Geocaching and 2021 in review

Good morning everyone,

Today I'm going to look back at 2021 as a whole.  I wasn't sure how to present the review.  I could break it down in terms of numbers and stats.  My quarterly reviews already does that.  Instead, I'm going to look at the highlights of the year gone by.

I had set a bunch of mini goals and milestones throughout the year in terms of mystery caches found, multi-stage caches found, etc.  The biggest of them all was the first milestone I hit on April first.  I used GC8NEAT for my 6,000th find.

(GC8NEAT I filled two bags and could easily have filled more)

Another highlight was doing eleven different cache types in a single day without attending a mega event.  That sort of fell into place with an event, a CITO, followed by a Community Celebration event.  There was enough of the other icons to get ten in total.  I had to drive back to the city for the eleventh one.  I did it.  Not an easy task when you have your home area more or less cached out.

(one of the eleven icons I grabbed that day.  This is a traditional that was set up by JAB007.  If you're ever in the Winkler/Morden area of Manitoba, his caches are worth checking out).

Another highlight was going to an event on the Manitoba/Ontario border and meeting the hosts.  I've been asked what they are like off camera.  

Cache Canada (aka londonwesty and lyriclass) are very friendly and easy to talk to.  I really enjoyed my visit with them and hope to see them again some day.

Another highlight was being asked to be the Manitoba coordinator for the Trans-Canada Highway Adventure Lab series.  I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but so far, everything has been been coming together nicely.  We have a good chunk of the Trans-Canada Highway covered in Manitoba and should see this project completed before Geo-Woodstock in August.  We're also covering the Yellowhead Highway.  No ALs on the Yellowhead yet, but they'll show up soon enough.

(my contribution to the Trans-Canada Highway Adventure Lab series).

Those are some of the highlights that pop up immediately.  On the flip side, what are my regrets.  Honestly, I don't have any regrets.  Due to the circumstances surrounding the pandemic and the border being closed, I wasn't able to attend the North Dakota Camping and Caching event this past year, or attend the second installment of Gilby Gone Wild.  I wouldn't call those regrets.  It is what it is.

(for those of us who couldn't travel to Gilby, got together at a zoo event instead)

One thing that sadly ended was The Geocaching Guild.  A project that was started by Geo-Jangie, I came on board to help get it off the ground.  I eventually took over the daily scheduling of blogs, but I was starting to find it time consuming.  By October, I walked away.  What is interesting is that the page still gets new followers and page likes months after I stopped scheduling new material.

What does 2022 look for myself?  I honestly don't know.  I don't really have any geocaching goals set for myself.  I do have personal goals though.  One of those goals I started working towards a week before Christmas.  Lose weight.  I've gone back to the gym.  I haven't been to the gym since 2014 if my memory is correct.  Instead of geocaching after work, chances are, you'll find me at the gym.  It's not just the gym that will help me lose weight, it's diet too.  I'm not talking eating salads three times a day, but making healthier choices.  My weak spots are soft drinks, chocolate, and baked goods.  I've removed the soft drinks from my daily consumption.  I'll still have some once in a while, but not every day.  It also takes a little will power and a reminder that I don't need to stop in the bakery section of the grocery store for a tray of cookies.  As for the chocolate, one guilty pleasure shouldn't hurt me as long as it's in moderation.

As I write this this morning, I am down approximately four pounds.  I also do intermittent fasting.  You have an eight hour window to eat and sixteen hour fasting cycle.  Sixteen hours sounds like a long time, but half of that should be spent sleeping.  It takes some adjusting, but it really isn't hard.  I drink plenty of water to squash those hunger pains.

I haven't done any geocaching since December 25th.  Hopefully I do find a day this month to do some.  I did hide one and I do have plans on hiding more.  I like hiding mystery caches and I've discovered how to make jigsaw puzzle caches.  You can check out my latest one.  It's GC9KZ3T

There's something else that will be changing as I move forward.  That's the teaser from last week.  The big announcement.  This is something I have wrestled with for awhile.  The eagerness and passion isn't there anymore.  This is my last weekly blog.  I have mentioned this in the past where I would start writing a new blog shortly after publishing the last one.  I would spend all week editing, rewriting, until that one got published.  Now, I'm writing from start to finish on the morning I want it to be published.  I think I'll maintain a monthly blog, looking back at the previous month in both geocaching and my journey to weight loss.  

There won't be any geocaching or gym for me this week.  It felt like I was coming down with a cold but was encouraged to get tested anyway.  I tested positive yesterday.  Five days of isolation.  There's a whole series of jigsaw puzzle caches in Southern Ontario to solve.  If you can locate GC9JMQ5, there are plenty more in the area.  That's what I'll be doing, along with video games and watching movies.

Until next month, be happy, stay safe, if you feel cold symptoms - get tested, hug your pets, and most importantly, just have fun.  Peace out ✌ 

There's always just one more picture, or in this case two.  My positive test that took me by surprise.  Omicron is very sneaky and does spread very easily.

I'll have a week to get more creative in Minecraft.  This is my latest project that I completed.  A rustic church.