Altered States

So this is new for me...

I have three of my images printed, framed, and ready to be submitted to a digitally altered" photography competition called "Altered States" at Full Circle Arts in Hickory NC.

This is my first time submitting images to such a contest. Seems like its worth a go.  Aside from having my hopes dashed upon the sharp rocks of artistic criticism, what could possibly go wrong?

In other news, if anyone wants a copy of my work...  I'll likely be selling these at the end.  I'll even sign em for ya.

Travel Bug CD Contest Results!

I just drew, via a random number generator, a lucky recipient of a Travel Bugs signed CD of fantastic geocaching themed music.

The winner of the contest, and recipient of a copy of Found It! is:  Goin' PostNet!

I have already sent an email out to Goin' PostNet to get his mailing address.  Congrats!

For everyone else,  please support the bands Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to record their next album: Pimp My Cache!

UK Geocaching Podcast Photo Competition 2014

Grab your GPS *and* your camera, for the awesome folks at the UK Geocaching Podcast are holding a geocaching themed photo contest!

You have until the end of the year to submit photos in 6 categories:

* Historical Landmarks (pre 1901)
* Stupid Thing Cachers Do
* Non-Historical Landmarks (post 1901)
* Cachers In The Wild – shots of other cachers seen while out on the hunt.
* Geocaching Selfies
* Flora and fauna – up close, while caching

As well as bragging rights for being the best geocaching photographer on the trails, there are also a bunch of cool looking prizes.

You can get all the details here (all times are UK times, so remember to account for the difference in time zones if you are not in the UK).

To whet your appetite, this is a picture I took for Stupid Thing Cachers Do, but decided not to use:

So get out there and start snapping photos while you hunt that tupperware! I can't wait to see your entries for the UK Geocaching Podcast 2014 Photo Competition.

 (Disclaimer: aside from being a fan of the podcast, I have no direct relationship to the UK Geocaching Podcast)

Contest: Win A Travel Bugs CD!

Note: This contest is now over, and the winner has been announced.

Four years ago The Travel Bugs released their first CD of geocaching themed music, called Found It!

Now they have started a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for their next album: Pimp Your Cache!

To celebrate this, the folks at The Travel Bugs have provided Only Googlebot Reads This Blog with an autographed album to give away via this blog to one of my lucky readers.

To win, simply drop your contact info in the form below, and you will be entered into the drawing.  If you are not familiar with The Travel Bugs, feel free to watch this brilliant music video first.

If you like what you hear, you can win the entire album by dropping your info in the form below.  

You may also consider contributing to their kickstarter campaign to help support their latest album: Pimp Your Cache!  If it ends up anything like the first album, you won't regret it.

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Book Giveaway: Fatal Dose by Russell Atkinson

The last time I was in California I had a chance to have lunch with Russell Atkinson, the author of the Cliff Knowles series of adventure/mystery books.

Before we parted ways he gave me a signed copy of his latest book, Fatal Dose, which I am going to give away to a lucky reader of this blog.  I figure since you put up with me, you should get a break and get some reading material from a properly good author - it is only fair.

About the book (from the Authors website)

"X-rays can kill cancer cells and save lives when administered properly. They can also kill people when things go wrong – a fact learned the hard way by retired FBI agent Cliff Knowles. Hired to unravel the cause of some mysterious overdoses, he gets too close to the truth and finds his own life on the line.

Inspired by actual cases he worked as an FBI agent in Silicon Valley, the author weaves an absorbing tale of greed, technology, and terrorism in this high-tech legal thriller. After reading Fatal Dose you’ll never look at an X-ray machine the same way.

Fatal Dose follows geocaching FBI agent Cliff Knowles in the third riveting installment of the popular Cliff Knowles Mysteries series."

About The Giveaway

Simply fill out this form with your name and valid email address and you will be entered into the drawing.  After May 31st I will draw a name from the list of entries, contact the winner to get their mailing address, and send you the book.  Couldn't be easier.

Enter by filling out this form:

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Personal Note

I have no commercial interests with the author, the publisher, or, really, anyone.  I am a big fan of the author however, and am doing the give-away just because I was given a copy of the book by the author himself, and I wish to share the love. Truth be told he also gave me a personalized signed copy of the second novel in the series, Cached Out, but that is going to stay on my shelf of geocaching treasures.

If you are a geocacher and like mystery novels, and you haven't read Cached Out (my review here), you are missing out on a geocaching mystery novel the way they are meant to be done. Properly good stuff.  Fatal Dose is an equally good story, but is not geocaching centric, so should be a bit more accessible to the more general audience.

Good luck!

Tell Me Your Stories Contest Winner

I have been holding a contest on my blog, and now the winner is in.

By random drawing, the winner is

(drum roll please)

OBXGeek!

Congrats!  I'll be in touch via your geocaching.com profile to get you your prize.

Thanks to everyone who submitted stories!

For those that have asked, the winning story is here.

Cheers!

Contest: Tell me your stories, win a prize

Note: The contest is closed and the winner has been announced.

My blog has been getting extra traffic lately, and I am wondering who all you find folks are.  So I figure the best way would be to gather some of your stories from the trails.

As thanks, and a bribe for audience participation, I have reached into my personal collection of geo-swag and pulled out a prize to give away to one lucky reader.

So in exchange for your story, you will be entered into a random drawing for a brand new shiny Geo-achievement 1000 Finds pin. The pin is gold-plated, and is 1" in diameter.   Perfect for carrying on your pack, or on your lapel at geocaching events.  It can be used to celebrate this important geocaching milestone, or it can serve as motivation to get there :)

All you have to do to enter is to drop a story from the trail into the comments section below.  Please include your geocaching name, your general location (be as specific or generic as you like), and an interesting story from the trail.   Your story can be as long as you like - couple sentences to a couple novels.  It is up to you.  Extra thumbs up for your 1000th find story, if you have one.

I will hold a random drawing for the pin on October 15th, 2012.

I am looking forward to hearing about your best geocaching stories!

And The Winner Is...

A couple weeks ago I started a contest to get ideas for geocaching names for my daughter, Abigail. (Details here)

I am ready to announce the results.

So without further ado, the winner is:

97lumina with his suggestion of WookieBear.

Congratulations!

 I'll be in contact with you shortly to send you your prize: A custom painted geocaching container.


For the record, the full list of suggested names is:

Sweet Cheeks McGee
Geosquid Extraordinaire
Cutie Bear
BabyBear
SunBubbles
TinyBubbles
Southern Soccotash
SassyCache
WookieBear
NCHammer
Gail Force
DragonBear
GummyBear

Contest: Name That GeoBaby

Already on the hunt...

Note: contest is now over, and the winner is in!

<-- This is my daughter Abigail.  She was born into a caching family.  She needs a caching name.  Can you help?

Unlike her older brother, Tonka Tyke, Abigail is too young to find containers in the woods, but she has already attended 3 geocaching events (including Geowoodstock X, and a flash mob!).   I am using her geocaching.com account to keep track of the geocaching events she attends until she is old enough to find some physical caches on her own.

She does, however, need a better caching name.  I have been using the name A Big Alien (for reasons best explained here).  However she is going to need a better one, and I need ideas.  This is where the contest comes in.

The contest is simple:  Suggest a geocaching name, and get put into a drawing.  On August 1, 2012 I will pick a name at random from all those that entered.  The winner will receive a prize.

Ye Olde Prize.

At this point you may be pondering: "What is this awesome and amazing prize?".  Well I am glad you asked.  What you are playing for is a hand-painted (by yours truly) geocache container, with a log book and pen.  It is a 34oz (traditional size) Lock'n'Lock tupperware container.

So, what are the rules?  They are simple:

• Suggest a name by posting a comment on this blog. Comments on G+, or any other social media will not be considered (mainly because I don't want to compile lists from multiple sources.  Yep, I am lazy, but it is my contest, so deal.).  Include with your suggestion your geocaching.com caching name.

• You may enter as many names as you wish, but please just one name per comment. i.e. if you have 5 names you want to suggest, you need to make 5 comments.

• The drawing will happen on August 1st, 2012. (or whenever I get around to it after that)  It will be a random drawing (?). 

Daddy and Abigail on the trails.

• The winner will be contacted via their geocaching.com profile, so be sure to include it with every comment!
• The contest is open to anyone with a geocaching.com account.  I have no affiliation with Groundspeak or geocaching.com. This requirement is simply an easy way to be able to contact the winner. (see point about me being lazy)
• I reserve the right to reject any names I feel are inappropriate, based entirely on how I feel at the time.  There is no guarantee I will use any of the submitted names for her caching name, but since it is a random drawing, there *will* be a winner!
• By submitting the name, you grant me the right to use it forever, without any expectation of renumeration, or whatever other legalese I choose to add here.  

Here are some Abigail facts to give you some ideas for names:
She is Canadian by genetics, American by birthplace.  She is a North Carolina girl.  Her last name has the word "bear" in it if you pronounce it right, "beer" if you don't.   It is too soon to determine favourite sport, team, political affiliation, or book, but suggestions are welcome. Her project code name before birth was "Squid".

So put your thinking caps on and name that baby!

"You sure you want to call me that?" 

And The Winner Is... Abigail.

Abigail won a Podcacher geocoin at Geowoodstock X and we didn't even know it.

Seriously.

It went down like this...  During registration for Geowoodstock X we were handed red plastic bags containing lanyards, flyers, and some cache containers.  I got 4 bags, because there are 4 of us in our family.  I opened up three of the bags to rescue the lanyards for our GWX name badges, however Abigail, being all of 4 weeks old, couldn't wear a name badge, so I never opened her bag.

As I was packing up our stuff to come home on the Monday I went through her bag to consolidate her stuff into our bags.  I noticed that one of the flyers, from the Podcacher podcast, had a hand written note on the back that said "Congrats!  Sonny and Sandy".

Curious as to what that meant, when I got back home I emailed Sonny and asked.  He confirmed that Abigail had won a contest, and  was supposed to have taken that flyer to their booth at GWX and pick up the prize, which was a Podcacher geocoin.  He was gracious enough to send us the coin in the mail.  The coin arrived today.

So now Abigail has her very first geocoin.  I'd like to thank Sonny and Sandy from the Podcacher Podcast for going the extra mile for my daughter to get her this awesome momento from her very first geocaching experience.  I am going to keep this in my collection until she is old enough to appreciate it.

 If you are interested in geocahing podcasts, I would encourage you to check out Sonny and Sandy's weekly show at podcacher.com.   I now know first hand that they are great people, and they do put our an excellent show.