that this doesn’t consider pages, so if you don’t finish reading a topic, it will still indicate that it is read.

[Team Deejay]

If you are in Sussex, you can just start down the trail in either direction. There are a few puzzle cache finals on the trail (you will have to figure out which ones!) and a couple multis in Memononee County Park right off the trail. If you are coming to cache, you could probably do most of it in a day. If you are doing this among other obligations (like work), well, it will take more than a few hours to find all of these. Additionally, there are several caches on the western end around the Merton Mill Pond that you might want to find while in the area.

[Team Deejay]

Just a quick suggestion here, before things get out of hand. If you are planning on submitting multiple designs, be sure they are very different, like Bakrdz did. If you submit a bunch of similar ideas, your votes will get diluted by people voting for different versions of the same thing.

[Team Deejay]

The reason we pick up more ticks than hikers, fisherman and other outdoorsmen is that we spend so much time off-trail. As someone said earlier, you need to brush up against a bush or plant so that the tick can transfer to you. If you are just hiking down a 6 foot wide trail, you will only get the ticks that crawl up your boots. If you are fighting through thickets, crossing marshes, or just lying on the ground looking in hollow logs, you are much more exposed to the spots ticks can be hiding.

[Team Deejay]

They serve bears at the taverns in Appleton? Sounds like the start of a joke. “A bear walked into a bar in Appleton…”

[Team Deejay]

I’ve learned a bit more about how these phone GPSs work. IF you have a good GPS signal (the antenna are not so great), you can get decent 30 foot accuracy. The problem is that you will lose signal, at which time the phone will determine your location by either cell tower triangulation (not terrible, probably +/- 150 feet) or the network street address of any WI-FI networks the phone can pick up. Note that you don’t have to be logged into the WIFI for the WIFI method to be used. The accuracy of the WIFI method is basically random, as it depends on how accurately the address was geocoded and, more importantly, whether the address assigned to the network is actually where the network is located. If your phone suddenly thinks you are 20 miles away, you are being located using a nonlocal WIFI. If your location on the GPS seems to be “jumping” as you move, it is probably using cell tower triangulation.

[Team Deejay]

I’m going to “me too” on the hotel. The hotel itself is of the “boutique” variety, built/decorated on an Art Deco theme. Unfortunately, the neighborhood is modern American slum. Be careful! You really might want to switch to a downtown hotel. I suspect the price will be lower and you will enjoy your stay without having to worry so much about personal safety. If you haven’t spent a significant portion of your life in a major city, I would say that goes double.

I can’t say I am really a fan of any of the restaurants mentioned. I think Butch’s is ok. Lake Park Bistro is very good but more of a romantic spot and very expensive. I do like Sobelman’s for burgers, but sometimes it can be nearly impossible to get in, due to the crowds. I figure since you are staying in a hipster spot like the Ambassador, you might like to try something less “touristy”. Here are some of our current favorites:

Triskele’s Restaurant
This place we have just tried once, and we will definitely be going back. They are a “modern american” place set in an old corner tavern. If you like mussels, they have the best ones in town (second only to some I had in Belgium), simmered in a poblano cream sauce. The short ribs braised in porter were also exceptional.

Jackson Grill
This is an old time steakhouse built in an old corner tavern. The owner/chef was raised in the restaurant business, and you will find this place to have the best steaks in town, bar none, with a price around 60% of what you would pay at Mo’s or the other places. The atmosphere is similar to a supper club, but with better food. The mac and cheese side dish is quite possibly the best you will find anywhere. Super highly recommended.

La Canoa (no website!)
1520 W. Lincoln Ave.
Milwaukee
This is the place to go for Mexican style seafood in Milwaukee. Extremely fresh fish and shellfish cooked in tradtional style. I would recommend the red snapper grilled in garlic butter (Huachinango al Mojo de Ajo). This place is very busy, and the service can be a bit crazy, especially if you don’t speak any spanish, but the food is good enough to be worth the extra effort. You don’t need reservations here, but sometimes they do get backed up (usually due to server confusion!) Enjoy the chaos and have another cocktail.

Honeypie Cafe
This is another bar conversion (but not on the corner!) serving what is best described as comfort food. Everything is made there (even the pickles). Everything is made fresh and everything tastes like they are trying to kill you with flavor and richness. (These guys have a love affair with bacon!) The best thing, though, is the dessert, especially the fruit pies. Writing this is making me hungry.

That is probably enough to keep you busy, but drop me a note if you want more or something specific. I can give you coordinates if your GPS doesn’t do street addresses.

[Team Deejay]

10 events in a day is going to slip in to Flash Mob territory. But over 2 days, it could work.

[Team Deejay]

Aw crud. I had that one solved too.

And Dean, in my opinion, the other cache is solvable without the “hint” of S|S’s avatar. You might want to add a little more verbiage or up the difficulty, but definitely solvable. It just takes a little more knowledge of art and music.

[Team Deejay]

We’re the maybe. We will only attend if you fix the shift key on your computer!

[Team Deejay]

Welcome to the party!

[Team Deejay]

Welcome, welcome. We look forward to meeting you at events and finding your caches.

[Team Deejay]

Sorry for being late on this one. I couldn’t post what I know until I got permission from GS. The new icons will show up on the attendees page as well as the event owners. The key is to make sure you call your event “10 years! (Insert Place name here)”, such as “10 Years! Milwaukee” or “10 Years! North of Highway 64 in the middle of nowhere, Wisconsin”. You can be creative as long as the place accurately describes where you are having the event. (No “10 Years! Barcelona” events in Wausau!) Additionally, you have to take an attendee photo (or video) of the event and post it to the cache page. Finally, it cannot be a flash mob. To me, that means you need at least 1 hour duration. Otherwise, standard event guidelines apply.

No one asked, but if you want to try for one of the “lackey attended” events, you better start asking now. Note that reviewers don’t count as lackeys. (We are sub-lackeys.)

[Team Deejay]

Here’s a thought. When you design a puzzle cache, as yourself this question…If there was not a cache associated with the puzzle, would you want to solve it? This advice falls in the “Hide the type of cache you like to find” category.

As someone who sees a whole lot of puzzle caches, I know that most types are enjoyable for at least a couple people. Here is where I think each type falls, based on conversations I have had with both hiders and finders:

Research/Internet search type puzzles – I would guess that a majority of people enjoy these if the subject matter is entertaining or educational. Lets say 55%.

Field puzzles – Most people like these, even those who never pursue puzzles. Probably 90% or more. The less math involved, the better.

Basic puzzle types (Crossword/Sudoku/Word puzzles/Logic Puzzles/Math puzzles etc.) – Maybe 25% of people like these. Most would rather be hiking.

Cryptography – Maybe 5% of people like these. People that like them really like them. Everyone else would rather go to have a root canal. A good example of how to do a cryptography cache and make it enjoyable is Cheeering Viper, by Ranger Boy. Note that difficulty plays a large part here. People are ok with simple substitution type codes, but as they get more complex, you start to lose finders fast.

Collection Puzzles (Visit a bunch of caches to get parts of the final coordinates) – Almost everyone likes these (except the reviewers.) 99%.

Read my mind puzzles – This is any sort of puzzle where an approximate solution method is not apparent after working on it for more than an hour or where the most effective solution method is to type coordinates into Geochecker until you hit the right one. A common characteristic of these caches is that the owner ends up having to attach more and more clues to the cache page, as no one is able to solve it. Almost no one likes these. 2% if I’m being generous. Note that I’m not referring to puzzles where local knowledge would be helpful or where you need to study the puzzle and clues to reach that “aha” moment. I’m talking about those where you just have a mass of numbers to sift with no direction at all.

The main reason for hiding a cache should be for people to enjoy finding it, including solving the puzzle. Any other reason will lead to caches which are only found to “clear an area” or just ignored. Why go through all that trouble just to frustrate people? Now that is not to say that a puzzle should not be challenging or difficult. The key is for to make it enjoyable as well, so that people will feel that the time obtaining the solution was well spent.

[Team Deejay]

Interesting. When did they add the Delorme support? Does it work without a premium membership?

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