Letterboxing is Fun

Cyber Monday is Here!

2009-11-29T22:00:00.000-08:00

Okay, I have to admit, it seems that I ordered a few too many AQ calendars, and I still have about 30 of them sitting here at AQ headquarters collecting dust. As things are going, this might be the first year I've actually lost money on these things. Bummer. But what should I do with them?

And with the so-called "Cyber Monday" here, I figured I'd join the trend. I've marked everything in the AQ Marketplace as 30% off. Yes, the calendars are now 30% off--down to just $9.80. The AQ patches are 30% off--down to $1.40 each. And even Wassa's Patented Eye Bleach is 30% off--now down to the bargain price of just $3,500!

This is a limited time offer, however, only available today, and only while supplies last. (I doubt I'll run out of patches or eye bleach, but I only have about 30 calendars--those could realistically sell out.)

If you wanted a calendar for yourself or as a Christmas gift, this is your best chance!

AND--premium members still get another 10% off during the checkout process, which means you can score AQ calendars for $8.82 each.

Happy trails!

-- Ryan

Trying to Contact a Member?

2009-11-05T17:43:00.000-08:00

Atlas Quest is largely a closed community--closed in the sense that communication is meant to happen between members. If you don't have an account on Atlas Quest, you were out of the loop.

This is great for keeping out spam, but makes it difficult when someone who finds your letterbox by accident wants to contact you. Some would go through the effort of creating an account just to contact a member, which works, but is a bit overkill. Others would contact an admin and we'd forward the message on to the owner of the box in question, assuming we could figure out who it was meant for.

Now, however, there's a special Contact Member page that non-members can use to contact members. If you're logged into Atlas Quest, it'll just kick you to the normal page that allows you to send an AQ mail. If you want to try out the page, you'll have to log out and be a "non-member" to see it in action.

Non-members can contact you either by specifying your trail name, your member number, or the letterbox number. In the case of the box number, AQ will look up the owner of the specified box and send the message to that person.

The main home page on Atlas Quest now has a prominent link to this page at the top of the third column. (If you don't see three columns, scroll down the second column. It means your browser isn't wide enough to support three columns and the third one "collapsed" below the second one.) If you want to give muggles an easy way to contact you about your box through Atlas Quest, be sure to include either your trail name, member number, or box number in the box.

Or leave your e-mail address, which has always worked as well. =)

The "rude" button

2009-10-22T11:28:00.000-07:00

There's a new button on the message boards of Atlas Quest, that I affectionately call the "rude" button. Basically, it's to be clicked whenever you think someone's post has crossed a line--it's inappropriate, unnecessarily harsh, or just plain rude. I expect everyone to be civil to each other, and while disagreements are fine, being just plain mean is not.

Unlike the other buttons, you will not see how many people have clicked the rude button--this button is basically for the moderators to keep an eye on potentially problem areas. There's a special widget available only to them that allows them to see which posts are considered the most rude or might require more attention than usual. If you've clicked on it, it'll show a 1 in parenthesis so you can see your own vote--but that's as high as you should ever see the number.

It doesn't show the real counts since there are people on the boards who may think it's funny to click the rude button on posts by people they don't like even if there's nothing at all rude about it. I don't want someone who's abusing the button to be able to hurt the feelings of such people, so only moderators can see the real rude counts. It's really for their use anyhow.

On a related note, AQ does do some extra processing with these clicks. If you do think it's funny to abuse the button by clicking it all over the place, AQ will stop reporting the clicks to moderators. Essentially, if you cry wolf too often, we start ignoring you. =) So if you want your clicks to count for something, it's best not to abuse the feature.

Right now, the rude simply helps keep moderators informed of potentially problems that are brewing. I've thought about adding auto-timeouts for those who regularly cause problems on the message boards, and it may still happen at some point, but for now, it's purely a moderator tool. Regardless of your opinion about a subject or person, however, you are expected to act in a civil manner. Remember that--you don't want to draw the attention of moderators to your posts, and such posts are considerably more likely to do so now.

If you haven't read it yet or it's been awhile, you might want to review the message board's Best Practices. There's always a link for it under the 'Boards' menubar option, and there's good advice in it. Use it. Believe in it.

Let's Review Some Basics

2009-10-15T23:50:00.000-07:00

I got an e-mail this morning about a box that was listed more than a dozen times. It's one of those boxes that gets planted by one person, who then invites everyone who finds it to add a stamp to the box. Which is all fine and good--no problem with that. In fact, it's a lot of fun to see all the additions people add to such a box over time.

The problem happens when everyone who contributes a stamp to the box decides it needs to be listed on Atlas Quest. The thing is--it's still just one box. It doesn't matter how many stamps are in it--it's just one box.

So I fixed the listings by changing the "traditional" boxes into "other" boxes. This has two distinct advantages. One, everyone's P and F-counts stay accurate. (Or at least more accurate than they otherwise would be.) And two, it keeps the search results from getting cluttered up with multiple listings of the same box over and over and over again.

I posted about the change to the state board it was applicable figuring everyone in that area should know what was going on and, in the future, to list mere stamp listings as "other" boxes rather than full-fledged "traditional" boxes.

Wow--throughout the rest of the day, I've been getting a blizzard of messages pointing out other boxes that were similarly listed incorrectly, and have been fixing them as fast as the reports come in. Boxes in Texas, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, yadda, yadda, yadda. Who knows how many more reports I'll get before the dust settles.

One thing I've learned, however, is that this problem is much more widespread than I thought! It's happening all over the country!

So I'd like to set the record straight. It doesn't matter how many stamps are in a box--it should be listed as just ONE traditional box. If you feel that it's absolutely necessary to list the individual stamp contributions, you can do so either in the clue itself or by listing the stamps as "other" boxes, which is actually the most accurate listing for such boxes.

To make it easier for people to record finds on all of the "other" boxes, you have two options. One is to create a massive series of "other" boxes, though technically it'll throw off the "other" P and F-counts. Seeing as there are no standards for what counts as an "other," it's not like counting "others" has much meaning anyhow, however. It is more work for the person who created the original box, however, having to add new listings every time a new contribution is added.

The other option is to create an "other tracker" that's open to everyone, then in the clues for your box link to the tracker with the instructions that they can join the tracker and add their "other" box to the list. That'll make it much easier for people to find a single list of all stamp contributions, and each person is responsible for adding their own contributions to the list if they choose to.

It doesn't really much matter to me, but the one thing that DOES matter to me is that anytime multiple stamps are tucked away into the same box, it should be listed as a single traditional box.

If you've planted or found such boxes, you might notice that your official P and F counts may have gone down--in some cases, by as many as 40 or more. Sorry about that, but be honest with yourselves. You didn't really find that many boxes in the first place--you found one box with that many stamps, and now your counts will reflect that.

So please, in the future, let's be more careful about distinguishing between planting a real, honest-to-goodness letterbox and merely adding a stamp to an already existing box. If you've planted such a box, it might be a good idea to explicitly state in the clues that anyone who adds a contribution to the box should list their stamp as an "other" to make sure anyone who adds to the box knows how to list it correctly. There's obviously been a lot of confusion over the matter, so as a planter, help your finders by explaining how to add their contributions correctly.

Thanks!

The West Coast Trail and Juan de Fuca Trail

2009-09-18T19:23:00.000-07:00

It's official! I've booked a ride on the Victoria Clipper from Seattle to Victoria for 3:15 PM tomorrow afternoon. =) My plan is to find a place to spend the night in Victoria tomorrow night (so far, I don't actually have any reservations anywhere, but I have all my backpacking gear--I can stealth camp if I really have to! Ha!)

Then I'm off to Bamfield and the trailhead for the northern terminus of the West Coast Trail. I have to take an "orientation class" before they'll give me my permit--you know a trail is tough when you're required to take a class about the trail before they'll let you on it! Then I get to hike the next 50 miles through knee-deep mud, up and down 30 stories worth of ladders, cross two rivers on boats, and numerous serge channels on hand-drawn cable cars, all the while timing my hike on the beach to make sure that a high tide doesn't drown me. If the rain doesn't drown me first--this is a rain forest where precipitation is measured in feet rather inches. (Actually, being Canada, it's probably measured in meters rather than centimeters, but you get the point.) The area regularly gets more than ten FEET of rain per year. What's in it for me? It should be fun! And it's allegedly the most scenic trail in the entire North American continent. =)

Once I claw my way off the trail, I'll end up in the bustling little town of Port Renfrew. Rather than go home, I've decided to extend my hike by doing the Juan de Fuca Trail, another 30 miles along the Vancouver Island coast before getting a ride back to Victoria. The Juan de Fuca Trail conveniently starts right by Port Renfrew, so I don't even need a ride to that trailhead. It's also supposed to be a tough hike, and is allegedly the second-most scenic trail in the entire North American continent.

I'm not exactly sure when I'll finish, but I'll get a ride into Victoria once I finsh both trails. I'll stay in Victoria and play the tourist until October 1st when I'm booked to return to Seattle again on the Victoria Clipper. Hopefully that night I'll be online and post that I survived the hike. Until then, if you wonder what happened to me, that's it! =)

-- Ryan

A Death in the Family

2009-09-12T16:54:00.000-07:00

It is a sad day in our little letterboxing family today--Janet, better known as Blooming Flowers to most of us--passed away. She had been diagnosed with Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) earlier this year, which would ultimately cut her life way too early.

I've gotten a few people e-mailing me thanking me for the Blooming Flowers theme up right now, but I would like to make sure that everyone knows that that was Wassamatta_u's creation. He created it for her shortly after she was first diagnosed with AML, before *I* even found out she had been diagnosed with the cancer, and put it up again first when she was rushed to the hospital and today when she passed away. He jokes a lot, but he's actually a pretty thoughtful guy. =) But he really deserves all the credit for the theme. I just let him put it up.

On another note, there is a tributes page set up on Atlas Quest in honor of Blooming Flowers. If you have a fond memory of her or incident to tell, please share it with the rest of us. Or even just to offer your sympathies and prayers for her and her family.

While reading her profile today--strange that I'm compelled to do things like that after someone dies, as if trying to get to know them better after the fact, but I particularly enjoyed her answer to the question about what animal she would be and why, writing, "A cat. I like to lay in the sun and be pampered."

Here's to laying in the sun and being pampered. =)

But our little community will still miss you.

Calendars!

2009-09-05T12:53:00.001-07:00

The official Atlas Quest 2010 Letterboxing Calendars are here! I have two calendars this year--the usual, run-of-the-mill original style calendar with photos taken by letterboxers from all over the place.

Then there's what I call the Tortuga Edition because it has only photos that I took. While looking through my own pictures for the year, it seemed like I took an unusually large number of photos that I liked and turned them into a calendar. I don't really expect that calendar to be especially popular, but I figured my own family members would probably like it better when the holidays come rolling around. ;o)

But I've made it available for anyone who would like it--the photos are pretty good, I think!

I'm also doing things a bit differently this year than in past years. In years past, I would collect a bunch of calendar orders then order them in bulk, exactly the number of calendars I need. This time, I'm still ordering calendars in bulk--but I've already ordered them. Ordered them this morning, in fact. So rather than taking an unlimited number of calendar orders, the number of calendars this year are limited in quantity. Just 100 of the "original style" calendar, and just 10 of the "Tortuga edition."

When they run out, I won't be taking anymore calendar orders. Eventually, I'll get them online so you can order them directly from lulu.com, but they'll cost more there and probably not until October at the earliest.

I should also point out--you can order the calendars now, but I only put in the order for them this morning, so I won't be shipping them out immediately. It should take an expected "3 to 6 days" for the calendars to be printed, and probably another good week or so for the calendars to be shipped via ground across the country. Then I need to repack them and ship them on to you. At the very earliest, you probably won't have a copy in your hands for at least two weeks from today, but they should arrive by the end of the month. =)

If I used one of your photos in the calendar, I'll be sending you a free calendar. Don't include the free one in your order if you wish to order additional calendars. I'll contact each of you personally about how to get your free calendar.

And remember--Atlas Quest is always ready to take more photo submissions for the 2011 letterboxing calendar. Just go to the Project X page for rules and the submission form.

Calendar Photo Deadline Approaching!

2009-08-13T15:17:00.000-07:00

For those of you interested in submitting photos for the 2010 letterboxing calendar, be sure to upload them by the end of the month! Full details about the project can be read on the Project X page. (I moved the link so it's now under the 'Marketplace' menubar option rather than the 'Toolbox' option where it used to be--in case you're having trouble finding it.) It has some descriptions for what I'm looking for in photos along with previous calendars of photos that had been selected as winners.

I included my favorite photo of last year's calendar in this post. Isn't that photos absolutely awesome! Seems like every year I get at least one photo that when I see it, my eyes pop out and I immediately know that I'll use it. Not that many of the other photos are absolutely stunning, but certain photos are just hard to get. A bright red cardinal sitting in a tree during a snowstorm? That's not the kind of picture you can plan for! The bright red against that cold, white background--what an amazing photo! A nice scene of a sunset can be beautiful, but finding a pretty sunset isn't actually all that hard to do. (Probably why I get so many sunset submissions!) But this photo..... wow. It's the one that really grabbed my attention last year. I'd never be able to get a photo like that in a hundred years!

Which one will grab my attention this year? =)

-- Ryan

Results of the Great Blue Diamond Experiment

2009-08-12T13:14:00.000-07:00

The second poll is now officially closed. The official winner, by a whisker, is the original blue diamond algorithm I had been using all along. Before I started this whole voting process, I actually saved a list of exactly which boxes had a blue diamond, and during this vote, I simply put them back. So despite all these other algorithms I tried, the original blue diamond algorithm is actually still the favorite. =)

A close runner up was the green algorithm, which is close enough where I feel the two colors really were a tie from a statistical standpoint. That doesn't surprise me much--the core algorithm for the two is exactly the same. The difference between the two is that the blue algorithm had additional "tweaks" I added after the core algorithm ran. The core ranked boxes based purely on the votes, adjusting for the voter's average vote and the standard deviation of their votes. The green algorithm is the "pure" results. The blue algorithm included a few additional tweaks after the fact by rearrange the "borderline" results.

Boxes that ranked near the cutoff for a diamond usually ended up there more-or-less by chance. From a statistical standpoint, the boxes immediately above and below the cutoff are actually ties. The difference in ranking for #2223 or #2252 might depend on what a voter had for breakfast that morning. So I added a couple of tweaks to make the rankings more consistent and (I hoped) fair. If a box already had a blue diamond the previous month, it would still keep the diamond even if it technically fell below the cutoff (but was still a borderline case). If two new boxes fell close to the border line, one on each side of it, I would give a slight edge to the one with a planter's choice listed as an attribute. Basically, in the event of a tie, then the planters would cast a tie-breaking vote. (Don't think putting a planter's choice icon next to ALL of your boxes will help either--how discerning one is in applying them to your boxes is also taken into account.) There were about a half-dozen various tweaks I made to those borderline boxes in an attempt to break the statistical ties, and those were applied to the blue algorithm but not the green.

The tweaks only affected the results of the borderline boxes, and apparently it didn't make a significant difference in the results.

The purple and white diamonds I didn't expect to do well since they didn't do especially well in the last vote. The white diamond used the algorithm where it removed the best and worst vote for a box, then took the average of the remaining votes. The purple diamond took the ratio of high votes (5s and 4s) to the number of low votes (1s and 2s) and sorted accordingly. It actually did surprising well in the last vote, but still nowhere close to the original core algorithm that adjusted votes based on the average and standard deviation of an individual's voting patterns. While the first vote had the high-low ratio score nearly double the rate of the straight-average of votes, this time they scored almost identically. I'm a bit puzzled about that, but they both did significantly worse than other options, so it doesn't make much of a difference.

The red and yellow algorithms were the "combined" algorithms, where I ran three different ranking algorithms, then combined the results to generate the red and yellow diamonds. Intuitively, I thought these would do very well--perhaps even beating out the original blue diamond algorithm--and was stunned to see them go down in flames like they did. I guess in my head, I thought a combined algorithm would pick up on the best of all the algorithms. It seems actual results were more skewed towards "the weakest link." It took the results of the green, purple, and white diamonds, and combined them. The red is the "pure" combined algorithm, while the yellow is the "tweaked" version using many of the same tweaks I did for the green/blue variations.

The end results of the combined algorithms, as I see it, is that the most popular core algorithm (the green), was pulled down by the poorer results of the purple and white algorithms. Or you could view it as the green algorithm "pulling up" the results of the purple and white algorithms. The combined algorithms did score better than the two least favorites, but it scored worse than the most popular algorithm. An average of algorithms thus resulted in average results.

And that was the biggest surprise for me. I really expected the combined algorithm to get much better results than that.

The different between the tweaked and non-tweaked version of the combined algorithm 31-29, a statistical tie in my book. Again, there doesn't seem to be much preference one way or another based on the tweaks.

So, the core algorithm using the average and standard deviations of a person's voting patterns is hands down the winner and will continue to be used. The tweaked version shows a *slight* preference, but it may not be outside the range of a statistical tie. I also never broke down the multiple tweaks that could be voted on to see which ones might be preferred--it was an all-or-nothing type of deal.

The two "tweaked" algorithms also didn't all have the same tweaks, so I can't really compare those two very well. I literally applied the blue diamonds on exactly the same boxes that had blue diamonds before the votes were counted, which meant that tweaked version did allow boxes with just two votes to get a diamond, but the yellow diamond was limited to boxes that had a minimum of three votes. The blue diamond included the tweak that gave preference to boxes that already had a blue diamond if it now falls just under the cutoff, but the yellow version had no previous diamonds that it could be compared to and thus did not use that tweak.

So I'm left trying to decide exactly which tweaks to keep and which ones to throw away, but based on the results of the poll, I'm not sure such decisions will make a big impact anyhow. They're little decisions that ultimately have little impact. I'll definitely continue favoring boxes that already have blue diamonds just for the consistency factor--one of the biggest complaints about blue diamonds was their fleeting nature for borderline boxes. It would appear one month, disappear the next, and return the month after that, and so on. Giving a slight edge to those with the blue diamond already got rid of most of that inconsistency (and the subsequent complaints about "losing" diamonds).

But in a nutshell, after all this voting and discussion, pretty much nothing will change. =) Was it a waste of time? I think not. There were several very good things that came out of these proceedings:

1. You no longer have to take my word that I'm using the best algorithms possible.

2. I also don't have to trust that my biases had been playing a roll in the selection of algorithms.

3. I hope that anyone who intuitively felt that a simple average of all votes really is NOT the best ranking algorithm available will finally be able to let it go. Yes, there are some people who actually liked that result the best, but there were also nine people who each voted for the "completely random" results as well. The results were pretty overwhelming, however, that a simple average is NOT the best ranking algorithm available, and it's time to simply agree to disagree.

4. And I hope to gave many of you a sense of empowerment. Not the "cram it down your throat whether you like it or not" feeling that some people seemed to have, but a sense that you're in control of how the boxes are ranked. The end results may not have changed, but this time it was you all who chose the algorithm--not me. =)

On another note, I'm seriously considering giving boxes with different status different colored diamonds. Not because it has any significance, but rather because there continues to be that persistent myth that retired boxes are "taking" diamonds away from active boxes. It's not true, and even after I explain mathematically why that's not happening, it's a myth that continues to persist. And maybe a simple change of colors can finally put the nail in that myth once and for all. It's an intriguing idea to me, and it would be pretty easy to implement given the fact I already have lots of colors available now. =)

Thanks to everyone who participated. I'll be putting everything back to normal shortly. I'll leave the original blue diamonds up this months, but I might make a couple of minor tweaks when it comes to next month's ranking of the boxes. For the most part, however, expect the same algorithm.

Happy trails!

Diamonds, Diamonds, Everywhere.....

2009-08-08T17:03:00.000-07:00

For those following along in the message boards, IrishRef suggested a different algorithm for calculating blue diamonds. His idea was to throw the highest rated vote and lowest rated vote for each box out (those pesky "outliers") then average the rest and sort accordingly. It's an interesting algorithm, and not one I had considered before. I was intrigued--how would blue diamonds if I sorted it out that way?

And what about those people who think every vote should be counted "as is," no normalization of the votes allowed. How would that shake out? Sure, there would likely be a lot of overlap, but how much? Would one of these other algorithms provide better results? Ultimately, I'm not attached to any one particular algorithm. I'm more than happy to go with the one I think works best.

So I'm having an algorithm face-off. I have created seven, yes, count 'em SEVEN colors of diamonds: red, yellow, green, blue, purple, white, and brown. Each one uses a different algorithm to determine the 5% of boxes that will have that color.

I'm not going to tell you which algorithm goes to which color, or even what all the algorithms are. I will say, however, that one of them does use IrishRef's suggestion. Additionally, one of them is a "flat average"--it takes the votes as is and averages picking those with the highest averages. I'd like your opinions on which color you feel best represents the real "blue diamond letterboxes." I'd also like to point out the the color blue is NOT using the old algorithm--I've actually tweaked the old algorithm and given it a different color to disguise it a bit. =) None of the colors actually represent what the old algorithm used.

If one of the algorithms is a particular clear-cut favorite, I might update the code to use the new algorithm instead of the old one. =)

But please, be honest. Don't pick the color that gives your plants the most diamonds. Pick the one that you feel provides the most accurate results. These are supposed to be the best boxes out there--those that a visitor "can't miss" if they're passing through. Be honest with yourself, and select the algorithm you feel accomplishes this goal.

You can cast your vote in this post.

Red = funny
Yellow = interesting
green = educational
blue = agree
purple = disagree
white = huh?
brown = hug

I'm very curious to see how you all think the different algorithms stack up against each other. =) Also keep in mind, anyone who has opted out of the blue diamonds will not have ANY color on their boxes, so don't fault an algorithm for not putting a diamond on a boxer if you know they've opted out. The problem might not be the algorithm.

I also want to point out--all these colors are temporary. Eventually, I will be selecting ONE algorithm, and that's what'll be used for blue diamonds. The rest of the colors will go away.

Happy trails!

-- Ryan

Another New Feature

2009-08-05T15:40:00.000-07:00

I seem to be in a mood this week of working on features I actually dislike. First the blacklist, and now a "who's online now" list.

Have a pressing need to know if someone is on Atlas Quest right now?! If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times: There is no such thing. You see lists like that on other websites, I know, which is probably why so many people want to see it on Atlas Quest, but unless someone is in the chat room and their browsers are pinging Atlas Quest every single second (well, every other second--I slowed down the pinging to help alleviate the load on the AQ servers), I can't really know who is actively on the site. Actually, even the chat rooms are imperfect. I know I've been in them in one window while surfing a completely unrelated website in another window. Not to mention that the list in the chat rooms could be two seconds out of date even with the faster Internet connections. (It could be even more out of date with slower connections.)

People who aren't in chat rooms--it's even harder to tell if they're on Atlas Quest or not. I can only track the last time their browser hits the AQ server. If five minutes go by without any additional hits, what's that mean? Maybe they're reading a long post or solving a challenging cryptogram? Or maybe they've moved on and are checking their stock portfolios on another website. Or maybe they shut down their computer and are watching television.

The point is--there's no master list that's actually accurate of who's online now. Never has been, and never will be. So keep that in mind. And given the fact that some people might not want others to know when their online, they can hide that information if they so choose. I'm notorious for turning off those annoying status icons on my Yahoo account. Mostly because people seem to expect an immediate reply if they think I'm online, and I rarely do that. I reply when I'm good and ready to reply. ;o)

For me, the list serves two very useful purposes. One, I can monitor how much activity Atlas Quest is getting and how close it's getting to capacity. And two, as an admin, there's a link available to me that allows me to force a member to logout. Until now, I didn't actually have an easy way to do that--a feature that would have been useful during the rare attacks by spammers. For the rest of you, it doesn't actually serve much purpose except give you another thrill by 'spying' on others.

Anyhow, to view a list of members who have recently been on Atlas Quest, check out the Online Members page. It only includes people who have logged into Atlas Quest--unless they've logged in, there's no way for me to know who it was. The "age" column does not represent a person's age--that's how long it's been (in minutes) since the last time the person has shown any activity on Atlas Quest. Someone who's age is 10 minutes means they haven't registered a hit or clicked on anything in Atlas Quest for 10 minutes. Maybe they're solving a cryptogram. Maybe they left the website. Maybe they took a bathroom break. We may never know. =)

If you click the "logout" button and actually log OUT of Atlas Quest, you will be dropped from the list immediately. Technically, you could still be surfing the website anonymously--but for the purposes of this list, it only shows logged in members rather than every single person surfing the site.

If you'd rather not have your presence known, you can opt out of the list from your privacy preferences.

What Happened?

2009-08-04T19:32:00.000-07:00

I updated Atlas Quest this afternoon. Nothing particularly serious or noteworthy. Minor things that most people would likely never even notice unless it's pointed out to them. =)

One addition that probably needs a bit explanation is what a "whitelist" and "blacklist" is. You're probably more familiar with the term blacklist, as in, "Fred was blacklisted from the agency." To be banished or excluded from something.

Whitelists are more of a computer nerd type of terminology, but it's the opposite of a blacklist. If you send out invitations for a party, anyone you send the invitation to is on your whitelist. Everyone NOT on your whitelist is excluded by default. Sometimes, it's easier to maintain a list of 30 people on a whitelist than a 5,999,999,970 people on a blacklist.

For a quite awhile now, AQ has supported a "whitelist" option when you listed boxes. You could restrict your box to anyone on your designated whitelist. I didn't call it a whitelist, but that's what it was. It was actually called a "contact group" on Atlas Quest. AQ lets you create contact groups, or a collection of people you want to contact or communicate with quickly and easily, but not in a public forum. If you had listed any contact groups, then you could restrict boxes, events, and trackers to members of one of your contact groups. Anyone you added as a member could see the box, event, or tracker. Everyone else could not.

Occasionally I'd get requests asking if there was some way they could restrict a specific person from seeing their boxes. In a word, no. Even if that option were available, they could log in under a different name and still see the listing. So it's not a feature I ever took seriously.

But I added it today. I'm not really sure why. I don't think people should use it. If they figure out they are on a blacklist, they might get really ticked off and do something stupid like steal your boxes. But for what it's worth, I added a blacklist option. It works like the whitelist option, but in this case, anyone on your list cannot see the box, event, or tracker.

There is ONE instance where I can see why you might want to make sure of the blacklist--and that's a blacklist with nobody in it. =) The way AQ works, it has to know who is logged in to know whether or not to display the box, event, or tracker. So if you have a whitelist or blacklist restriction, anyone who is not logged in will not be able to see it.

So AQ first checks if the person using the site is logged in or not. If not, it displays a "this page is restricted" message. If so, then it checks if you are on the whitelist (in which case you CAN see the page) or if you are in the blacklist (in which case you can NOT see the page) and displays the appropriate message. But the key thing here is that whether you are logged in or not is checked first.

So if you add an empty blacklist as a restriction, it essentially means only a logged in member can view your box, event, or tracker. Kind of equivalent to a P-0 or F-0 restriction, except those don't actually require someone to be logged in. So if you want your clues to be available to all members with the only catch being that only people with accounts can see your boxes, an empty blacklist will do the trick. =)

If you are absolutely bound and determined to prevent specific people from finding your boxes online through the use of a blacklist--that's fine. Not my problem. But it's as easy as creating another account and logging in to get around it. Most aliases don't typically have a lot of plants and finds so if you combine it with an F-count and P-count restriction, it might actually do a pretty good job of keeping people out of your boxes you don't want visiting them. It still doesn't stop them from finding boxes with friends who might have access to your boxes, and you do risk a lot of hurt feelings if the person you blacklisted ever finds out, but I'm not your babysitter. =)

It's a tool--use it responsibly.

-- Ryan

Contraseña segura

2009-07-28T13:12:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't realize it, I'm currently vacationing in Spain, taking it easy in the little pueblo called Madrid. The other day, I passed one of those newspaper stands with all sorts of magazines and newspapers, and one of them caught my eye--mostly because there was a topless woman on the cover. (Hey, I'm a guy. I notice these things.) There's a topless guy on the cover too, but I didn't notice him at first. They're taking a peek at each others "goods"--but those goods are still hidden from view. (Barely.) The magazine was called "Muy interesante"--Spanish for "Very interesting." Interesting indeed!

Turns out, the magazine isn't a porno magazine--despite the misleading cover photo. I think they're a little bit looser about topless women adorning their magazines than we are in the states. The cover photo was part of an article about "The Great Couple Test--Are We Compatible?" It seems to be mostly a science-kind of magazine, with lots of information about recent scientific discoveries, stories about archeological discoveries, and an article about sunbathing with the scariest pictures of white people with the darkest tans I've ever seen in my life.

I brought the magazine with me to dinner to pass the time and read some Spanish, and one section about "Words" caught my attention. It has a drawing of a laptop with a combination lock on the monitor, and a hand twisting to open it. The article was called "Contraseña segura"--or "password security" in English.

What a bizarre coincidence! Not two hours after I posted about password security, I stumble onto an article about password security in Spanish!

The list of most commonly used passwords is naturally going to be different in Spanish than in English, but the meanings were largely the same. "Hackers circulate a list of no more than 200 words and combinations of letters or numbers that are most common. For example, 1234, contraseña, hola or yo qué sé are some of the favorites that people use. Also, love, felicidad or buenos días.

There are two things about that list I find interesting. One, they use the English word for love as a password a lot. And two, the most commonly used words in English (password, hello, happiness) is also used by Spanish speakers (contraseña, hola, felicidad). Spanish speakers correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand yo qué sé to mean "I know that." Which amuses me--I hadn't heard that as a possible password, but nobody on Atlas Quest ever selected it as a password so I guess the English counterpart doesn't get used much. An exception to every rule!

The article goes on to say that other popular passwords are the "names of pets, kids, birth dates or wedding anniversaries, telephone numbers, and common words like macaroni, sausages, cars." (Turns out, two people are using macaroni as a password on AQ--a word I had never thought to check before. Nobody is using sausage, however, and cars is too short to be a valid password on AQ.)

Then it recommends that passwords should have at least six characters, should not be a word you use regularly or can be found in a dictionary, and should use letters, numbers, and symbols, then goes on to recommend a "trick" by selecting the beginning of a book and converting the first line into initials, numbers, and symbols, using an example of Don Quixote, "En un lugar de la Mancha" which might map to "e1ldl*". In this case, they replaced the word "Mancha" with an asterisk (a common pattern matching symbol in the computer industry). Un, in Spanish, means "a" or "one"--so they replaced the word with the number 1 instead of the letter U.

And the article ends that you should change your passwords occasionally--but don't do it on a Friday because "you probably will forget it by Monday." Hahaha! I love the Spanish. =)

Doing a search for common foreign words as passwords has been coming up empty for me. If you absolutely must use a word for a password, perhaps foreign words are a better choice than English ones?

Choosing Passwords Wisely

2009-07-28T09:46:00.001-07:00

I got a message from someone today who forgot their password. I won't name names, but in the message the person included the password they wanted, and that it "somehow" got changed because they "knew" that's what it used to be.

These kind of messages are usually rare for me--most people just tell me that they forgot their password, and I either send them to the Lost Password Center to reset it, or manually reset it myself if they're e-mail address doesn't seem to work. They usually don't send me the password they want it set to--I'd just as soon not know, and there's no reason I need to know. I can log into any account I need to with a "master password" when I need to--I never need to know anyone's actual password. Passwords are stored in the database in an encrypted format that's specifically designed so that I can't even decrypt it even if I wanted to. If hackers ever broke into Atlas Quest, they might be able to steal your e-mail address or cause all sorts of mischief, but there's one thing they can't get--it's your password.

Unless it's a poorly selected one. And alas, there are a lot of poorly selected passwords. Many moons ago, I read an article in a magazine about the ten most common passwords, and out of curiosity, I ran them through AQ's accounts to see if people actually were using them. Some of the most common passwords of all time, in case you're curious, include: password, 123456, qwerty, abc123, letmein, monkey, and money. Every single one of the most common passwords were being used by people--some of them in numbers that made my mouth drop open in shock. Passwords such as god did not get any hits since AQ has always required passwords to have at least five characters, even from day one.

I tried a few other "obvious" guesses including atlasquest and letterboxing, cracking loads of additional accounts. Then set it up so AQ tried using the same password as the trail name for the account, which as I recall, was the mother load.

Almost immediately, I added new restrictions on passwords to encourage people to pick better passwords. I made those most-common passwords off limits, and AQ will reject them. It will also reject any password if you use your first name, last name, or trailname as your password (or even a part of it). Which brings me back to the person who said that somehow their password had been "changed." Since the person told me the password they wanted, I could see the problem. It included their first name. The password wasn't changed--AQ had just rejected it as being too easily guessed and the person didn't remember their second choice.

A letterboxing website probably isn't a hacker's paradise, and even if a hacker did get into your account, they probably can't do more than delete your boxes or finds and send offensive messages in your name. But why choose bad passwords in the first place? Do you use the same passwords for your bank accounts, brokerage accounts, and other places where sensitive materials reside? Hackers DO try to break into those kinds of accounts, and easy-to-guess passwords make YOU a tempting target.

Some of you might remember the password cracker I set up the last time I discussed password security, and we had a lot of fun "cracking" accounts on Atlas Quest. All told, with all of the various guesses and such, we successfully cracked close to half the accounts on Atlas Quest. Without knowing any personal data about you, we could hack into about every other account given enough time to make guesses.

It might be a little harder now since AQ no longer allows the most common of passwords anymore (however, old accounts that made it in before the change still got to keep their poorly selected passwords, so those do still exist), but I bet there's still a lot of passwords you can guess. AQ will no longer allow you to use your first name, last name, and trail name (at least not what you entered when you registered on Atlas Quest), so those types of guesses won't be anywhere near as successful. But AQ doesn't know your birthday, it doesn't know the names of your children or pets, and it doesn't know much about you on a personal level, so it can't stop you from selecting those types of bad passwords.

If you're using a bad password now, consider changing it. Make your online accounts safe again!

Still don't believe? Try cracking accounts yourself and see how many you can break into with the Password Cracker.

I just want to say to the five people who use the word "goober" as a password--I'm honored. But you really need better passwords than that. ;o)

I'm also happy to report that while there are no "losers" on Atlas Quest, we do have four "winners"! Let's give our winners a round of applause. =)

What I Learned At LB Con....

2009-07-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

I learned a lot of things at the letterboxing con. I learned, for instance, that you can pick padlocks with a soda can. Anyone in the TV room at the dorms Sunday night would have seen me making my very own lock picking tools. I decided not to take them back with me to Seattle, however, thinking it might look a bit suspicious going through security at the airport. I can always make more later! =)

I also learned that you never, ever want to share a room with Wassamatta_u--or sit in the front row of any talk he gives. (I do hope those eyebrows on the kids grow back.)

I also learned a few new letterboxing terms that I had never heard before. Several of my favorites I've added to the AQ glossary.

slink-boxing: Often seen at large events when large numbers of letterboxers look for a limited number of boxes. They stretch out as they walk to a box, then snap together when they stop to log in at the box, not unlike a human slinky.

slank-boxing: A combination of slack-boxing and slink-boxing. A group will slink to the box, then a designated person or two will ink up the stamp for everyone to make the stamping process go faster for the slack-boxers. Sometimes the slack-boxers won't even log their own stamp into the logbook due to limited logbook pages and the time involved.

S.P.O.P.: Short for Suspicious Pile Of People. Typically seen during large events where there are considerably more people than letterboxes. The people tend to cluster around the limited number of boxes, and at a certain point, you don't even need to follow clues anymore. You just look around for suspicious piles of people. "There must be a box over there--13 people are logging into something!"

ink in my ears: When you are confused or not sure that you heard a statement correctly, you have ink in your ears. For example, you might say, "I must have ink in my ears--I thought you just said that you went to a brothel after finding my letterbox!" The first known use of this term was by wassamatta_u. Not a big shock there.

What did YOU learn at the letterboxing con?

Live, From St. Louis!

2009-07-17T11:31:00.000-07:00

It is I, Green Tortuga, live from St. Louis! =) Let's see.... we've already been busted by security guards. I wanted to get a picture of the arch through an arch, and they told me no photos. Blah. Come ON?! No photos of the arch?! So I moved on and took photos elsewhere, but I never did get one of the arch through another arch. Maybe next time.....

I don't have much time right now, and I don't dare leave any letterboxers alone to plot against me, but I wanted to share a couple of my photos at least. The arch is kind of a boring picture all by itself, and if you're too close, it's hard to get the whole thing in the photo anyhow. I found this angle with the lamp post in the foreground that I thought gave it a lot of character.

A bunch of us also took the tram to the top. Most people looked at the view through tiny windows. Positively claustrophobic up there! I looked at the view too, but I wanted to see straight down. Doesn't seem like most people were doing that, so here's my picture from the top looking straight down over 600 feet. I really needed a wide-angle lens to really get the effect, but it was wide enough to barely get the base of both sides of the arch in the photo. The people at the bottom can't even be seen in the photo they're so small!

Now it's time for me to find some boxes and boxers. To plot and have fun. Farewell! =)

The Last Photo....?

2009-07-11T14:52:00.000-07:00

I have a few pictures to share from our trip to the Spy vs. Spy event near Lake Tahoe. Not of the event--I was too busy causing mischief and mayhem to get pictures, but after the event, Amanda and I spent a few days in the area and took our time driving back to Seattle. It's not like we're in the area often, so we wanted to make the most of it.

After the event, I got dumped off at various trailheads to find my way to wherever I wanted to go. Even in June, snow can be an issue at high elevations, so most of my hiking activities were confined to trails near or on Lake Tahoe rather than the mountains surrounding it. The mountains were calling to me, but they would have to wait another day.

For my first hike, I decided on a near-loop that would start me at the trailhead for Cascade Falls, take me around to Eagle Lake, come down to Emerald Bay, then end at the Eagle Creek Campground a short jaunt up the road from where I started. This is Cascade Falls. Not a very creative name for the waterfall, but it is pretty. =)

Next up is a photo of Emerald Bay with the rest of Lake Tahoe in the background. I stopped to rest, drink water, and admire the view because, WOW! What a view!

Next up is my first view of Eagle Lake. I reached the high point of this hike from this vantage point. The trail followed the ridge down towards the left to a gap another mile or two, then down the canyon back to the lake. It doesn't go straight down the mountain from this point!

I just love this old gnarled trees.

Snow plants were all over the place. I found this group growing alongside Emerald Bay.

This next photo, I swear I don't remember taking. I was as surprised to see it while going through my photos later as the next person. It appears to be a bird flying over Emerald Bay. I do remember taking photos from this vantage point--I just don't remember the bird being in it. And looking closely, it appears to be largely black or dark brown with a white head. Did I actually get a photo of a bald eagle?!
Next up is Vikingsholm, an interesting little place nestled along the shores of Emerald Bay. It's apparently open for the public to check out, but I only admired the outside. I had a scheduled to keep to and didn't want to be late for my pickup!

And another photo of Emerald Bay. I just liked the clouds and the light. I could hear thunder coming from those clouds as I hiked along the shore, but fortunately the rain didn't come for me.

The next day I did another hike from a scenic lake to a scenic meadow whose names I can't remember off the top of my head. Bearclaw Lake? I'm pretty sure it starts with a B. Anyhow, that's not important. Just after leaving the lake, I ran into a bit of trouble--the trail led me to a meadow, then disappeared! I scratched my head a bit, and tried to retrace my steps making sure I didn't miss a subtle turnoff or something. I examined the topo map I had for every tiny squiggle and mark that might help me out, but for the life of me, that trail was gone. So I took a photo of the non-trail. Do you see a trail in this photo? Neither do I, but that's apparently where it was supposed to be. I had a pretty good topo map to go cross country, however, so I wasn't terribly concerned about getting lost. (I did not, however, have the compass--Amanda and Lea had it to find letterboxes!) I determined that the trail led to the gap just to the left of the hill you see in the photo and headed for that. (The gap, not the hill.) The meadow was marshy, though, and my feet kept sinking in muck. It was like the Florida Trail all over again! In the photo, the meadow looks pretty solid, but trust me, everything in that photo has about a half an inch of water under it.

Anyhow, near the gap, I finally came across the trail again and followed it out the rest of the way without any additional trouble. The trail went down through a steep canyon, enormous in scope, but sadly puny in pictures. I won't post those photos because it really doesn't do the area justice. Instead, I'll leave you with these two photos of flowers I found growing alongside the trail. =)

Amanda and I then started our trek back to Seattle with a quick stop at Lassen National Park along the way. This is a place I've wanted to visit for years, and the only national park in California I had never visited. It's tucked away far in the northeast part of the state, alone and neglected. A park few people seem to be aware of, and fewer people seem to visit. As the area was along our route, it seemed like the perfect time to visit. When would we get another chance?!

We stopped at the Visitor's Center, learned a bit about the park, then decided on a game plan. I would hike down from the Visitor's Center--there's a trailhead right there that leads to Mill Creek Falls, then I could hike out past two lakes and the thermal features of Bumpass Hell. It seemed easy enough at the time.

And the hike to Mill Creek Falls was indeed easy. A simple waterfall, but nice. The trail was well-traveled and snow-free, although I passed nobody along the entire route. I took photos, ate a snack, drank some water, then continued on my way.

I encountered the first problem almost immediately: There were no bridges crossing the creeks that fed the waterfall. The spring runoff was quite impressive, and while I could have tromped right through the water, I preferred to keep my feet dry if possible. I scouted around, trying to find a series of rocks and boulders I could jump across, and finally did so without getting wet. Or dead. The creeks feed into the waterfall. If I slipped and couldn't stop myself from getting swept away by the current, I'd be going over the falls! I took a photo from the top of the falls, and wondered imagined being swept away and over the falls. Would the photo survive? Would they find my body and see the last photo I ever took? Or would the camera and photo be ruined by the water or the plunge?

I crossed the stream a bit upriver as far as I could--enough so I felt safe that if I did take a dunker into the water, I could get out before I went over the falls. I made it across the creek safely and dry, but not before taking this photo of some flowers growing in a rocky outcrop in the center of the creek. The flowers fascinated me, growing there in the center of the creek. Surrounded by water on all sides, save from the torrents of water. Protected by the torrents of water, in fact, assuming hungry animals wouldn't want to fight the raging water to get here.

The trail was becoming increasingly difficult to follow. It was clear that few people ever hiked out beyond that view of the waterfall and across the water. My map showed a trail here, but it was obviously need of maintenance past the falls. I followed the thread of a trail another mile or two until it reached another small meadow and I bumped into the first couple of patches of snow. The snow didn't concern me too much--I expected patches of it along the way in shady areas. Then I looked up across the meadow and my heart sank. I saw patches of land. A nearly universal layer of snow covered the upper end of the meadow, completely obliterating the trail underneath. Where the heck had all that snow come from?!

Now the hike became a battle. Me against nature. And nature was kicking my butt! Several times I lost the trail completely, searching ahead for any signs of human intervention. A cut log, a marker on a tree, the faint hint of a trail where the land occasionally poked through the snow. The snow crunched underfoot, but I slogged along, wondering if I should turn back. At least it would be easy to follow my own tracks back out. The trail ahead looked like it hadn't been hiked all season, however. I couldn't follow the tracks left by the hikers before me--there were none! I had a trusty topo map, and read the land for clues about the correct direction to go. The compass, once again, was with Amanda. This time, I really wished I had the compass. I had miles I needed to hike through this snow, mostly in trees that blocked many of the waypoints that I could use to mark my progress.

But mostly, I watched for the markers on the trees. They were few and far between, but whenever I spotted one, my heart lifted. I knew I was still on the right track. I knew a search party would eventually find my cold, lifeless body if I somehow died out here. Just so long as I was still within view of one of those markers.

I was thrilled when I finally reached Crumbaugh Lake--the first major waypoint I was hoping to hit. I didn't venture near the shore--I wasn't entirely sure exactly where it started. The snow led right up over to the edge, and the edges of the lake were frozen. I didn't want to get too close to the shore to find out that I was actually over the water before I plunged through the snow and ice to my death. So I steered clear of the shoreline.

I felt pretty confident that I had found Crumbaugh Lake, but I didn't see any signs to mark the location. I compared the shape of the lake to that on my topo map, and compared the location with the mountain ridges surrounding it. Yes, this must be the lake I decided, although a sign to confirm it would have been nice.

I veered around the left side of the lake--according to my topo map, that's where the trail was and significant areas that were exposed to the sun had no snow at all on that side. At the far side, I found a sign confirming that it was indeed Cumbaugh Lake which pleased me enormously. The sign was positioned where they expected most hikers to come in at--not where I hiked in from.

I also pulled out my umbrella. The sun was hot, and I wasn't in the trees anymore.

The next waypoint on the hike was Cold Boiling Lake, but this one I figured would be comparitively easy to find since it fed the creek that led into Crumbaugh Lake. All I needed to do was follow the creek and I'd get to the right place. So off I tromped.

I was so confident about following the creek, I largely stopped looking for the markers on the trees. Put my topo map away, and charged through the snow, keeping the creek within hearing distance at all times. Which isn't to say that I wasn't keeping my eyes open for markers, cut logs, or signs, but I stopped searching for them as actively as I did before. The creek would guide me. I was sure of it. As long as I didn't follow it up some unrelated tributary. =)

Along the way, out in the middle of nowhere, probably not on any trail at all, I found a message for me in the snow. It said, "Fun." The word was made of twigs, that seemed to have fallen randomly from the surrounding trees. Or maybe some other hiker with a twisted sense of humor really had passed by, but if they did, they left no tracks in the snow. The snow around the twigs melted faster than the rest of the surrounding snow--the dark twigs absorb the heat of the sun more than the reflective snow does, then the heat melts the snow. So the message was inlaid into the snow. I felt certain that the trees were mocking me.

I reached Cold Boiling Lake after another hour or so of hiking--covering a distance that normally would have taken me half that time. Like Crumbaugh, I shied away from the shoreline, not exactly sure where the snow ended and the water started. On the far side of the lake, the snow vanished from view, and I had high hopes that my snow trouble were finally over. The trail was supposed to climb up a south-facing slope, and south-facing slopes tend to have significantly less snow than north-facing ones. I hoped this was the start of a snow-free zone once again.

I stopped to rest, eating a Pop-Tart and drinking much of my water. I also pulled out the walkie-talkie and tried to call Amada on it. I was already an hour late from when Amanda expected me to arrive, and I still had miles to hike before reaching the trailhead where she would pick me up. I knew she'd grow increasingly concerned the longer it took for me to hike out. If she were at the top of the ridge, there was a chance she could pick me up on the walkie-talkie and I could put her mind at ease. But alas, she didn't respond to my calls.

The trail climbed up the ridge, along which was mostly free of snow. Occasionally there were large patches of it, but finding the route consisted of continuing to go straight until the snow stopped and that's where the trail would be found. The trail looped around Cold Boiling Lake nearly 180 degrees, but this time up the mountain ridge rather than the valley I followed to it, passing by a bird's-eye view of Crumbaugh Lake. I couldn't help but notice that had I hiked directly up the steep slope from that lake, it would have been completely snow free. I'd have missed Cold Boiling Springs, but under the circumstances, I wouldn't have minded.

I finally reached Bumpass Hill, a cauldrin of bubbling mud, fumerales, and boiling hot springs--an impressive display of nature. I had also reached what I considered to be civilization. I saw two people in the distance walking on the boardwalk--the first people I had seen since leaving the Visitor's Center earlier in the day. The trailhead was still another mile or two away, but a lot of people hike out to Bumpass Hell to see Earth's fury, and I knew the trail would become clear, well-trampled, and populated at this point.

I tried calling Amanda again from the walkie-talkie, and got a response. She was at the trailhead, waiting for me, and glad to know (finally) where I was and when I would be arriving.

I wandered around the thermal features a bit taking pictures, then continued my hike to the trailhead. The two figures I saw from a distance had already left, so I never spoke to them.

The hike out was exhausting, pushing through snow nearly the entire way. At least the trail was quite clear from the multitudes of people who tromped through it before me, and packed down considerably better than before. But I still found the snow exhausting and frustrating.

At a viewpoint where I could see the parking lot, I slipped on a couple of stone steps, slamming an arm into the pointed edge of the rock step--the most serious fall of my hike, ironically within view of the parking lot! I cussed a few times, then called Amanda again on the walkie-talkie, telling her that I could see the car and that my arm hurt like crazy.

At the trailhead was a wonderful, large, bright orange sign with a warning: "Trail Hazardous: Travel not recommended." Ha! NOW they tell me this? When my hike is over?

I got into the car, finally ready to go home. I needed a rest. =)

The Last Big Update

2009-07-02T15:43:00.000-07:00

No, not the "last" as in there will never be a big update again, but whenever I made changes that are so pervasive, so far-reaching, that I can't update individual pages of Atlas Quest without fearing that something will break, I have to take the site offline temporarily to upload all of the changes in one fell swoop. I tend to call these the Next Big Update. "It'll be in the Next Big Update." "It'll be fixed in the Next Big Update."

The update has been done, and I figure some of you would like to know what it included. It's not the Next Big Update anymore, however. It's in the past. It's now the Last Big Update.

Most of the big changes are under the hood and not readily apparent. The most striking changes that are actually visible are when you try to add or edit a box, tracker, event, or group. The main one was to redesign the layout to be a bit more flexible and fluid so it works better on mobile devices. I got rid of the column on the right hand side of the page where it didn't always fit on small screens or other people who used large fonts. Since I'm using floated DIV tags rather than tables, it's also will use all of the horizontal screen space your browser allows that should reduce the amount of scrolling necessary to fill out all of the forms. Mostly minor stuff.

Since I was mucking around with that stuff, I made a couple of small improvements to those screens as well. You can now drag-and-drop the boxes in a series in the order you prefer rather than the convoluted drop down list for the order you want the boxes to be in. You can also delete boxes in a series directly from that page instead of having to using the Delete Box button. Again, pretty minor stuff.

Another small tweak that's completely invisible is that most places that use radio buttons or checkboxes (such as the hike type and attributes respectively on the Advanced Search page)--you can now click directly on the text associated with the radio button or check box to select it. Previously, you had to aim your mouse at the relatively small target itself. Those who have trouble controlling the mouse or use the site on their iPhones or other mobile devices might find it easier to hit what you're aiming at. =)

For the most part, though, there's not much to write home about. The bulk of the chances are "under the hood" and completely invisible. I wrote a lot of new classes and improved a lot of previously existing classes to help speed future development. I refactored a lot of code to make it more reusable and idiot-proof it against myself.

Given the sheer size of the changes involved, you can pretty much count on there being bugs and glitches. I wanted to do this update in the middle of the day so I'd be around to monitor and check for bugs and get them fixed as quickly as possible. Usually I do them late at night then go to sleep soon after, and bugs don't get fixed until I wake up again the next morning. =) (Not to mention that updating the live site is a LOT faster from this wi-fi connection I'm using at the library rather than a dial-up connection from home.)

Most of my testing has been done on FireFox. The last couple of days I've been using IE8 to look for formatting problems that might show up with that browser and caught the worst of offenders, but it's not anywhere NEAR as well tested with IE as FireFox, so if something clearly doesn't look like it's supposed to, do let me know. I only tested with Chrome, Opera, and Safari for all about ten minutes each, so those are more likely to formatting issues.

Happy Trail!

-- Ryan

PS. I did add a new icon option for your stats label with this update. =)

AQ Turns Five; Stops Sucking Thumb

2009-06-24T19:49:00.000-07:00

If you haven't been able to tell from the theme, it's another AQ birthday, turning five years old today. Last year, I had this idea to buy another domain name and put the original version of Atlas Quest up so everyone could see how much it has changed and grown over the years. Alas, I never got around to it. Seems like there are always more important things to be working on. Maybe next year? Maybe for when it turns 10 years old? Gotta love those zeros at the end of numbers.

Five years ago today, I bought the domain name atlasquest.com and started setting up the account and copying files over, turning the site live. I remember the day well. It was the first time I ever bought a domain name, and it was rather exhilarating. I always thought it would be fun to have my own domain name to play with, but never had any compelling information to put on it so never did.

The site was "feature complete" for about a week or two before I bought the domain name. I spent the time testing the website, letting a handful of close friends take a peek at it before making it live, and debating what domain name to buy. At the time, I was happily unemployed and had absolutely no income, which was why I waited until June 24th to actually take action. That's when a "new month" would start, and I could wait nearly two month to pay off the bill without incurring any interest or penalties. =) If I brought the site live just a day earlier, I'd have only had a one month grace period before the bill came due.

The 24th is burned into my brain for another reason. Since that was the date I started Atlas Quest, it was a convenient date to run monthly backups. There are some tables in the database that almost never change (such as the names of all the cities in the world), so it didn't make sense to save those tables every night. What a waste of space and computing power. So I ran them monthly. Full backups, once each month. Atlas Quest would also check for certain inconsistencies in the database and fix them. And it would compress the data to fill in all those gaps when data was deleted. AQ was pretty busy every month on the night of the 24th doing all sorts of things that never happened at any other time of the month.

There still are some activities that AQ runs on the 24th of every month, but it's a bit more spread out now. Full backups are now run weekly. Space for the database to run isn't nearly as restricted now as it was in that first year when Atlas Quest ran on a shared hosting provider.

When Atlas Quest first went live, I never expected it to become what it has. I imagined a little site with a really cool location-based search, and since I absolutely loathed the Yahoo Groups, figured I might someday add some message boards. (AQ 1.0 had no message boards at all.) But I was running out money, living off of my live savings, and needed to think about getting a real job that paid real money. I wanted Atlas Quest to be my foot in the door. "Yes, I do have a sample of my work. Check it out!" Keep in mind, I had been unemployed for about 2 1/2 years at this point--a rather large hole in my otherwise flawless resume! ;o) I felt like I needed something to compensate for that and impress the pants off of a potential employer.

Later that same year, Atlas Quest continued to grow. Since the site was hosted on a shared server, e-mails from AQ bounced like crazy whenever the IP address was banned for being a source of spam. (I didn't send any, but other websites on the same server apparently were.) So I created the AQ mail system to get away from the bouncing e-mail.

I also implemented the first, rather primitive version of the message boards. And finally, created the Trip Planner, another innovative method of searching for boxes to serve my own selfish needs: An easier way to find listings for boxes on some of my road trips. =)

And, just before the end of the year, I made a huge decision. I set up a system for premium membership. Atlas Quest was growing remarkably quickly, and I was scared my web hosting provider would eventually boot me off for 'abusing' resources. I could afford to run Atlas Quest out of my own pocket with a shared hosting provider, but I certainly couldn't afford to run it on a dedicated server that looked like it would cost somewhere north of $100/month for even the cheapest plan. That's a lot of money when you're unemployed! Heck, even if I were employed, I didn't really want to be spending that kind of money on a hobby website! =)

So I set up the premium membership as an option, hoping it would at least cover the cost of a dedicated server if it ever came to that. One of the main perks it had was the ability to record finds on unlisted boxes--something I never considered a critical feature for letterboxing, but something a lot of people were requesting.

Within an hour of uploading the premium membership option, two people had signed up for premium membership at $15/year. I called up my mom, telling her--she was skeptical anyone would ever sign up for a "premium" membership--and I told her, "Guess what?! I have two, count 'em--TWO premium membership! Thirty bucks!" (I didn't mention to deduct the PayPal fee from the $30.)

And my mom was shocked. SHOCKED! Her exact words were, "What IDIOT would give you money for your website?" =)

I still tease her about that, calling her up again when the 100th premium member signed up. "Guess what?! There are now one hundred IDIOTS who've given me money for my website!" =)

(I use the term "idiot" with the greatest of affection here. Honestly, I think the relatively cheap price of a premium membership is well-worth the amount of fun and enjoyment the site provides for regular visitors.)

And a wonderful thing happened--the site started earning enough money to pay for a dedicated server. So shortly before AQ's first birthday, I started shopping around for an improved web hosting experience. There were two issues I wanted to focus on: One, getting AQ off of a shared server, and two, using a web host that had excellent support options.

I wanted to get AQ off of the shared server so e-mails would be more reliable, DOS attacks against other websites on the same server no longer affected AQ, improved security, and a whole bunch of other reasons.

And when I had a problem or something didn't seem to be working as expected, my experiece with their customer support was terrible! If there was a problem, I wanted someone hosting my website that would hop on the problems in minutes and 24/7, not "within 24 hours" or during "normal office hours."

And while looking for the ideal host, I discovered a magical thing called VPS. Virtual Private Servers. Not really a shared server in the traditional sense, but not quite a dedicated server either. It was sort of this middle ground, nearly as cheap as many shared hosting providers, but with all the benefits of a dedicated server. It was a "virtual" dedicated server.

To make a long story short, I upgraded to a VPS. The cost of running the website went from about $10/month up to $45/month overnight. Which was FAR less than I had been expecting of even the cheapest dedicated servers. (I've upgraded the VPS a couple of times since then, so it's costing more now, but Atlas Quest to this day is still running on a VPS. Someday, I might have to upgrade to a dedicated server, but that could still be years away!)

So I found myself in an unexpected situation: Atlas Quest was profitable! =) I was planning on spending anywhere from $200-$300 per month on a quality dedicated server, set up a premium membership to pay for it, then it turns out I'm paying $45/month for a hosting service that precisely met my needs. Depending on the number of premium members signing up in any given month, I would be profiting anywhere from $150 to $250 in most months.

Okay, that's not a lot of money, but when you've been unemployed for 3 1/2 years (at this point), it sounds like a fortune! Which was the first time I started wondering, "Could I actually make a living off of this website?" I was still living primarily off of my life savings, but at least my life savings wasn't being depleated at the same rapid rate that it had been before.

The next couple of years, I kind of felt like I was somewhat in a race. Could I earn enough to live off of before I ran out of my live savings? I actually did apply for a couple of part time jobs, hoping to suppliment the earnings from Atlas Quest enough to make an actual liveable wage, but alas, nothing happened of them. (Even REI turned me down. ME?! After thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail, they didn't think I was up to snuff? The losers. *shaking head*)

It wasn't until 2007 that Atlas Quest finally earned enough that, for the first time in 6 years, I was able to pay all my expenses without having to dip into my savings. My earnings were still below minimum wage given all the hours I put into the site, but I was happy. I no longer needed to worry about finding another job. I had somehow changed from being unemployed into being self-employed. I may not get paid much, but I felt like I more than made up for it in the joy of working at a job I loved to do. =)

Last year, I started funding my retirement accounts again. (Not sure why--now I don't even want to retire!) And perhaps there's a better, more-fullfilling job out there somewhere, but I'm not aware of it. I feel like I'm the luckiest person in the world to have somehow stumbled into this job.

Five years later, and it seems like I should do something particularly special for Atlas Quest on this birthday. I thought about having a "Free Listing WEEK!" Maybe keep up the balloons and confettii for several days instead of the usual one.

Except that I'm in the middle of a major upgrade (mostly under the hood type of stuff--you won't be seeing major changes to the public interface), and I don't really want to make any changes to the live site right now in fear I'll break something. But then I remembered.....

I keep forgetting about Free Listing Day. There's a small piece of code that lists which days of the year is Free Listing Day. I keep forgetting about it, and never update the file. For those who were on the ball, you would have noticed a Free Listing Day last May 8th, also known as Cranmere Day. But I forgot to announce it.... And today, AQ's birthday is a Free Listing Day, but again, I forgot to announce it--until now. =) (A little late in the day for most people, I would image.)

Free Listing Day started as a way of saying thank you to all those people who support Atlas Quest in something other than monitary ways. I know there are times when money is tight--I've been there, done that. Given the economy of today, there are likely a number of folks who can no longer afford a premium membership even if they wanted to.

Perhaps you've help other members with their questions on the message boards, or suggested improvements that have made Atlas Quest website a better place to be, or have acted as a comic relief when things get tense. There are many ways to support Atlas Quest beyond becoming premium members, and the Free Listing Day was started as a way of saying thank you to those people.

But now, I keep forgetting to say thank you and have forgotten to announce the last two Free Listing Days completely. *slapping self* So, I'm tweaking the way Free Listing Day works in the future. From now on, they will be more often and predictable. There will be at least one Free Listing Day each month. And (for the time being, at least), it will be on the 24th of every month. I'm thinking it might be fun to make the day each month selected at random so it's more of a surprise when you do see it, but for now it's set up to run on the 24th of every month. (And remember, AQ runs on Pacific time, so remember about time zones if you aren't in this timezone. It's the 24th of each month, Pacific time.)

So enjoy some of the perks of premium membership one day each month, even if you can't afford it. You deserve it. =)

Subterfuge, Deception, and Lots of Fun!

2009-06-13T18:38:00.000-07:00

I attended the Spy vs. Spy event this afternoon. The description for the event includes: You are a spy. You steal. You lie. You cheat. You live in the shadows. You sleep in "safe houses". You do all of this in the name of the country that pays you the most. You are dishonorable. You have no alliances.

That sounded like fun. Serious fun. And a little while later, I got an e-mail from Doublesaj asking if Amanda and I would be interested in joining her and John as Team Chuck. Chuck, being the geeky inadvertent spy from the Chuck TV series. I can identify with Chuck, so a team was formed.

Doublesaj says she invited us into her team because she knew we'd be competitive. We'd take the spy thing seriously. We'd play to win.

We didn't want to disappoint. Given the nature of the event, sabotage was the first thought that came to my mind, but alas, the few rules that were established said we were not allowed to remove or move letterboxes to other locations. Just as well, I suppose, since otherwise other teams would have done that to us. But surely we could work out a couple of sneaky little tricks to put ourselves ahead and/or put other teams further behind. But how?

We came up with numerous scenarios, most of which my teammates blame on me. Hmm.... Okay, admittedly, I might have been the most intrigued with how to follow the letter of rules while enthusaisticly breaking the spirit of the rules. =) We were spies. It was expected.

The e-mails we got about the event included interesting pieces of information about Slick Kitty, who hosted the event. She likes the color purple. She likes Dr. Pepper. She likes diamonds, and chocolate-covered strawberries with almonds. So we found potential bribes. We had a purple visor, Dr. Pepper (both soda and Jelly Bellies). We had bribes. We weren't sure what we would use them for, but we wanted to be prepared. Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. We were spies. Bribes were not above us.

We also needed to know the lay of the land. We headed out to the park the day before, and scouted out the area. Learned the trails, identified likely landmarks that might be used in clues, and... hey, we were in the area.... we looked for boxes. We didn't have any clues, but I never saw a rule that said we couldn't try looking for them anyhow. We did find one of the boxes that afternoon, the codebook, giving us an official head start.

And despite looking for these boxes with an enemy combatent (Princess Lea was with us), we managed to keep the secret of the codebook from her. There were 18 boxes in total, but 4 were the critical ones we needed to win the game, and we already knew the location of one of them.

But our big idea, the one to really get us ahead of the game, was to create decoy boxes. We couldn't do anything to the real boxes, but what if someone found what they thought was the real box? They'd log into that and move on, not knowing that they'd been had until it was too late.

So the night before, I secretely created a few extra boxes to use as decoys. I made logbooks, I carved stamps, and I created decoys.

The decoys actually served two purposes. The first and primary purpose was to get teams to overlook the real boxes hidden just behind the decoys. The second, in the event that the decoy did not fool a team, it would still slow down the other teams. As every letterboxer knows, when a letterboxer finds a letterbox, you HAVE to stamp in. It's ingrained in our culture. It cannot be avoided, so in a worst-case scenario, at least the decoys would slow other teams down as they stopped long enough to stamp into both boxes, and perhaps cause a great deal of confusion when they found two boxes rather than one.

We also considered how to improve our stamp-in time. I carved a team stamp the night before so we could just stamp in with one stamp rather than each of our signature stamps, and we used an ink pad rather than our usual markers since we could stamp with an ink pad faster than markers.

The morning of the event, before the event started, we got there early enough to plant the first decoy for the codebook since we already knew where that box was. Then we had another hour before the event was officially to begin, so we continued looking for additional boxes early.

We found two more--Sherlock Holmes and the Disguise. The Disguise was one of the four that we needed to get to win. Sweet! Sherlock was nice to know about, but wasn't critical to winning the game. At least that meant we didn't have to waste time "finding" it later. We were incredibly lucky that of the three boxes we found before the event actually started, two of them were the critical ones we needed. We planted another decoy box with the Disguise.

We also had another incredibly lucky stroke of luck--there was a mole we needed to find, and as it turned out, John was the mole. He let us in on this secret that morning, and another diobolical plot was hatched. We didn't want others to find the mole--he needed to be found to win the game as well. People were to tell John a phrase, and if they were correct, he would give them the last of the five stamps necessary to win the game. We needed to make sure nobody else got his stamp.

So we implemented a 'defense.' Whenever we saw another group, John would hang back so if someone tried to guess the secret phrase, they'd ask one of us first. And we'd give them a stamp! Once they thought they had the mole stamp, they'd stop asking around and never get around to John....

Some would say we cheated, but that seems a little extreme. We were spies, after all, expected to be "dishonorable." Other teams should be doing the same, and we racked our brains trying to think of ways that other teams might trick us! We worried most about wassamatta_u. We knew that of everyone involved, he would be the most dishonorable lout of them all. But we were pretty pleased with our advanced preparations.

The event started. Slick Kitty interrogated most of the teams, including us, and she seemed to focus on John and myself as being most likely to be the mole. We pointed to Amanda, describing her recent travels to Amsterdam and Dublin, but Kitty would have none of it. Sweet little Amanda? (That's what makes her such a good spy!) Yes, as spies, we'd even throw each other under the bus. =)

The game was now afoot, and we finally had the official clues to all of the boxes. We worked out the codes in them, then started off to find the ones we hadn't already found. We were amazingly quick and efficient, and our incredible luck finding just the boxes that were necessary to win the game kept coming up surprisingly often. One of the needed stamps was held by Sherlock Holmes, a character walking around who quizzed us about the character. We couldn't exactly hide a decoy on the person, we went went with plan B and planted the box with another nearby box that wasn't necessary to find--just to slow down other teams who needed to log into two boxes instead of one.

After we got the last box, we thought we were home free. We just needed to check in and we had it bagged. Until we crossed paths with the Salad Tongs. They accused us of being Russian spies, and--most horribly--they were right. We were employed by the Russians and having been caught, we were to be branded traitors and hung. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.

But we were spies. We wouldn't go out without a struggle. We offered gifts, some people might call them bribes, but 'gifts' sounds nicer. Most of the gifts were the bribes we brought for Slick Kitty. Now we had more important things on mind--saving our necks. We bribed their kids. I offered some hand-carved Tortuga stamps. We squirmed. We begged. There may have even been tears.

They made out like bandits, but they finally agreed to let us go. We checked in, officially winning the game, at which point we admitted to our deceptive, nefarious ways to get so far ahead.

Because, quite literally, we could not have won without the clemency granted by the Salad Tongs, we gave them a trophy we won in appreciation. They helped us win, after all (though admittedly, if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have been in such trouble in the first place!)

We ate, we laughed, I warned others about the decoys we had set out so people could find the real boxes now that time was no longer of the essence. Eventually, we headed out again to find the rest of the boxes that we hadn't found yet--those that weren't necessary to win the game, and we picked up the decoys we had planted earlier now that they were no longer necessary.

The decoys did work, too! The codebook decoy had two teams that stamped in, but did not stamp into the real codebook box. The disguise decoy had three teams that stamped in, but only one of them found the real box when we finally pulled the decoy. Several people logged into the key decoy, though one person wrote, "Ryan, you evil bastard!"--so I don't think that decoy fooled him. ;o) I did see how many people logged into that decoy, but I didn't check how many of them logged into the real box. Of the three, it was the least effective decoy given the hiding spot involved. The passport decoy wasn't much of a decoy since we hid it with a different, unrelated box, but several people did sign in so we know it did work to slow other teams down at the very least. Mission accomplished! =)

Speaking of those decoy boxes.... I've listed them on AQ for those who found them and want to record the find. (They are real letterboxes, with stamps, a logbook, and even clues to follow--though admittedly, the clues were poached. Being spies, however, we felt it was okay in this particular instance.) If you aren't sure if you found the decoy or real box, the decoy stamps didn't actually fit into the box of the official stamp-in sheet since we didn't know the correct sizes of the stamps ahead of time. If your stamp didn't fit the space for them correctly (either too small, too large, or the wrong ratio for the dimensions), it's a decoy.

There are some members of my team who would rather not have me reveal our diabolical methods to win the game. I'm telling you them for two reasons. One, I live in Seattle and there's a good chance I wouldn't make it to subsequent events. And two, the next time there is such an event, I wanted to encourage more subterfuge and deception among the teams. =) More paranoia. More backstabbing. More fun! To make it harder to fool people with decoys next time, and perhaps to get a few new rules added to the game next year. (It's always cool when you know there's a new rule--only because of your evil ideas.) Though I kind of hope that decoys aren't forbidden in the future. That was fun, and it would have been very interesting to see how things would have played out if several teams were out planting decoys. I tell you--we were extra careful looking for additional boxes behind the first ones we found and making sure we found the real box... just in case another team was planting decoys as well, we didn't want to fall for our own trick!

What a great time we had, though! Thanks Slick Kitty for putting the event on, even if we did stretch the rules to the fullest extent that we could get away with. But hey, we're spies. We never claimed to be honorable. ;o)

Same wet spot - new and improved box

2009-05-29T13:44:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-05-29T09:56:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-05-23T00:47:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-11T22:05:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-05-02T09:28:00.000-07:00

I just got the following note!

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