Mortaine’s Blog

More geocaching today! This time at lunch.

Manager #3 decided this morning at 11 AM to give me a project with a noon deadline. Yeah, um, right. In addition to the 4 people who called or emailed me during that hour, I had to run around the building getting images for the one-page project, find out information from Manager #1, and generally bust my butt.

Did I mention that everyone goes to lunch at 11:30 around here? So at noon, no one was here to approve my work. I emailed Manager #1 for approval and told him to forward it to Manager #3 if I was out. At 12:30, I took off for my lunch break, utterly frustrated and fed up.

There are several caches in Milpitas, actually, and I decided to search for one called Overlooking a Hidden Lake, which is about half a mile from where I usually eat lunch. I drove over there, parked, and meandered around a bit before deciding to find a parking spot nearer to an unlocked gate.

I did that and went into the park. I was fairly certain of the cache’s location, given the clues and my location compared to the coordinates. Since the cache was on the other side of the lake, though, I decided to walk around the long way and then return by the short way (so I walked all the way around the lake).

As I approached the coordinates, I noticed a man kind of standing around near the cache. I didn’t see his GPS unit, though, so I wasn’t sure what he might be doing. I got up to the coordinates and started walking around. Eventually, he hailed me as a fellow geocacher. We were both fairly certain the cache was somewhere on the steps– all of our readings (with 12′ accuracy– best ever so far) were pointing that way.

I kept checking under the steps, but also to no luck. I ended up needing to decrypt the hint after the other geocacher decided to walk around a bit more. At that point, I focused on the spot indicated in the hint and found the cache.

And then the problem– the cache couldn’t be reached! It was underneath a step, but the gap between steps was too narrow for my hand! And from the side, I couldn’t read it either because the space was too small for my arm. I eventually kicked it closer to the edge’s opening using a small stick, but I wonder how it got where it was– you would have had to have tossed it in, or it might have been under the step above it and a gap caused it to slide down.

This cache was a log-only cache. There were some Chinese coins in it, but the log was the main thing. Well, that and the sun. And the fresh air. And the lake. And the wide smile I had on my face when I came back in to work.

I signed the log and replaced the cache in a more reachable spot, but I think it’s not as well hidden now. Oh, well. I made a note in the cache page for the owner to check up on its hiding spot sometime soon.

The lake:

I skipped lunch and I’m back at my desk now. I know I’m gonna be hungry in about an hour or so, but I don’t care. I had a wonderful time caching.

Brought to my attention by and , two fabulous ladies in my acquaintance.

1. What does your first name mean?
“Crown.” I’ve also seen it as “crown or illuminated one” and “crown of thorns.” Basically, it’s the crown of thorns that Jesus wore.

2. What does your middle name mean?
Meadow, if you’re going with the middle name I was given at birth, which I hate. For my current middle name, see the next question.

3. What does your last name mean?
At birth, my last name was apparently meaningless (or at least, not in the database I checked), but it generally means a “Cotter” which is a type of peasant. Another meaning it a garment worn over armor to conceal it (and, by association, a pillager), but that’s a French meaning, and my bloodline is very sternly Anglo. Those of you who know of my love for Cthulhu will find it amusing that one of the related spellings is Cothulle. My married last name means “hill” or “high” or “noble” or possibly “strong.”

4. What would you have been named if of the opposite gender?
Daniel, which is a family name. In my family, men are frequently called by their middle names. Ironically, my cousin (Daniel) is a year younger than me. Our middle names are the two most famous generals from the Civil War.

5. So what does your name mean when you put it together?
A crown of thorns in a meadow by a cotter’s farm?
or
A cotter’s crown sitting on a hill.

4:15 PM is too late to be eating your stinky whateverthehellitis at your desk.