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Saturday, September 27, 2008

Hobby #9 - Geocaching

 


Picture of my daughter Katey and her first Geocache in Mandeville, LA.

Geowhat?

Geocaching: Geocaching is an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called "geocaches" or "caches") anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook and "treasure," usually toys or trinkets of little value. Today, well over 800,000 geocaches are registered on various websites devoted to the pastime. Geocaches are currently placed in over 100 countries around the world and on all seven continents, including Antarctica.

So, after that but of formality...I enjoy geocaching. I am not an avid hunter, but I do enjoy to go out and seek the GPS treasure about once a month, mostly with my daughter, Katey. (See photo above) - It is a great hobby to keep yourself in good shape (especially if you complete the hunts on major trails/walks/etc) --- you can easily walk for several miles a day easily. That combined with a dog, and a backpack is generally enough for anyone. (not to mention my photog equipment) --- :) Plus you can find a ton of really cool treasure (geocoins) which are trackable and several of the ones I have found have logged well over 50,000 miles around the world and back!

Might go out caching today.... WATCH OUT FOR THE MUGGLES!!!

Cheers,
Andy
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Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Gustav is Gu...Gone.

So, here I sit at our Ops Command Center in Houston as lead on the Network Infrastructure & Operations. The systems all performed flawlessly
and it was literally just another day. The contrast between the bank's infrastructure during this disaster and during Katrina was literally akin to the difference between the two aforementioned storms themselves. I guess it pays to design, build and implement a world-class network if you want quality results. :)
So many people contributed to the collective vision, and it is really nice to observe
its realization when it is truly needed.

So, Gustav is gone...hopefully I will be doing the same...shortly.
I have no damage at home for now, but I heard that there are a multitude of tornados inflicting major damage right now in Mandeville, LA area...so I am not clear yet.

Heading home...mending my life and getting back to some bit of normalcy.
Just another chalk up to my path & life experience...
Cheers,
Andy