Sun, 13 Apr 2008 16:20:00 -0700 http://www.gotwake.com/ PostNuke Powered Site en-us http://www.gotwake.com/images/banner.jpg http://www.gotwake.com/ billy@gotwake.com http://www.gotwake.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=133 Or: Adventures in Playa del Carmen! Daphne and I had decided on a locale for our destination wedding - but needed to go check it out, together, and do some research. Sun, 13 Apr 2008 16:20:00 -0700 http://www.gotwake.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=132 I've been Paperless Caching for several years, constantly evolving and refining my processes as new tools are introduced. Well, the new Garmin Colorado400t has turned my entire caching approach on its ear. This unit caries geocache "data" (description, hints, recent logs, etc), and with the latest firmware upgrade, allows logging of finds (and DNFs, Needs Maintenance) in the field. Read below the cut to learn how I started with an idea, and through participation in a helpful online community, have been able to produce a utility that I think will be of great value to owners of this unit. Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:20:00 -0800 http://www.gotwake.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=131 Or: How Love and Life got in the way of updating my website So - it's been almost two years now since I met Daphne. We hit it right off, and our relationship developed pretty rapidly. Over the past two years... We traveled - a LOT: To Sedona, Altanta, North Carolina, Oregon, Indiana, Amsterdam, Spain... and probably even more places that I'm forgetting. It's been a whirlwind - and I had intended to write articles about each adventure - but I was always too busy recovering from one excursion, or planning for the next. We also had QUITE the adventure in the middle of the Nevada desert, at Black Rock City for Burning Man 2006. You'll find photos in the image gallery - what an experience! Unfortunately, we had too much going on during the fall of 2007, so had to sell our tickets - but we've already received our 2008 tickets, so... BRC, here we come! Finally, a year after we met - Daphne and I got engaged! Of course, being the caching geek that I am - I chose a slightly unique way to propose. I've got a few other posts I want to make - but mostly, wanted to get this "two year catch-up" down on paper, so I can try to get back to some sort of regular posting. Tue, 01 Jan 2008 16:20:00 -0800 http://www.gotwake.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=129 Or: How the Bay Area Quad Challenge got me all fired up! Just a short note, and 'ring of the bell', to commemorate my 5K find. Read 'below the cut' for the full story... Sat, 26 May 2007 16:20:00 -0700 http://www.gotwake.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=126 A pretty good caching year, and as I approached this milestone, I picked out a particular cache as my target for find #4000. That cache was Firestone, which happens to be the oldest active cache in the San Francisco Bay Area. Placed on 10/2/2000, this venerable old cache has stood the test of time. Read on to hear a little about the adventure that was 4K. Sat, 19 Aug 2006 16:20:00 -0700 http://www.gotwake.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=125 OR: Grab your tuques, we're going to Canadia, eh? In mid-December 2005, good friend and colleague Kurt invited me up to Whistler, for a week of riding and a slope-side time share that his dad has had for years. It was great to meet Will, and the rest of the crew north of the border. Even a chance to meet some of his old school buddies - I would say a Good Time [tm] was had by ALL. Thanks for the invite, Kurt! Sun, 18 Dec 2005 16:20:00 -0800 http://www.gotwake.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=124 Or: Finally, some SNOW! At long last, we received our first winter storms this past week, which finally enabled Tahoe resorts to open. Squaw Valley reported 2' of snow on the upper mountain, and announced opening day of Saturday, December 3rd. After a grueling week at work, I was really looking forward to getting back on the slopes. Drove up late Friday night after work in Lee's fancy new Audi All-Road Quattro - what a luxury ride! The next morning it was off to Special Tickets to pick up my (10th consecutive) season pass - which is always fun. Immediately I started seeing old friends, and making new ones while waiting to get our pass photos taken - the ritual that begins each season. Then on to the locker room, where the excitement continued to build: Remembering my combination, opening the locker and finding that YES, all the gear I expected to be here actually was - and continuing to run into more friends and acquaintances. Not long after, it was actually time to get out there and make those first turns. I'll save the rambling about conditions, available terrain, and how I rode for the extended text, for those who care to click through and read it. I will leave this parting shot though - demonstrating that by the end of the first day, I was feeling daring enough to try my hand in the terrain park: Okay, so it's pretty tame, as far as terrain park features go - but I was pretty happy to hit this pair of sliders on my very first day back on the slopes. Read on for more details . . . Sun, 04 Dec 2005 16:20:00 -0800 http://www.gotwake.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=123 Well, it may have taken until October... but I finally managed to get out on the boat a few times and do some riding. It's funny to think that I did more riding in October than any of the summer months - but it's true. A bit of an indian summer hung around, a the crew put in several nice days of riding during the month. I've been spreading my sets equally between the wakeboard and the skate - they both appeal to me in different ways. Here I'm actually starting to get a little air on the skate - still far from making it wake2wake, but hey: it's a start! Most of all, it was just great to be out on the boat with the crew, enjoying the sun, the water, and taking a few pulls. Next summer seems so far away - especially since it hasn't started snowing yet! Sun, 23 Oct 2005 16:20:00 -0700 http://www.gotwake.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=122 ... a little pain and suffering! Rexy and I went out for a hike after a new cache placed in our honor in Briones one night, and right at the trailhead, Dingo had a sneezing fit the likes of which I'd never seen. It went on for almost a minute, and by the time he was done, he was covered in snot and dirt up and down his legs and all over his face. As we marched on, Dingo would stop from time to time for another sneezing fit - some not as long as the first, but each just as violent, shaking his entire body from nose to tail stub. We couldn't decide if something had bit him, or he snorfed something up his nose, or... ? Either way, being the irresponsible dad I am, I hoped that everything would magically just work out. To make a long story short - here's what the vet eventually pulled out of his nose! Read on for all the gory details... Fri, 07 Oct 2005 16:20:00 -0700 http://www.gotwake.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=121 Where did Summer go? It got off to a slow start with a weird spring, late rains, and I never DID get much wakeboarding in. I've spent most of my time since mid-summer doing a lot of geocaching, when I'm not working . . . and time has just flown by. So Fall is officially here: time to stop shaving, and start thinking about the SNOW! I think there may still be a few more days out on the water, before we're done for the season - but I'm definitely shifting mental gears and looking forward to getting back to my home away from home in the mountains! Thu, 22 Sep 2005 16:20:00 -0700 http://www.gotwake.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=120 Or: Hey, wait a minute... I'm DRY! This year marked my third attempt at Squaw's annual Lake Cushing Classic pond crossing event. I decided it was worthy of a "permanent" page, so I created one, with a lenghty write-up, a few thumbnails, and every link imaginable. So here I'll limit myself to simply saying "I MADE IT!!", and that it was a whole lot of fun. There are both still images as well as a 14MB video for those of you with a fast connection or a lot of patience. For more information, see my Lake Cushing Classic page here. Enjoy -- I did! Fri, 20 May 2005 18:01:59 -0700 http://www.gotwake.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=119 Or: Why Roger is my motocross idol So, with just days to spare, I finally got my bike out of the garage, cleaned up, and out for a few days of riding. Yep - Carnegie shuts down on May 1 for us red sticker types. So, I got a couple good days in at Carnegie - even if I discovered that my geocache there had been plundered. Lots of good riding, great conditions, and terrain I was comfortable with. Then I decided to hook up with Roger and Steve the following day at Cow Mountain. After almost 3 hours of driving, I finally arrived at the OHV area, and found some parking. Unloaded my bike, hooked up with the boys, and off we went... to check on a couple geocaches in the area, and just have some fun riding. Read the extended text below for all the gory details and find out why Roger deserves some sort of award. Check out the following teaser image for a hint... Sat, 30 Apr 2005 16:30:00 -0700 http://www.gotwake.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=118 Or: Two years and no signs of slowing... So, this date marks my two-year anniversary with this little obsess... errr, hobby, we call geocaching. I thought that perhaps after the first year, having well exceeded my initial goal of averaging one find a day, that I might taper off a bit. Quite the contrary: I've actually significantly picked up the pace, bumping that average up to well over 2 finds per day - racking up 1714 finds, and 125 First-To-Finds. I have discovered the Bay Area Geocaching Leaderboard after being kindly "nominated" by TeamAlamo and added to the list. Now I can see graphs, trends, and more stats! I'm not even going to make any predictions or forecasts about year 3 - just because my life is in such a state of flux right now. I'm trying to find time for caching and other activities - but am working on controlling the obsession and finding a work-life balance with the insanity of the job. Mon, 28 Mar 2005 16:20:00 -0800 http://www.gotwake.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=117 Or: Winter Storms During the Vernal Equinox That's right - spring is here, ushered in with a nice winter storm - one last "hurrah", as it were. Years of experience have definitely taught me to realize that the snowboarding season comfortably extends into May each year -- but the number of powder days drastically declines as winter draws to an end. But these were no spring conditions (which have been the norm for the past month) - but rather a brutal, and bitter winter storm, yielding LOTS of that good old "white gold". It was definitely 3 days of powder, on all different parts of the mountain. Editor's Note: Those camo pants work almost TOO good! Sun, 20 Mar 2005 07:35:00 -0800 http://www.gotwake.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=116 Or: How long will a cache last after its location is shown on TV? Some time ago, I rang TeamAlamo for some help, and he mentioned that he was out filming with Doug McConnell of Bay Area Backroads. Every once in awhile since then, I would ask him when the show was supposed to air -- but it kept being delayed or just unknown. Well, the time is here - is just aired this evening on SF Bay Area station KRON4. Here's the story associated with the show, which those of you in the Bay Area can catch again on Sunday night at 8PM on KRON4. Congrats to local cachers Team Alamo, WorkerofWood, Team Jiffy, Fisherwoman, Bthomas, and Hemlock on their "15 minutes of Fame" as the crew that escorted Doug to a variety of caches around the city. I even spotted my favorite SF cache to date: Sounds of the Bay. I even got 2-3 seconds of (indirect) fame of my own, as I spotted a signature Gotwake thermometer-compass on the hood of the Jeep in a couple of shots. So, my question is: How long will the various featured caches last? Only a couple showed the actual hiding location - most notably Lombard Street. Be sure to tune in Sunday night at 8pm on KRON4 - or, just show up at the BADGES event cache Sunday in Cupertino. See you there! Sat, 26 Feb 2005 00:35:10 -0800 http://www.gotwake.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=115 This past weekend was President’s Day, which represents the single most-crowded weekend of the ski (or in my case, snowboard) season. If I have a good excuse, I’ll often take this weekend off, “leaving it to the amateurs” – in other words, not having to deal with the total mob scene from the roads to the slopes to the grocery store in town… As it turns out, I would have been better off skipping this weekend – but we’d had some much-needed snowfall the preceding week, with a forecast of more over the weekend… so I made my way up to Tahoe (along with everyone else) Friday night. At least I did a bit of geocaching along the way, which breaks up the monotony of a slow, heavy-traffic drive. I left late, and arrived even later… and slept in Saturday morning, in no rush to get out and join the crowds. The story that follows reads a little like an Internet hoax email, where a guy is working on the roof with a ladder a pully and a bucket of bricks. ;-) Read the extended details below to learn how I sprained/strained my back and things just kept snowballing from there… Mon, 21 Feb 2005 20:00:00 -0800 http://www.gotwake.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=114 WooHOO -- FTF... times 100!! Just the other day, I scored my 100th FTF (first-to-find) and my 1500th overall find... all with one little cache. Thanks to TeamAlamo for placing Higher atop Mt. Diablo and enabling this double bonus find. I can't believe this one lasted well over a month without a find - while OTHER caches around the peak were being logged?!? Oh well - works out nicely for me!! 2000, here I come... Fri, 04 Feb 2005 16:20:00 -0800 http://www.gotwake.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=113 Or: Adrenaline Rush in the Baby Park So, I think this is called a 50-50 grind because I'm just as likely to fall off and land on my head as I am to ride away from it. Actually, that’s not fair: On this particular occasion, I was 4 for 4 – just don’t ask or expect me to try a board or lip slide. Sure gets the old heart pumping, that’s for sure – and to think, these are the training wheels variety! I didn’t even try the little tabletops they had built over here – maybe next time. I should bust out the new HelmetCam and make a few runs through here, for a first-person perspective (trust me: even these little hits look bigger when you’re charging towards them!) At least I'm working on it... once or twice a season. ;-) Mon, 31 Jan 2005 16:20:00 -0800 http://www.gotwake.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=112 Or: The only way to score 43 caches during a 19-hour, 2-state drive So, all geocachers share some common tools and practices. We all have a GPS receiver (or three ;-), and access to a computer connected to the Internet, so that we can research geocaches, obtain coordinates, and log our finds. This is how I started when I stumbled upon geocaching. Being the geek that I am, I quickly realized that there was huge potential for more technology, and ideally some automation to streamline the process. Read the full article at the link below describing the evolution from manual coordinate entry and printed cache pages to fairly automated, mass-scale, paperless, mapless eCaching. Thu, 20 Jan 2005 23:49:38 -0800 http://www.gotwake.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=111 Or: Never have I done so much shoveling! No, I'm not talking about the fate of the Donner Party, or that soccer team that went down in the Andes mountains. This is the story of how Dingo and I had to spend our every waking moment digging, shoveling, and hucking snow - though his version looks a lot like playing. After posting the previous article, I turned around and headed back up the following day - I made it in time to take a few night runs on New Years Eve... then back to the shoveling! Once the walls/berms of my staircase extended up over my head, things got much harder: launching each payload felt a bit like an Olympic track and field event, and my arms and shoulders were getting quite a workout. I had to shovel EVERY time I opened the door - morning and evening, coming and going. Each morning before driving the few blocks to the mountains, the Tahoe had to be excavated from it's snowy bed: So, if there's that much snow on the car - imagine what happens to a narrow canyon of a staircase, with 6-foot walls? Well, if 18" of snow falls during the storm, I end up shoveling twice that much as it all 'drifts' into the trench. It may sound like I'm complaining - but I'm actually not. It's more like bragging. Anyone familiar with riding in powder knows that if the car looked like that in the morning, then I spent the day floating through knee-deep freshies, getting face-shots all the way down the mountain. This was an absolutely amazing storm series, and I'm glad to have spent most of it right here in the thick of things. If the pictures and my descriptions still haven't conveyed this point - these storms dumped a TON of snow! How much? Over 12' (yes, that's FEET) in the past two weeks. Don't believe it? Here's the snowfall totals... you do the math. Mostly excellent riding, though during the peak of the storms the mountain was in reduced operation. Powder turns every day, if you knew where to look for them - wooHOO!! Mon, 10 Jan 2005 16:20:00 -0800 http://www.gotwake.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=110 So - I hopped in my car last night around 9pm, headed to Tahoe. I knew the crowds would be insane this weekend - but this storm series has been dropping snow measured in FEET, not inches. Driving across the central valley in torrential rain was no problem - my ETA at the mountains was just a couple minutes after midnight, even after a stop for gas. Then, it all went to hell... in a hurry. They were throttling us down to one lane and filtering out all the trucks at Applegate. That was probably a 30-45 minute delay. After that, we sped back up (still just raining, no snow at this elevation) for another 15 minutes, until we reached the chain installation point at Gold Run. Where were PARKED (not needing chains, I was in the 'fast lane' the whole time). We crawled, at 0-3mph (mostly 0) for the next couple miles. I could NOT figure out why it was taking so long - were they leading us through the pass in small groups, with a pilot car? Well, TWO HOURS later, I made it to the "front", at Alta (you heard me right - it took over two hours to move ONE exit) -- I finally figured out what was going on. "The highway closed about an hour ago", I overheard a CalTrans worker tell the car ahead of me, "You've got to go back down the mountain". They got irate and belligerent - but how does that help? It's not this poor guy's fault. The streets around the exit were lined with cars - people presumably waiting it out. There was no place to park, though I considered the first Rest Area as I made my way back down the hill... but who knew when the road would re-open? I just kept driving, and calling CalTrans road info every few miles to double check. By the time I got back to Sacramento... it was still closed, and I quit calling. This was the second extended, sleepy, late-night, gnarly-weather drive I'd had in 4 days. Well, I eventually made it home: 6+ hours of driving, and I finished right where I started! ARGH!! It sure felt good to crawl into bed, though. When I woke up this morning - the roads were WIDE open. Not even any chain requirements for eastbound traffic. I was about to hop back in my car, when I checked Squaw's website. The operations report showed that the upper mountain was still closed (has been for days) - I assume they'll get it open by tomorrow. Then I checked the SquawCam, and saw the outrageous crowds, and Red Dog liftline. Maybe this weekend is one better left to "The Amateurs" - kinda like an alcoholic who passes on New Years Eve. Speaking of which... Happy New Year! Fri, 31 Dec 2004 12:23:27 -0800 http://www.gotwake.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=109 Or: Adrenaline Rushes, 2-wheel style So, as a direct result of snow conditions, I took the weekend off the slopes, which provided an excellent opportunity to hit the trails on my bikes. I headed out with my dirt bike to Carnegie on Monday, and then my mountain bike in the east bay hills on Tuesday. Click the "Read More..." link below to read the full details... Wed, 22 Dec 2004 16:20:00 -0800 http://www.gotwake.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=108 OR: How to rack up big vertical in an afternoon Although we did get a few additional feet of snowfall over the past week - it was capped off with a nice heavy dose of rain, all the way to the top of the mountain. The result is some pretty challenging conditions... So I wasn't expecting much today, as I rolled out late after working a couple hours in the morning. As I skated up to my first chair, the lift op spotted my pass and suggested "They just opened KT two minutes ago"... and off I went! That's how I spent my afternoon - doing laps on my old friend KT-22. About four runs into it (over 7K vertical in under an hour) I was starting to feel the burn, and wondered if I could last for ten. I ran into Ed around lap number 9 - and we finished the day off strong: Alex should have been paying all of us for the grooming we were doing... Here's how it looked when we started, on my first chair up: By the time we were finished, GS Bowl was actually started to get pretty good... until it started firming up again! All in all, a great first day back on KT. It will be interesting to see what tomorrow holds in store... Fri, 10 Dec 2004 16:20:00 -0800 http://www.gotwake.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=107 OR: You know it's going to be a good day when you wake up to this! Ah - I love the sound of avalanche blasting in the morning. It sounds like... powder. Then open the front door and shovel a path up to the car, then dig this out. By the time we got to the mountain, we knew it was gonna be good! Click the thumbnail to see a few pics... This storm added nicely to an already great early season base! Sat, 27 Nov 2004 16:20:00 -0800 http://www.gotwake.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=106 Is this some kind of trick - did Billy just dig up some old photos from the archives and post them as current? Nope - no tricks here - nothing but TREATS. A couple of early storms brought several feet of snow to Tahoe. This year, it wasn't just Boreal opening early - there was SO much snow, that virtually every resort was open for the last weekend in October. So, here it is: October 30th, and not only is Squaw Valley open - but open from top to bottom! Don't get me wrong - this doesn't mean the whole mountain was open, by any stretch - merely that the mountain run was open, and you could ride all the way from the top of Shirley Lake right to the deck of the locker room. These conditions so FAR greatly exceeded my expectations - but better yet was the fact that I ran into my good friend Dr. Down as I was stepping out of the locker room, and had a riding buddy all day! The man is a machine - he started hours before me, and rode right until 4:15... Check out the gallery of early season riding - including powder turns here and there! Incredible... so much fun, I think I'm headed back for more... Dingo sure loves the snow, and had a ton of fun romping around in it - just like his dad! See you on the slopes! Sat, 30 Oct 2004 16:20:00 -0700