A full day

[vakkotaur]

This morning jmaynard and I went up to Mankato with my looking at LCD monitors the primary reason. I planned on looking, but wasn't expecting to buy. After looking at a few places, the best bet seemed to be a 19 inch Samsung SyncMaster 930B which I eventually bought and am now using.

Another part of the trip was lunch someplace that wasn't one the usual places. Looking at the choices on Yahoo Yellow Pages, the Great Wall restaurant looked to be the best choice. I was just hoping it was not yet another buffet. It wasn't. Not only that, but the menu had a (small) Thai section. Jay and I both ordered from that section and we were both satisfied. Great Wall will get repeat business. And I now know where to get decent Chinese and decent, if limited, Thai food. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing that it's an hour's drive away.

After lunch we did a bit of geocaching, then went back to the store that had the monitor so I could buy it (I was thinking things over during lunch) and Jay got a couple things as well, which he can post about if he sees fit. One more quick stop to take advantage of a bit of a discount and get a plumbing fixture and we headed home.

I think the cold wind of the geocaching, the loudness of the store(s), and that I wasn't drinking nearly as much water as usual combined to give me a headache. After a while of warming up and rehydrating I felt good enough to set up the monitor. I'm still getting used to the 1280x1024 resolution. It's almost painfully sharp.

Comments

[melissasutton.livejournal.com]

ok - whats geocaching?

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

The Geocaching FAQ (http://www.geocaching.com/faq/) can answer in detail, but it's a sort of treasure hunt with GPS assistance. A cache of stuff (generally a notebook & pencil for a log of visitors who found it and some small, low-value trinkets or such in an sealed container) is hidden in some publicly accessible area. Then the coordinates of the cache and some hints or suggestions are published on the web.

Someone can look for possible caches to visit (say, around Sioux Falls (http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?zip=57104&dist=10)) and get the coordinates and hints. Between the hints and the GPS, the approximate location of a cache can be found. The better the GPS, the closer one gets, but at the end it often comes down to looking for a pile of sticks or rocks that just isn't quite natural - the cache is under those.

Once found, the cache is opened, the logbook signed and a note given about what, if anything, was taken and what was left - the rule is, if you take something, you must leave something as well.

There are a few reasons given for all this. It helps you learn to use a GPS. It's something to do that gets one outside and somewhat active. It means visiting new places that you might not have known about. I'm sure there are others.