Same wet spot - new and improved box

I created a special administrative page to list all of the varied responses included in the "first aid" section for letterboxes. The feature gets abused a lot, but I didn't really have an easy, systematic way to get rid of all of the fluff showing up in it. So I finally made a special page that displays to me every single box with a first aid request, and more specifically, what the request is.

I'd say of all the boxes listed, about half of them have used the first aid box incorrectly. The first aid option is meant to request help from finders of your box. Perhaps a full logbook needs to be replaced, or a cracked container needs to be replaced. Or maybe a stamp is missing and you hope someone can replace it for you.

It's a request--a call for help. It's not supposed to be used to write your clues, it's not supposed to be used to tell others that the box has moved or that the box is missing. It's not to warn that there is poison ivy in the area or that people should carry sunscreen or bug spray.

My favorite 'first aid' comment so far is the one in this title: "Same wet spot - new and improved box!" It sounds so.... well.... Taken out of context, it's really quite hilarious. But, again, if that's the kind of message you are leaving for first aid requests, it's being misused.

Here are some other examples of how NOT to use the first aid:

* bring your swimming and snorkel gear!
* Bring Binoculars -- Leave the Dogs at Home!
* May have been destroyed in a wild fire - unsure of it's status. [Note: Change the status of the box to unknown.]
* missing [Note: Change the status of the box to unavailable]
* Box has been replaced. See updated clue.
* reported possibly missing 5/2007
* construction at the zoo might have eliminated this box
* Several reports of this box trying to swim to Europe...
* the recent torrential rains may have washed this letterbox down slope--wonder if it's in the neighboring detritus? [Note: This is probably better mentioned in the clues itself.]
* CANNOT FIND THIS BOX.
* Mosquito repellant
* Probably washed away in recent rains
* Currently missing from the gathering. It's not a cootie.
* Ok
* watch out for blackberry brambles.
* Gone baby gone
* theres a new clue at letterboxing.de !
* Box found in nearby garbage can. Will replant soon.
* HELP ME!!!! [Note: Okay, technically it is asking for help, but since it fails to describe what help is needed, it's not very useful.]
* none
* Stamp and logbook replaced
* MISSING & MURDERED BY A LAWN MOWER!
* Caution-Box fills with water. Please carefully rebag
* Beginning 01/05/08- this park will be closed on Sundays
* Reported missing after first finders. I have yet to verify. [Note: That's called an unknown status]
* Boxes to be replaced soon.
* Box pulled for the winter! Come back in the spring! Thanks! [Note: Change the status of the box, or at least mark it using the new seasonal attribute.]
* may be on the ground, at the base of the tree, or fell into the woods.
* Heard that the bench might be gone! :( [Note: This kind of stuff should be in the clue!]
* I've moved from the area.... so as time goes by this box might need maintnence..... thanks
* I've been told the area around this box is under construction and may not be available at this time.....

Here are real examples of the proper use of the first aid option:

* Needs rescue from new construction in area [Note: This is slightly different than the last example of what not to do. Here, the person is asking for help to rescue their box. In the example of what not to do, the person is telling you that the box may or may not be unavailable--therefore, the status is unknown. The person doing the finding is not being asked to help in any way.]
* Needs outside of box marked. Adoption requests welcome! [Note: The first part of this is okay. Adoption requests are best left directly in the clue itself.]
* A new logbook might be nice, maybe someone could help.
* I need a sandwich sized box RIGHT AWAY!
* Logbooks Full! [Note: I'm assuming, of course, that the person is requesting to have the logbooks replaced.]
* logbook is wet, so if you can replace it with a small, dry book, it would be much appreciated. [Note: Basically the same thing, but better worded. =)]
* Clues need to be verified!
* Stamp missing - if willing to help replace it, please email me

In related news..... As I find first aid comments about "box missing" or "possibly missing," I've been changing the status of the boxes to reflect the comments, then removing the comments. It's always better to change the status so people can better sort through active boxes from missing ones.

I've now gone through all of the first aid comments on boxes marked as active, unknown, or unavailable and removed the ones that were being misused. I still need to go through the retired boxes, but that's probably not nearly as critical since most of you aren't searching for retired boxes anyhow. But I need lunch, so the retired boxes will wait until later today!

The Results are In!

Plant-A-Letterbox Day has come and gone. For those of us out here in California, it was a beautiful cloudless day.

The official results can be seen on the Plant-a-Letterbox Day page of Atlas Quest. I waited a bit for stragglers who had planted boxes but not yet listed them or their clues had a chance to list their boxes. I figure by now, most people should have, but the numbers could still change slightly as more time passes.

As of this minute, the final results are:

Total boxes listed	764
Total traditional listed	684
Total non-traditional listed	80
Total number of planters	306
Total for traditional planters	284
Total for non-traditional planters	47

A detailed breakdown isn't available on Atlas Quest, so I'll mention some of the more interesting details here.

Breakdown by Type
Traditionals: 684
Hitchhikers: 21
Virtuals: 6
Postals: 10
Personal Travelers: 5
Cooties: 10
LTCs: 13
Event Boxes: 9
Others: 6

Top Ten by State
New York: 142
Washington: 56
North Carolina: 55
Michigan: 43
Oregon: 37
Ohio: 34
California: 32
Ontario: 31 (okay, not a state, but close enough!)
Georgia: 25
Pennsylvania: 24

Top Ten Planters (traditional boxes only)
Scout: 37
Milagro: 16
Water Lily: 14
FourWaters: 11
Sahlie: 11
Eiryn: 11
turtlelove: 11
Pioneer Spirit: 10
Turtle Song: 9
Gischer Gryffindors: 9

Next year, Plant-a-Letterbox Day falls on a Monday. It's Memorial Day Monday, but still, a Monday, so I figure there will likely be similar results next year. That'll likely be the last good year for most people since subsequent years will be during the work week. In 2006 and 2007, the day fell on a work day, and the number of plants exploded last year when it finally fell on a Saturday. I suspect 2011 it'll drop again accordingly. Next year, though.... next year will probably be similar to this year.

Until next year.... And you actually have 367 days (as of today) until the next Plant-A-Letterbox Day! Start preparing now! =)

Plant a Letterbox Day is Around the Corner!

Sunday, yes, tomorrow, is Plant a Letterbox Day. A mere 83,470 seconds before it begins as of this writing. Are you READY?!

I've been planning a few boxes for over a month now. Sunday itself isn't an especially convenient day for me to plant boxes--I was planning to help my mom out with some wedding shenanigans that day. Friend of the family.

So I hoofed out to Poly Canyon here in San Luis where I found a letterbox, two geocaches, and planted two boxes. (I didn't go to look for geocaches--I found them while looking for places to hide my own boxes!) I had three boxes to plant, so I'm still walking around with one. I'll see about finding a good place for that a little more into town Saturday afternoon. I'd really like to plant one out near Stenner Bridge--an impressive railroad bridge just out beyond Cal Poly and near the California Men's Colony (CMC). The stamp has a criminal holding a gun to someone's head, and I thought it would be fun to make into a story about an escaped convict on the run from the CMC. I don't really feel like hoofing it all the way out there a second time, though, so I might find a place closer in town to hide him.

But Poly Canyon is such the perfect place for it since that's where *I* was once mistaken for an escaped convict. =) The criminal mastermind had escaped the CMC while I was out hiking in Poly Canyon, and an airplane searching for the convict spotted me instead. According to the cops, the clothes I was wearing matched the description of the escaped con, so they sent a platoon of cops out trying to track me down where the airplane spotted me.

Ah, good times.... =)

I might hang onto this stamp until I can make it out to Poly Canyon again. It really needs to be in Poly Canyon. Hmm....

The particular boxes I'm planting are rather elaborate by my usual standards. (My usual standards are "quick and easy," however, so that's not saying much.) Very unique clues, cute little logbooks, and a really neat place that always gets overlooked in all the local guidebooks. I doubt there will be a whole of finders (not a whole lot of letterboxers in these parts), but those that do should certainly find it enjoyable! These are probably the best boxes I've planted in YEARS!

In other news.... I've been playing with the street-level views on Google Maps, and I just know I can make that into a clue somehow. I haven't figured out how--not yet--but the idea intrigues me.... Apparently the Google folks drove by my mom's house last December since I can see all the Christmas decorations up on the house, including the new decorations from last year so I know it was last December and not some other December. (Actually, it could have been the first couple of weeks of Janaury. My mom isn't always fast about taking down Christmas decorations, but I did notice them on several other houses as well which makes me think December is more likely.)

Alas, I couldn't find any pictures of me walking around anywhere. Not in San Luis or in Seattle.

A Few Random Photos

Amanda did some trail work for Earth Day, but she was a bit disappointed not to have any pictures of herself actually working! Naturally, it was me taking photos of her, so I had them all. =)

Next is one of the trail sections we help construct. The trail in the picture did not exist when we arrived--the original trail had collapsed into the adjacent river, so we needed to build a new segment. My job was to clear the trail by that enormous root ball on the left. There used to be another stump on the right side of the trail, but I took it out already. The trail the others are standing on is completely new.


A few days later, we headed out to see some tulips. Quite the festival they have going, and I took a few photos which I think look nice. =)


This is my 'money shot.' This first tulip photo was actually the very last one I took, and I worked really hard to get it. I had to find a place that wasn't surrounded with people and where the sun wasn't causing lots of glare. Got down with the dirt for this photo, but I think the results were with it. =)


Here's the picture everyone at the tulip farm got. It's pretty, but the picture really isn't that special.


For Amanda's birthday, we headed off to the little country known as the Netherlands, and this is Amanda's birthday cake. It might be the ugliest birthday cake I've ever seen in my life, which is why I'm sharing it with you. It amuses me. =) Apparently, ordering birthday cakes in Dutch isn't as easy as you may think.


For those of you who don't know it, I do have family! This picture is my sister, Tierra, taken on New Years Day in Boston. I had my sister go out on this dock in the Charles River to give the picture more "shape." It just felt like it needed a figure in the presence. I gotta say, though, it was freakin' cold in Boston. Freakishly cold! We were in Boston visiting our cousin for a birthday party. Good times!


This is my mom. If you've read much of my adventures or blogs, you've probably heard about her. I took this photo last year when she came for a visit in Seattle the day pirates invaded Alki. The pirate look is quite becoming, don't you think? =)

This photo was taken on New Years Eve in Boston. It's the doors on a church, which I thought looked nice. I went out as soon as it started snowing--snow is so rare where I live!--finding pictures to take in the snow when I came across these doors.


These next photos are in a decidedly warmer climate: Bermuda. A bunch of us went on a letterboxing cruise, and when I saw this bike, I had to get a picture of it. I don't see too many bikes like this anymore!


And here's a sign on a beach. I'm a sucker for signs like these. =)


And finally, one last sign. This one I found in Florida while hiking around Lake Okeechobee last Thanksgiving. There are a lot of dangers while backpacking, but this was my first time I was warned about errant golf balls.

Marjorie Taken Hostage!

I just got the following note!



Oh, I'm so worried.... What do I do?!

Plant a Letterbox Day is Around the Corner!

Yes, it's that time of year again. In less than two million seconds (!!!!), it will be Plant a Letterbox Day. Last year set a new record for most boxes planted--916. And a full 756 of them were actual, real letterboxes hidden in the woods.

This annual event started in 2006 when spring was in the air, and many people were finally venturing out after their winter of discontent. It was joked that so many boxes would be planted and listed, it could crash Atlas Quest. So May 24th was designated as the day to try to crash Atlas Quest by planting and listing as many boxes as possible.

The crash never happened, but it was still a lot of fun. New people who had never planted a box ventured out and created their first creations. Old time letterboxers who hadn't planted in some while ventured out to plan anew.

I've already started working on the boxes I want to plant this year, involving ransom notes, databases, and code. Stamps have already been carved. Clues have been started. I also started working on a long-awaited update to my Creating Great Letterboxes tutorial that I hope to finish before the big date. (Speaking of which, if you know of some particularly noteworthy boxes that deserve a mention, let me know.)

Start thinking about it now--and raise the bar higher than ever for next year's recruits!

You Can't Make Up Stuff Like This....

I'm in San Luis Obispo right now, visiting my mom. This morning, I'm online, working on Atlas Quest, and I hear her call out for me from the front. She sounded rather urgent, so I dropped the keyboard and went rushing outside into the front yard. There was a geyser near the side of the house!

As soon as I saw it, I knew what had happened. Last night, when I came into the house, I noticed a backhoe in the yard, and I asked my mom about that. "What the heck are you doing with a tracker?" She had some ideas for yard work, and I asked, "How do you know you won't hit a water main or something?" And she assured me that she's done this before.

Yeah, okay. So when I saw the geyser of water shooting up into the air--kind of at an angle into the garage door--with a backhoe sitting at the point of origin, I knew what had happened. She hit a water main.

My mom had already pulled up the cover for the water shutoff for the house and was trying frantically to shut the water off. The wrenches we had weren't really ideal for the job, but in cases of emergency, you make do. We took turns trying to get it off, but it just wasn't working. I wasn't even really convinced that the part my mom was trying to turn would shut off the water. There were several nuts and bolts down there, none of which have been moved for years so far as I could tell, and none of them were conviniently labeled.

My mom tried calling a friend of the family--Terry, who works with CalTrans and knows a little about this sort of thing. Except Terry was at church. Terry would later tell us that she had forgotten to shut off her phone and embarrassingly turned it off during the service, not realizing the severity of the situation here.

That wasn't going to stop my mom. No, she left me to continue trying to work to turn off the water while my mom started up the car and rushed off to church.

I decided to do a couple of quick Google searches, trying to find a diagram of one of these darned water thingys online and find out exactly which piece needed to be turned. I found something that somewhat resembled what we had, and it suggested turning a different piece than we had been working on.

I went to the garage to find a tool that would better fit the knob that needed turning. The wrenches we had been using were so large, it was hard to move them in the confined area. The smaller wrenches, though, didn't seem to have enough leverage to get them to move. It was very frustrating.

While I was doing this, of course, my mom rushed to the church. It's pretty close to the house and only took a couple of minutes to get to, and my mom goes barging in looking for Terry, not exactly dressed in her Sunday bests. Terry's sitting near the front of the church, and my mom gets her attention. "Follow me. Now!" Nobody else knows what's going on, but clearly there's an emergency happening, and even the other members of the congregation were pushing Terry out to my mom. Terry left all her stuff there on the pew.

Outside, she stuffs Terry into the car and hitails it back to the house, explaning about the broken water main. I'm still meddling trying to get the water turned off, and Terry confirms at this point that I'm messing with the knob that I should be messing with, but we still have trouble getting it turned off. We aren't even sure which is the correct way to turn it. But a couple of minutes later, we finally get the water off and can take time to admire the damage.

The pipe was remarkably small, I thought, given how much water was gushing out of it. Looked all of about half an inch. Must have been under a tremendous amount of pressure to make a geyser like that! It wasn't even six inches underground--I always thought they were buried deeper than that, but what do I know?

At this point, there's no running water for the house, but the immediate crisis was certainly over so my mom drove Terry back to church to finish the service and retrieve her possessions. Turns out, things really started hopping there at the church when Terry left.

It seems a couple of people who knew Terry assumed there was an emergency. Perhaps a family emergency. Maybe even her ailing dad took a turn for the worse. They tried calling Terry, to find out what was the problem, but she had turned her phone off when my mom first tried to call so there would be no more embarrassing interruptions during the service. So they assumed the worst.

So her friends told the paster about this, and they all started to pray for her and her dad, having no idea that the 'emergency' wasn't really the kind that needed prayers, but hey, we'll take what we can get!

When Terry returned to the church and found out what all had happened in her absense, she was kind of embarrassed over the matter, but how can you NOT laugh after all that? After the services were over and Terry explained that nobody was dead or near death, I guess a couple of the congregation were upset over the incident, and she came back to the house to help with figuring out how to fix the broken water line.

So that's what's been happening here in the normally sleepy town of San Luis Obispo. Broke a water main, crashed a church, and got a whole bunch of people praying for someone that didn't really need it. Good times!

As of now, it doesn't look like I'll be taking a shower today. Maybe not tomorrow either?

Joke's On You....

Okay, I admit it, I did have a couple of April Fool pranks up my sleeves. But come on, you guys expected something of me. I wanted to do another elaborate prank like last years, but seriously, we didn't have a chance. All year long you guys kept guessing what we'd have in store for April Fools Day. March was terrible. Analyzing every word that was said. Predictions that the "big joke" would be about rock stashing, fearless colons, and even the slow loading of My Page last week.

Frankly, it's not very fun trying to fool anyone when everyone is trying to post spoilers before the big day. At least let the flower bloom before you yank it out of the ground and stomp it flat. In future years, I'd be greatly appreciative if, when you think something is leading up to an April Fool joke, to play along. And honestly, there will be no elaborate April Fool's Day joke if you all keep guessing what it's going to be ahead of time.

No, the only kind of jokes I can do now are ambushes. Keep my cards close to my chest, then spring it on you all at once on April Fools. At least until I can be sure nobody is going to post a spoiler if I do try a joke that leads up to April Fools Day. I don't see that happening anytime this decade, though. I might have to try to outlive all of you and do another elaborate prank in my old age with a new group of people. =)

So... the first joke of the day--there was none! I went to sleep, in the early morning hours of April 1st, wondering how many of you foolish people would wait up until midnight to "see what happens." =)

The next morning, when I did wake up, that's when the real fun started. I put an encrypted code on the homepage. Or was it just random letters? Hard to tell on a day like April 1st, huh? =) I wouldn't want to spoil THAT surprise, but some people did figure it out based on the finds of the Atlas Quest Homepage virtual box I listed. Not many, but a few of you.... (Sorry, it was a 24-hour virtual only. If you didn't get it, it's too late now!)

Then I posted about the AQ bailout late in the day. That was the main joke, posted mostly for giggles because seriously, who would believe it? Atlas Quest is not in any imminent danger of going bankrupt. =) I will not be adding purple cats or rubber chickens to the site. (Though, honestly, I do think rubber chickens could be fun. Perhaps someday....) Marjorie still gets to keep her name, and Canada will continue to be supported. =)

During the rest of the night, I just did things to mess with anyone still popping in. Wassa suggested to me at the last minute that I could draw arrows and circles on the map, as if they were clues, and add a marker on the globe that Marjorie carries. So I did that. I tweaked the note about "A Letterboxing Community" so it would read "An Economic Recovery Stimulus Recipient."

But that was the last of the bullets I had. I went to sleep, and decided not to "fix things up" back to normal until I woke up the next morning. I was planning to fly to California and spent much of the afternoon trying to catch a flight out of Seattle. Alas, as they say, the reason it's called stand-by is because you stand at the window and wave bye-bye, and that's what I did. I'm still in Seattle.

The Seattle airport doesn't have wi-fi, though, so I couldn't "fix things up" until this evening. Perhaps some of you were worried that some of the jokes yesterday were actually true? =) Okay, maybe not..... Everything should be back to normal now, however. Hope you enjoyed the shenanigans, even if they weren't nearly as interesting or fun as last year!

And seriously, you wouldn't post spoilers to mystery boxes. Why would you do it for April Fool jokes?! That just has to come to an end before there will be anymore elaborate pranks in the future....

State of the Website Address

Given the tough economic times, it should come as no surprise that Atlas Quest has been hurting. Premium memberships are down, subscription renewals are down, and ad rates for the few areas that show ads are down. No one is immune—and when someone has the choice to pay for food or buy a premium membership, understandably, they'll choose food first.I've been cutting back expenses. The location to store the nightly backups have been moved from a service that cost $60/year to one that costs about $10/year. Planned upgrades have been put on hold. Amanda got a cheap home-made tote bag for her birthday. These actions, however, have not been enough.

But thanks to recently passed legislation, Atlas Quest qualifies for some of the money from the economic stimulus package directed towards small businesses! Hey, I'm as surprised as you are!

Now that I'm in business with the federal government, they will have a greater say in how things are run. For instance, I'm not allowed to pay myself more than $250,000/year, and bonuses will be capped. You've probably heard about those types of restrictions already—they get most of the publicity from the news media. There, are, however, additional strings attached, some of which may affect you.

• I may not refer to this money as a 'bailout.' It is an economic stimulus or economic recovery—not a bailout.


• I am not to tell people that I am not allowed to call it a 'bailout.'


• Ooops.


• The name Atlas Quest, they have decided, is not appropriate. It sounds more like a bunch of students looking for their geography books the night before an exam than a bunch of crazy people with inky fingers looking for rubber stamps. Hearings will be held to decide on a new name, but Crazy Bunch of People With Inky Fingers and Looking For Rubber Stamps are currently being favored.


• Due to the buy-American provision, support for countries outside of the United States will no longer be supported. It is feared that letterboxes in foreign countries may encourage Americans to go abroad and spend money there. This should have little effect for most people, but could hit Canadian letterboxers hard.


• Don's contribution to the Letterboxer's Code of Conduct must remove all references to guns, unless to suggest that they are dangerous and should be outlawed.


• Blue Diamonds are considered discriminatory, since only a select few boxes get special recognition. To recognize everyone's efforts, additional levels will be added including purple cats, rubber chickens, and—for the lowest tier—brown turds.


• Marjorie will henceforth be called Betty, a good, solid American-sounding name. It's a low blow, I know, but the feds wanted to deport her to Canada! I could only change their minds by making her more 'American.'


• I will be required to publish at least three books about letterboxing, to help the printing industry. Only one of them may be a children's book. A ghost writer may be used if I do not want to write them myself, but any ghost writer must be an American.


• I must charge carbon offsets for every clue distributed. (Exact rates still to be determined.)


• With the federal government now standing behind Atlas Quest, I'm optimistic that we can strong-arm the NPS into allowing letterboxes everywhere on their property.

It'll take some time before I can implement all of these changes, but look for them coming down the line in the next few months. Changes can often be a difficult thing to adjust to, but with our share of the economic stimulus package, we have a solid base for decades of successful growth. These are difficult times, but remember in these dark times, you have nothing to fear but snakes and spiders.

Menubars, etc.

Some of you might have noticed a change in the menubars. Sorry for any trouble it caused. The broken links were just plain sloppy of me. One of those things that seemed so simple, I didn't even bother to check them all. *slapping self*

I also assumed that most people, when they woke up in the morning and logged in, their browser would actually pull up the latest changes to the CSS pages. Alas, it seems that many browsers continued to used cached versions. If the menubar at the bottoms of the pages looks incorrect, try clicking the refresh button on your browser a couple of times. That should fix it for most people.

I have tested the menu bars on IE6, IE7, IE8, Firefox, Opera, Chrome, and Safari browsers, so it should work on all of those unless, perhaps, you're using a really old version of one of those browser. If it breaks on cell phones, PDAs, and other handheld devices--in my defense, I've never officially supported those types of devices, and never claimed I would. If you are able to surf AQ on such devices, that's a nice bonus. I do try to keep the HTML and CSS relatively simple to improve the chances that AQ will continue to work on such devices, but I make no promises about how usable or not they are, and different handheld devices will have different capabilities. Some may work, some may not.

Please do not ask me to fix AQ if you use a browser I do not officially support. I have no way to test on such browsers. The ones listed above are the ones I have ready access to and are the ones that about 99% of members on Atlas Quest use. If there is a problem with an officially supported browser, please do let me know so I can investigate the matter.

If you do not like the expanded bottom menu, you can set your theme to http://www.atlasquest.com/css/nodropdowns.css to get rid of the submenus.

You'll also notice that I removed a few links from the menubar. Since I created Atlas Quest, the menu bars have been a one size fits all deal. I added links that really weren't critical because I thought a significant number of people might find them useful. As the number of members on Atlas Quest grows, however, the one size fits all style of handling things becomes increasingly less ideal.

So starting today, you can add your own menubar links. Create links to your Gmail account, or to LbNA. Create links for newly listed boxes or some of your favorite searches. Make links to anywhere that suits your needs. You won't be able to change or delete the default menu options, but you can add as many new menu items to any of the submenus of your choice.

If you want to recreate some of the default links I took out, the links are:

What's New?: http://www.atlasquest.com/results.html?gTypeId=6;gTimespan=week;gStatus=0;gCountryId=0;gSort=2
My Tags: http://www.atlasquest.com/results.html?gTypeId=17;gSort=1;gStatus=0;gTags=255
My Watches: http://www.atlasquest.com/results.html?gTypeId=17;gSort=1;gStatus=512

I had taken the My Contacts link out, figuring to let those who make use of the feature regularly add it as a personal option, but decided to reconsider and added it back as a default. You won't need to add it yourself if you want that link after all. =)

I've never heard of a website that allows you to add your own menubar choices. Nobody ever asked me for such an option either. But the theory behind it is a lot like the new My Page improvements. It let's you customize your experience on Atlas Quest to a degree that I've never seen another website allow. (I'm not claiming that AQ actually is the first website to do this--just that it's the first one I know about to allow this.) So load up that menubar with all your favorite links, and I hope you enjoy the changes! =)