Hallelujah! - 11/30/16

Today's puzzle takes us to Ohio.  For me, once Thanksgiving is past,there's no denying that Christmas will be here before we know it.  For most of my life this time of year has involved preparation for some sort of musical event ... it just doesn't feel right to not be rehearsing or performing in some fashion.  I'm looking forward to attending a sing-along version of the Messiah this weekend, and singing Pachelbel's Magnificat the following weekend.  While I always get stressed and tired dealing with the shopping, wrapping, and shipping of gifts right on top of giving exams and getting grades submitted, the music of the season invigorates me like nothing else can.  And for that I say:

Hallelujah!

Tomorrow we'll be in Ohio for another day.

Emoji :) 11/29/16

Today we travel to Australia.  When I send text messages with my android phone it makes these strange little green alien faces whenever I type :) or :( instead of nice emojis.  I've been getting more and more text messages with fun, colorful emojis lately, so I decided it was time for me to join the 21st century and figure out how to get some I could use myself.  I hit paydirt with a free emoji keyboard app, and I'm like a kid with a new toy.  I can be so much more expressive now and tailor my messages depending on what I want to say and the person I'm sending it to.  It's fun going through and picking out just the right:

Emoji :)

Tomorrow we'll ...

Thanksgiving Overindulgence - 11/28/16

Here's a little puzzle from California for anyone who's still recovering from a little:

Thanksgiving Overindulgence

Tomorrow we'll be in Australia.

Three Windmills - 11/27/16

I thought it might be fun to wrap up the Turkey Day weekend with a puzzle from Turkey:

Kybele and three windmills

Tomorrow we'll ...

Say again? - 11/26/16

Today's puzzle from Canada's province of British Columbia was mentioned by someone in the "chat" portion of my most recent GeoGearHeads appearance, so I had to check it out.  Now you can too:

umoC ap!s&ñ

Tomorrow we'll be in Turkey.

Shop Till You Drop - 11/25/16

It's Black Friday, so let's head to California where you can:

Shop till you drop

Tomorrow we'll be in ...

Happy Thanksgiving! - 11/24/16

Over the years I've managed to find and feature quite a few puzzles with a Thanksgiving theme, or a turkey theme.  For your holiday today I've got a pair of them for you.  From Maryland:

Thanksgiving - "The Hunt for Tom Turkey"

and from Vermont:  The Turkey Cache

Tomorrow we'll be in ...

Powerful Genesis - 11/23/16

Today's Colorado puzzle references a connection to Thanksgiving, so I figured it would be a good one to share with you this week.  Have fun sorting out the:

Powerful Genesis

Tomorrow we'll ...

Arcade Games - 11/22/16

Today's puzzle is one of a series of California puzzles based on arcade games that I remember playing well.  That is, I remember them well.  I don't think I actually ever played them very well, based on the number of quarters I used to run through. 😉  If you ever felt like giving a puzzle maker a good whack out of frustration, here's your chance:

Yams Arcade: Whack-A-Yam

Tomorrow we'll ...

Here we go again - 11/21/16

I featured a puzzle by this CO from Maine last week, and now:

Geoacer Strikes Again

Tomorrow we'll be in ...

Alien Life Form - 11/20/16

Today's California puzzle involves sightings of an:

Alien Life Form

Tomorrow we'll be in ...

Cream of Mushroom Soup - 11/19/16

Today's puzzle takes us to Maine.  Thanksgiving is almost here, and I've already been shopping for the big feast.  I'm cooking for us at my house this year, but I have to admit that it's really not one of my talents.  While I will happily spend hours researching information for a puzzle or learning some obscure method of encipherment, I have never been a fan of a lot of peeling, chopping, or other prep work in the kitchen.  When it comes to recipes more often than not I'll opt for the one where I can just mix in some Campbell's:

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Tomorrow we'll be in ...

Kakurasu - 11/18/16

Today's puzzle takes us to Belgium, via Ohio ... which is admittedly a strange route.  For months and months I've been wanting to get to one of these Ohio puzzling events and had seriously considered trekking out there last week when I happened to have the day off.  I had a few other things going on, though, so decided to commit to going in the spring instead.  In talking with the host, I learned about the theme for the evening, which was a variation of a logic puzzle I have enjoyed.  This challenged me to find a geocaching puzzle that I could share with you featuring the same topic.  Thus our excursion to Belgium.  Kakurasu is only one portion of the puzzle, but I expect the other portions will look familiar to you.  Good luck (and don't get lost in translation) with:

More Knobeleien ...

Tomorrow we'll ...

X Marks the Spot - 11/17/16

I came across today's puzzle after I recently received a recommendation to check out puzzles in the Portland, Maine area.  Like any good treasure map:

X Marks the Spot

Tomorrow we'll be in Belgium.

(P.S.  If you missed yesterday's puzzle due to the broken link, here is the correct one.)

Words Three What - 11/16/16

:on take different little a for California to us takes puzzle Today's

Words Three What

:Maine in be in we'll Tomorrow

*Link fixed ... sorry!

Happy Novembeard! - 11/15/16

Today's puzzle takes us to California.  Even though the month is half over, I hope it's not too late to wish you a:

Happy Novembeard!

Tomorrow we'll ...

Can You Go Through? - 11/14/16

Today's puzzle takes us to California.  Take a look and see if you can get through:

WarNinjas Green Plexiglass Door

Tomorrow we'll ...

Origami Lily - 11/13/16

I always enjoy receiving suggestions from readers, and today's Missouri cache was one that came my way recently.  Good luck with your:

Origami Lily

Tomorrow we'll be in California.

It's about Time - 11/12/16

After talking with friends the other night about the time change last weekend, I decided to poke around a little bit in the question of time zones, daylight savings time, etc.  We found it interesting that there are so many approaches to the question, and that there are some states (Arizona, Hawaii, and until recently part of Indiana) that don't observe daylight savings time.  My own preference would be to keep daylight savings time year round (which some folks remembered actually was done as an energy-saving measure back in 1974). One person said we should all just be on Greenwich time, and I responded that I thought Russia only used one time zone (I was confused ... it's actually China that only uses one time zone).  Today's Michigan puzzle has us pondering the question of the relation between time and longitude (by the way, if you've never read Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time I strongly recommend it).  Have some fun sorting out:

Lunchtime in Greenwich

Tomorrow we'll be in ...

Veterans Day - 11/11/16

Today's puzzle takes us to Virginia.  I'm taking a break from my usual tough Friday puzzle to post one in honor of the Veterans Day holiday today.  Teaching at our local community college I often work with veterans who are going back to school following their time serving in the military.  Many of them have served overseas and they can add a lot to our discussion of geology around the world.  Recently we were discussing sand, and I told the students that during the lab time in our next class we'd be looking at some sands from different locations around the world.  One of them offered to bring in some sand he had collected.  He came in to our next class with a large jar of black, granular volcanic sand from Iwo Jima.  When he offered to let me have some of it to add to my collection, I enthusiastically agreed.  As I was labeling the temporary container I arranged for it, I questioned him if there weren't a movie called:

The Sands of Iwo Jima

(And yes, there is a movie ...)

                 

It was Twenty Years Ago Today! - 11/10/16

It's hard to believe our daughter is turning 20 today.  In honor of the occasion I thought I'd take us to Norway for a little puzzle about:

Sgt. Pepper

Tomorrow we'll commemorate Veterans Day.

Got Warrants? Get Lost! - 11/9/16

Today's puzzle takes us to Maine, which I chose because I stumbled across the Bangor Maine police department's "Got Warrants" feature (which publishes each Wednesday on Facebook) a while back.  If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend it.  The author has a very wry sense of humor, and the descriptions of the officers and the members of the public they work with throughout the course of their week are really great. You might find it entertaining ... but if not, you can always just:

Get Lost!

Tomorrow we'll be in ...

Election Day - 11/8/16

Today's puzzle takes us to North Carolina.  After an election season that has seemed interminable, the big day is finally here.  Someone new is going to be hearing:

Hail to the Chief!

Tomorrow we'll be in ...

Podcasts ... we've got podcasts: 11/7/16

'Tis the season for podcasts!  Readers of this blog will know I'm a big fan of Russell Atkinson (The Rat) and I hope you caught his appearance on Geocache Talk last night.  Yours truly will be on that show next Sunday (focusing on suggestions for creating puzzles), followed up by the GeoGearHeads on Thursday the 18th, in a show which will focus on ciphers at an introductory and geocaching-specific level. I'll give some tips on how to recognize different ciphers and promote some tools that you might want to add to your cipher-solving toolbox.  In honor of this plethora of podcasting I thought I'd promote, from Minnesota, the:

Pajama Crew Podcast  

Tomorrow we'll ...

Great Scott!! - 11/6/16

Today's New York puzzle is one of those that might make you exclaim:

Great Scott!!

Tomorrow we'll be in Minnesota.

P.S. Breaking news:  The Rat is on Geocachetalk tonight.  I'm looking forward to it.

Winter is Coming - 11/5/16

Today's puzzle takes us to France.  Here in central New York we've already had our first bit of snow for the season.  It didn't mess up the roads but I did have to dig out the snow brush to clear about an inch and a half of wet, heavy stuff off the back windshield before heading to work not long ago. It seemed a bit early, but I suppose that once the leaves are down, there's no more denying that:

Winter is Coming

Tomorrow we'll ...

A Golden Friday - 11/4/16

Cubs win! Cubs win! Cubs win!  OK, thank you for letting me get that out of my system.  I'll have you know that I contributed in a very important way ... by actually *not* watching the end of the game.  Over the previous 6 games an obvious statistical correlation had developed whereby the more closely I followed the game, the poorer the Cubs did.  I tried hard to stay away during Game 7, and they got off to a nice lead.  But I snuck in a couple of peeks at the scores mid-game and sure enough I almost jinxed the poor guys.  Only after I forced myself to turn off the TV at the top of the 10th and not even look for any updates on the computer did they manage to seal the deal.  Chicago will be celebrating in a big way today with a huge parade.

In honor of this "Golden" Friday, I thought I'd share my most recent puzzle with you (disclaimer: I also haven't got a nice tough-and-juicy puzzle in the solved pile to share with you today, so this gets me out of that jam as well).

The "golden ammo can" tradition of placing a gold-painted ammo can in honor of a cacher's 1000th find is going strong around here.  I'm curious about the range of this tradition.  Is it something that's done where you are?  Do you have a different fun tradition to share? Post a comment or send me a message and let me know.  In the mean time, have a little fun with:

The Golden Lion: 8bitlion's Golden Ammo Can

Tomorrow we'll be in ...

Puzzling Puzzles! - 11/3/16

Today we travel to Michigan and a cache for those who like:

Puzzling Puzzles!

Tomorrow we'll be in ...

Piece of Cake - 11/2/16

Today's puzzle takes us to Western Australia.  Everybody's got a birthday, and mine happens to be today. Given the opportunity I always enjoy a nice piece of birthday cake (chocolate is my favorite, and I'll take a corner piece, please, in order to maximize the frosting) but I'm not sure how I'd feel about indulging in a slice of:

Daddy Laxa's Birthday Cake

Tomorrow we'll be in ...

The Bar Exam - 11/1/16

Today's puzzle takes us to Rhode Island.  After last night's excitement, maybe someone at your house is ready for:

The Bar Exam

Tomorrow we'll be in ...