Another year, my friends! - 1/4/16

For those of you who just want to get right to today's California puzzle, it's right here, my:

Friends

Tomorrow we'll be back in California for another puzzle, and I'll have an announcement for you about a fun new blog by one of my geocache puzzling friends.

For those of you who are still reading, the first Monday of the new year seems like a good time to take stock of our progress with geocaching goals for last year, and think about what we hope to accomplish in the next year.  How was your year?  While I didn't have the hugest numbers, it was a memorable year of caching for me, including attending my first mega-event and adding two new states to the map - one of which was my long-awaited trip to California.  I had hoped to add more states with a dedicated caching trip to New England, but I will just have to carry that goal over to this year.

This year I hope to continue to spread the joy of puzzling through this blog by exposing new and experienced puzzlers to fun, interesting, and educational puzzles around the world, and to give the CO's of those puzzles more recognition than they might receive otherwise.  I also hope to encourage new puzzlers not only through the blog, but also in person at puzzle-seminars, via podcast, through e-mail correspondence, and by creating my own puzzles with a variety of difficulty levels.

If you'd like to join me as a fellow puzzle "ambassador," please consider sending me a puzzle you've enjoyed, or challenge me to locate a puzzle on a particular topic or theme.   Consider logging a note or sending a message to the CO of a puzzle you have enjoyed (even if you doubt you'll ever be able to make the find) and writing thoughtful logs for CO's whose puzzle caches you do find.  You might even try hosting or attending a puzzle-promoting event in your area.  If you create your own puzzles, maybe you'll consider creating one just for fun, that anyone could solve (I'll be featuring some suggestions in this regard over the coming months).  

I am planning to continue posting daily puzzles for you to enjoy, but I may add in a few other things ... some interviews with puzzlers, maybe an occasional poll. I still reserve the right to post a re-run, but just can't bring myself to do it yet.   If there's anything you'd like to see here (in addition to the puzzles) please let me know. And if you've made it all the way to the end of this long post, thank you, my friend!