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Geocaching and the Stats Guy

Good morning everyone.  This week's fun fact is all about events.  We all love attending events, or even hosting one.  The geocacher with the most logged attended events is determined2 from Ohio with 2,646.  Top Canadian is dadndaughter from Ottawa, Ontario with 519.

Last weekend was the Manitoba Geocaching Association's annual general meeting.  This is where I give my yearly reports for treasurer and stats.  The financial report was my first time presenting as I completed my first year in that position.  I must say, it was an easy report and an easy position to hold.  I've also been the treasurer for my union local that turned out to be a huge pain in my backside.  The funny thing to all that is, I got paid to be the treasurer for the union.  Being treasurer for the MBGA is voluntary and an absolute treat to do.  I also keep my reports short for a couple of reasons.  First, long, drawn out meetings are boring.  Get to the point and shut up LOL.  Second, I don't like talking in front of groups.  From the few Periscopes I've done, I've come across as monotone and boring.

This was my second year as the "stats guy".  It was by chance that I was asked to step into this position.  The previous stats guy, Stonagal, had moved to Alberta for his career.  He was still filling in until a successor was found.  At the time, I was doing a daily morning post on my FB page that included various fun information, including a geocaching fact/stat/tidbit.  One of the executive at the time, GroovyPinkSocks, noticed what I was doing and thought I'd make a good replacement.  What really helped me get comfy with this position was the constant communication I was having with Stonagal.  He was answering any question I had.  We still talk to this day, pointing out what old (old being anything from 2005 and older) cache has been recently archived.  Thank you Stonagal for all your help.  :)

It's only fitting that I'm the stats guy.  I can take my own stats page and slice it up in so many ways, find new challenges for myself just based on stats.  I love finding challenge caches based on something from the stats page.  Jasmer, fizzy, daily calendars, if it's on the stats page, I want to try and complete that challenge.  If I'm travelling to a new area, I'll see if there's any challenge caches that are stats based.  Chances are, I might have the challenge completed already.

When I took over the stats position, the only thing being done was keeping track of milestones.  The main resource for this is cacherstats.com  It's somewhat time consuming, but I'm able to catch 99% of geocachers in Manitoba that hit milestones with a minimum of 200 finds (that's where cacherstats starts at).  This would be posted onto the MBGA's FB page every month.  Since I took over, the information I was coming up with slowly morphed to include who has found the most caches for that given month, who has hid the most, how many geocaches were hidden and types.  Just recently, a fun fact, like the one that starts off my blog also appears at the end of my report.  Basically, it has become the monthly milestone and stats report.  When it comes to the monthly MBGA meetings, I just refer to the FB post for my monthly stats report.  You can say I'm mailing my report in.  LOL

My other main source is project-gc.com  I'm always finding something new to look at for a stat or fun fact.  I admit, I'm a bit of a stats junkie.  It really is all about the numbers for me.  One stats based goal I'm doing for myself is to have all the days on my found calendar to have a minimum of four finds or more for each and every day, or my 4th loop.  As I type this, I have 30 days that have 3 finds.  When all those threes are replaced by a higher number, then I'll look at the days with four finds, and so on and so on.





Jasmer.  Who doesn't like finding an older cache that has withstood the test of time (and in some cases, many climate changes)?  I have 189 out of 217 months found so far.  There are geocachers out there that have completed all the months available.  One of the benefits of doing a daily caching streak is being able to claim challenge caches that are based on finding a cache for everyday of a given month, or Jasmer based challenges.


Fizzy grid.  I admit, I don't focus too much on this.  I just logged my 64th different fizzy square.  Still a long way to go.  If any of the D/T's isn't a four or higher, chances are, I already have that square filled.  Finding the ones I need are fewer and probably require travelling.

The belt information section on project-gc, OMG, I can be on that page for a long time.  Yes, I'm a stats/numbers nerd.  Another project I've taken on this year is the re-birth of "cachelutions".  At the start of the year, geocachers in Manitoba can set out goals for themselves that are stats based.  I'm keeping track of those goals and seeing who achieves the goals they set out for themselves.  I admit, I like to look at other cacher's stats.  It's interesting to see what others have done, where they've been.  It's not to compare as we all go geocaching on our own terms.

I'm looking forward to my third year as the "stats guy" and possibly second year as the treasurer.  I don't get out and find geocaches as much as I use to (residual effects from streaking burnout), but I have my dual roles with the MBGA.  I also look after the social media side of things (creating posts for the MBGA FB page).  I'm responsible for posting my monthly stats, and I also post my blog along with Hakliva's weekly vlog, and GeoJangie's weekly blog for Manitobans to read as well.  I'm busy behind the scenes.  You can find the MBGA FB page here > MBGA FB page

That's it for this week.  Enjoy, keep safe, peace out, and remember, Geocaching is suppose to be fun.



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