Odysseys & Oddities

Psych

2009-01-22T09:37:00.002-06:00

I've decided to incorporate more psychic phenomena into my daily routine. To that end, all of my secret crime-fighting activities will follow the methodology endorsed by Shawn and Gus in this clip from Psych. Enjoy!

1K

2009-01-01T13:44:00.003-06:00

The end of 2008 saw us finally complete the Indiana DeLorme Challenge and the Indiana Epic 92 challenge caches, which we made our milestone 1,000th find. What a long, somewhat-strange series of journeys it was! Read all about it here.

Rainy Day

2008-12-19T12:14:00.002-06:00

When I woke up this morning, it was nearly 60 degrees and raining. This song made its way into my iPod playlist, although I hadn't heard it in probably over a year. It was a nice reminder. Isaiah 53:3-6. Enjoy!

Back to 1988

2008-12-12T09:37:00.003-06:00

So, in a moment of 80's hair-metal reverie, I purchased the new Guns N' Roses CD "Chinese Democracy" from Best Buy. Most of it is actually rather good, great guitars, Tommy Stinson on bass, interesting lyrics, quite melodic . . . still not sure what took 15 years, but whatever.

I thought I'd share this YouTube clip that features the second single from the CD, which I think is one of the best songs on the CD. So here's "Better." Enjoy. Rock on. :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8shnOcVmZg

Hemlock Cliffs

2008-12-07T08:22:00.004-06:00

Yesterday, Seth and I joined our friends 69corvette, solarwib, Dr. Who & K-9, and The-MudSlingers for a Geocaching hike at Hemlock Cliffs, easily one of the most spectacularly-beautiful areas in the entire state of Indiana. It was a perfect day for a hike, as the area had received a dusting of snow that morning. Here's a picture of one of the sets of falls in its winter splendor:

We highly recommend you visit this area if you enjoy hiking in areas of boundless natural beauty. You'll see huge exposed sandstone cliffs, Hemlock trees and other flora and fauna that grow nowhere else in Indiana, and evidence of prehistoric peoples who lived in the caves and rock shelters in the area over 10,000 years ago. Simply fantastic!

Maggie Finds a Letterbox

2008-12-04T20:22:00.002-06:00

While out searching for a new Geocache hidden by The-MudSlingers, Maggie happened upon a letterbox called "Boner Bridge" by The Toadfrogs. Luckily, we had our letterboxing "stuff" with us, so we traded stamps before heading on down the road to the next cache.

A Cruel Lie

2008-12-03T17:36:00.004-06:00

The following Radio Shack commercial has been making the rounds:

But it's all a horrible, cruel lie! There is no Rudolph's Diner here! Only a Subway . . . and a pizza place . . . and even it's closed half the week for "winter" hours now! Why must this purveyor of electronic gadgetry torture us so? Why does it mock our diner-less state?

I've had enough. I must exact my revenge somehow. I'll go shop at Best Buy. Yeah, that's the ticket . . .

Hannah Grace Plays Dress-Up

2008-12-02T09:46:00.001-06:00

She picked out quite the fetching outfit this morning!

Loon Pit Cache: Our 900th!

2008-11-30T17:11:00.005-06:00

Seth, his best friend Corey, and I headed over to Blue Grass Fish and Wildlife Area today to tackle Loon Pit Cache by land. This was our 900th find and it was quite a fun adventure. Loon Pit Cache is one of those caches that sits there on your unfound page for a long time. It's a 5-star terrain cache, because a boat is really the best way to reach it. For those of us who are boatless, however, we have to find a workaround. Such as using Google Earth to discover that the cache area is actually on a peninsula, not an island. And where there's land? We will hike!

Click the link in the title above to read our log for the cache and see all of the pics we took along the way.

Afterward, we celebrated with milkshakes and lunch at Steak and Shake (where real caching men go to celebrate, of course). We hit a few more caches in the rain and then headed home, happy and feeling all manly and whatnot.

:-)

A Tale of 3 Birds

2008-11-27T19:01:00.005-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I had a good morning of Geocaching, followed by time with family and friends over way too much food. My Uncle Vince brought his turkey fryer along, so we had a deep-fried turkey. I, of course, had the stroke of genius to throw some French Fries into the pot as soon as the turkey was out. Hey, if you're going to have deep-fried turkey, you might as well have fries, too.

We also had a full bird cooked in the convection oven. Moist and juicy goodness! Here be that bird:

Finally, I was taking pictures of various family members in their post-meal, tryptophan-induced haze, and my Uncle Vince decided to add one final bird to the day. You can always count on him for that!

Jeremy Camp is Back!

2008-11-25T10:54:00.001-06:00

Jeremy's new CD "Speaking Louder Than Before" is in stores now. Wait not. It will bless you.

Slingin' Some More Mud at Interlake!

2008-11-23T20:38:00.003-06:00

After raking leaves and working in the yard for HOURS this morning, I escaped back to Interlake for a little more off-roading and to hide 4 new caches. It was an absolute blast.

I ran into The-MudSlingers out on the trail, and found the rest of the stages of their fine multi-cache. It's always nice to run into friends in the wild.

The weather was warm, so I could ride around with the windows down. The other positive aspect of that was the fact that all the ice was gone and there was plenty of fresh mud. The FJ definitely needs a bath now. Click below to read more about today's trip and to see a couple more pics:

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LUID=b0223061-d8ec-4f68-8950-4a81b287b62e

Off-Road Odyssey

2008-11-22T22:05:00.004-06:00

Today, Odyssey Posse found off-road Nirvana here in Southern Indiana, thanks to our good caching friends The-MudSlingers. They hid a 7-stage multi (that we happened to finish in only 5 steps due to sheer luck!) in an off-road "playground" called Interlake. Click on the link below to read our log and check out the pics!

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LUID=70bb339a-8a0e-4eda-b9a2-75277282e09e

Squirrels in my Pants

2008-11-20T19:37:00.003-06:00

OK, so the kids have recently become enamored with a new cartoon called "Phineas and Ferb." I've watched it a couple of times, and it's hilarious. Very creative and original ideas . . . great writing . . . and even some spectacular music scenes, such as this one entitled "Squirrels in my Pants." Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrM7jZ9pUAo

Yo! S to the I to the M to the P! Squirrels in my Pants!

Mongolian BBQ

2008-11-20T17:56:00.003-06:00

When I lived in NYC while attending NYU Law, I fell in love with Mongolian BBQ. I had never had it before in Indiana, so I assumed it was just one of the many things I'd only ever find in NYC.

When I moved to Denver over 10 years ago, Mongolian BBQ was a thing of the past, and I missed it. So imagine my surprise when I move back to the tiny town of Santa Claus, IN, and discover a Mongolian BBQ restaurant in the nearby (and only slightly less tiny) town of Dale.

A Hallelujah chorus could be heard faintly in the distance the first time ever I laid eyes upon the sign. Could it be the same Mongolian BBQ I had loved in NYC? Indeed it was! So the kids and I came to feast here this evening to celebrate the fact that it's Thursday and Toby returns to "The Office" tonight.

For those of you who have yet to discover this delicacy, let me briefly explain: you start with a raw bar with meat, veggies, noodles, and sauces. A chef then cooks your unique concoction on a big round shiny metal thingy. When it's done, you have what basically amounts to homemade stir-fry cooked to your exact specifications with hand-picked ingredients. All who read this, get theeselves to Dale posthaste and partake of the goodness!

Posted from my BlackBerry Curve.

How to Make Miami a Safer Place

2008-11-20T16:18:00.005-06:00

Friends and I have debated recently the finer points of CSI: Miami, with the result being that several of said friends are simply delusional when it comes to the acting ability of one David "Horatio Cane" Caruso. Thankfully, the show is saved by the magnificent performances turned in by the stiletto-wearing Emily "Calleigh Duquesne" Procter.

First, the bad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywllaamy83U

This clip is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. Those repeated screams? Yes, those are the actual recorded screams of fans who simply cannot take another slowly-delivered, horrible one-liner from Mr. Horatio Cane.

A recent scientific study has suggested that, if Horatio were to learn to speak at a normal rate of speed like the rest of the human race, he would be able to solve crimes approximately 53% faster, thus leading to a huge decrease in the overall crime rate of the greater Miami metropolitan area. Changing from a Hummer to something that gets in excess of 3mpg would also save the city hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. A speech therapist (or acting coach) and a few Priuses could literally turn Miami into a family-friendly destination once again.

Now, for the good:

http://www.emilyprocter.com/

A few minutes on Ms. Procter's fine site will surely wash away all of the horrible screams and one-liners you experienced if you chose to watch the video from the first link above. You can thank me later.

I just calls 'em like I sees 'em.

Welcome!

2008-11-20T01:31:00.003-06:00

OK, so I'm new to this whole blogging thing. For the past several years, while blogs have become mainstream, I've studiously avoided all aspects of social networking. I fashioned myself a sort of "antisocial networker," but then I realized that was a bit of an oxymoron.

So why now? Why not? I occasionally have something interesting to say or share. Plus, I have a lot of friends who send me funny stuff, so there's always the chance that I'll post something that'll make you smile.

I'll probably use this forum to talk about my favorite obsession, er, I mean sport: Geocaching. It's something I really enjoy, so I'll probably tell stories about my trips from time to time.

Who knows? I might even comment on the news or pass along some great music advice (yes, another obsession) or post a funny picture or two.

So feel free to come along for the ride. I'll do my best to make it a fun one. If nothing else, you can get your daily dose of Chuck Norris here. If you enjoy it, friend me on facebook or follow me on twitter. I love groupies. ;-)