Tag: Dr. Who

San Diego Comic-Con: Day 3

Posted on July 24, 2011 by Bruce

So, I’m at the San Diego Comic-Con, it’s Saturday… What should I do? I decided to avoid the con almost completely. The started out with breakfast with some geocaching friends and then we headed to Mexico to color in the map. Sue seems to be rather competitive when it comes to caching, so a chance to get another country could not be turned down. So after getting warnings from my overly concerned family we walked across the boarder. About an hour later we were in line to come back, mission accomplished. Actually the three caches we went for are multi-caches since maintaining a cache in Mexico can be a headache. What you do is go to certain coordinates in Tijuana, record some information, then plug it into an equation to get the final coordinates. The final coordinates are in the U.S. But since part of the cache is in Mexico it counts as a find in Mexico. It was a great day of walking, but both of us are sunburned.

So after that adventure we headed back to San Diego for a geocaching meet & greet for attendees. On the way we happened across the Zombie walk which was a hoot. At the Meet & Greet I had a great time chatting with Sonny (of Podcacher) and while there were just a few of us, I could see it growing each year.

Sue & I were rushing a bit to get to the final event of the evening… Just down the street from the world premiere of “Cowboys & Aliens.” The Nerdist podcast was doing a live show with Matt Smith & Karen Gillan of Dr. Who. It was great. I’ll check for when it gets posted although it was definitely NOT all ages. A special surprise guest showed up Wil Wheaton from Star Trek: TNG, Big Bang Theory, Eureka… etc. Again, I can’t say how great it was and the burritos were yummy.

Since GeoWoodstock I had decided to drop my digital SLR and only use either my iPhone or iPad for basic photographs. If I was going someplace to take pictures I would bring along the SLR, but normally I felt I should be able to make it with just my iDevices. I have learned a few limitations… The biggest (and worst) was low light like the Nerdist show. Normally, with the iPad you can set where the lit meter takes a reading… This did not work from a distance in the dark looking at a well lighted stage… I have been happy with my other pictures throughout the trip except for low light situations. Live and learn, & yes, I just posted a negative comment about an Apple product, time to mark your calendar.

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Can you say “epic failure?” the stage shot of the Nerdist podcast the white glowing blob with ginger hair is Karen Gillan, to her right is Matt Smith, to his right is Wil Wheaton.

Dr. Who Cache Series Update -Ugh!

Posted on July 9, 2011 by Bruce

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The Dr. Who Series is going strong, but since launching this series I have learned a lot.

First of all “Take your time” I ended up rushing at the end to get the caches placed and I should have just sat and reflected for a bit and triple checked everything. Instead we ended up with the wrong final coordinates in every cache and if it wasn’t for the eagle eyes of one of the folks placing the cache I would never had known. I think if I hadn’t rushed them out I might have caught that mistake.

Next “choose your friends wisely.” When I decided to launch this series and make it a continent encompassing adventure I looked at my “friends list” on gc.com saw who had a significant number of finds and were placed in various spots around North America and asked them. Sadly some of my “gc.com” friends I had only met once or in some cases never face to face. This has lead to me not feeling as if I can really talk with them about any problems with the caches, or not even knowing if it was a “quality hide” Most people have been really excited to join in the game, almost as excited as I was to start it. Then there are others who this is just one more thing on a list and they’ll get it done, when they get it done.

I also needed to learn when to say “No” I think I would have been better off just saying – this series is for the Television version of the Doctor instead of (after hearing a complaint) expanding it out. While I think the placement of the last two Doctors will be great, I also feel that (again) I was almost rushed to get the designs done and then pestering the person who volunteered time & resources to make the wraps.

But I think the biggest thing I learned is not to have a final cache tied to a series that relies on so many other people in so many different places. It has been a bit of a headache placing the cache, then (because of my mistake) having to send out new stickers. Then getting complaints because one cache had both the old and new coordinates on it. Which (as far as I can tell) led to an email to Groundspeak, because the quick wording on the final lead to the belief that there were other logging requirements (contact me for the correct coordinates so you don’t get hit by a semi in the middle of the interstate). Everything had to fall into place, and it didn’t. My thanks to our understanding volunteer reviewers for working with me to get this addressed quickly, but I know how much of a headache it was for me- I can’t imagine the headache it was for them.

It has been a wild a crazy trip and if I were to try something like this again I will most definitely take my time, choose my friends wisely, and ignore complaints… also I probably won’t have a grand finale. If I do that, I’ll do the series on my own. Grumble, grumble… Yes, I sound like the Caching Curmudgeon & yes I already have a couple ideas for other series that I would like to do- just don’t rush me. 🙂

So, Dr. Who is taking a summer break… and I didn’t win the “Where’s the TARDIS?” contest (I told you I wouldn’t).  The episode was fascinating and a lot was revealed.  There were also characters introduced that have back stories I need to hunt down, I’m sure someone else has already done the hunting and posted it on a reliable site (like Wikipedia).

Do I have a sonic screwdriver? Yes, I picked one up at the first C2E2.  Do I have a black fez with a police box on it?  Maybe- Like a number of fez wearing organizations I am not a liberty to discuss anything unless you can show me the secret handshake.  The Royal Order of the TARDIS is a very secret society that you must… wait, did I just give something away?

Then again, I could just be pulling your leg.

As for the bow tie- I AM a geek after all.  My grandfather taught me how to tie a bow tie when I was in high school.  When he passed away I was able to pick a few from his collection.  I think I have more bow ties than straight ties- and yes, none of them are clip ons- clip ons are for…

Yes, as the time runs down on this season of Dr. Who we still don’t know who has won the Where’s the TARDIS contest.  BBC America has been posting the runner’s up each day this week so as of Thursday (Second Runner-up) the Dr. Who Cache series was still in the running.  I’m just glad I have low self esteem (thank you Mom & Dad) so I really don’t expect to win- it was a hoot making all the cache containers and learning more about the history Dr. Who (although I am nowhere near an expert). As for Cecil’s lament – have you ever noticed that when staying at a hotel they tend to never have the channel that has the show you want to watch.  Home shopping? Sure, at least 4 different networks.  Discovery, TLC, and ESPN are standard.  BBC America? not so much.  Before I finally invested in something other than bunny ears Sue and I used to get caught up on the TV shows everyone was talking about by going away for the weekend… (This was back when there was only one CSI and it was on Fridays) Now we watch channels that hotels don’t tend to carry & therefore either DVR stuff, or stay home. I hope everyone has a good weekend.
Just don’t tell Cecil about the chameleon circuit… who knows he might actually fix it.

Dr. Who Cache Series Update

Posted on January 30, 2011 by Bruce
Well, upon recollection maybe the scope of my original idea was a bit too much (at least until summer. That said I am moving ahead with the idea of 11 geocaches placed around in honor of the good doctor… just “the Doctor.” Today I took some time between lunch, grading, & cat brushing to figure out how it was going to work. As I believe Stephanie pointed out- if I have these placed all around the country, what would happen if one goes missing? Since the original plan was to create each cache by hand. I took some time and thought about this and decided to go a hopefully simpler route. I would put a wrap around each decon container that would be the same, yet also illustrate each doctor.
The first mock up of the basic TARDIS geocache. This is the background from which I will add the Doctor.
So with my trusty laptop and black & white printer I came up with this… From this I will add details to make sure that it is as close to what the Doctor in question had as possible. While the chameleon circuit may have been damaged… it is amazing how a number of Doctor’s TARDISes have slightly different exteriors as well as interiors. You would figure that as long as the circuit is broken it would keep the same outside. (logic doesn’t always work in Science Fiction) So the actual wrap will have something to distinguish one Dr. Who decon from another…
This is the mock up (final) for the 11th Doctor's TARDIS that I have decided I will place. I will not show any of the others so if you want to see them, you'll have to find them.
So as I complete each cache and send it off to be released in the wild I will let you know the GC# and which doctor it is for. If you want to see how it turned out… hunt it down. I still may go with a fantastic final cache. I still have an idea what I’d like to do (& WHO & therefore WHERE I’d like it placed), but I’d first like to get all 11 doctors out saving mankind.

New Project for 2011: Doctor Who Cache Series?

Posted on December 29, 2010 by Bruce
Here’s the deal… last year my creative project (outside of the comic) was Project: Pinewood, in which I went back to my days as a Cub Scout and made a pinewood derby car, using only a pocket knife and sandpaper.  This was in honor of the centennial of Scouting in America. The car became a travel bug and is is presently wandering the United States from cache to cache.  Being larger than most caches I completely understand why it hasn’t gathered the miles.  So what should I do this year? Here’s the plan it might work, it might not.  I know a number of the readers of this comic also (because they have some geeky traits) watch Dr. Who.  My plan is to create a geocache for each incarnation of the Doctor.  These would all be decon containers (TARDIS) that I have added some decoration for the unique doctor. My first idea was to have Cecil place the series as I had time to create them, and be done with it… then another idea started to germinate.  What if those caching Dr. Who fans from across the country received a cache and placed it in THEIR community?  What if each cache had part of the coordinates to a final cache filled with Dr. Who swag and a commemorative Pathtag?  What if I just turned this whole project in to way too much work?  Could it all be done in a year?  A dozen caches placed around the country (the world?).  I’d need to really learn more about Dr. Who (I remember Tom Baker – the fourth doctor, but not well.) I picked up the series with the 9th Doctor and still haven’t seen all the 10th Doctor’s episodes.  What do you think?  In the immortal words of John Belushi “Who’s with me?”  Thoughts?  Ideas?
Sue and I have discussed this over and over. When driving long distances in the U.S. you basically plan for around a mile a minute.  I want to drive to Chicago that around 180 miles it should take around 3 hours.  England is a little different… OK a lot different.  It seemed that if we wanted to go 30 miles we should plan for it to take at least an hour if not longer.  Now I will admit that part of it is an unfamiliarity with the rules of the road in England, but I think part of it has to do with roundabouts.  It seemed that every roundabout (and there are a lot of them) while they kept traffic flowing- created some kind of time warp… the time inside the car is constant, but outside the car time travels faster… I need Hawking or Einstein or the good doctor to explain it.  When I first planned out the trip, I was thinking in a U.S. mindset about a day trip (I have been known to drive to Chicago or Columbus Ohio  for lunch),  once I started to understand England, I had to reassess my plan and stick with things that were a little closer to my home base.  Fortunately England is filled with interesting places to visit so while I missed some things, I saw others that I might have missed had I spent the day and night motoring.  I know understand why many Brits will plan an overnight trip for anything greater than 40 miles.