Sine

Sine

Pat Sine is a woman who knows technology. For most of her professional life she has been a leader in the field of educational and instructional technology at the University of Delaware. As new pieces of technology emerge Pat is one of the first to explore and master them to determine how they might best be used in the field of education. It is no surprise, then, the she should be one of the early users of GPS technology and that she has joined the ranks of the Delaware Geocachers.

When we asked Pat if show would be our January interview subject she was on her way to a multi-day technical meeting in Chicago. But in typical Sine fashion she cheerfully agreed. The interview questions were e-mailed to her in Chicago!

And, in typical Sine multi-tasking fashion, she attended to her professional obligations, completed the interview, and got in some geocaching in a very cold Windy City.

How did you become involved with geocaching - and how long have you been doing it?
My job concerns using all kinds of technology in education. In the summer of 2004, we started looking at using GPSes in education and I got a unit in my hands. I did a search online and found out about geocaching. I was off and running.

Your profile on geocaching.com shows that you have caches in several states beside Delaware. How did you choose these states for additional caching?
Any time I go on a trip for vacation or business, I always go to geocoder.us and get the coordinates for where I'm staying. Then I do a pocket query for any caches that are near where I'll be staying. I load up my GPSr with the places, save the GPX file to GSAK, and export the locations to MS Streets and Maps. I “drag” along anyone who is willing. In fact, I'm at a conference in Chicago as I answer these questions. I downloaded all the caches within 10 miles of my hotel before I left and have found 5 so far.

How many caches have you found so far?
As of this writing, I've got 520. My goal was to get 450 by the end of the summer and 500 by the end of the year. Now that I'm already at 520, I'm hoping for 600 by the end of the year. Stay tuned!

Which find was the most challenging?
There are two that stand out. The truly toughest was Runfrog's "Hillside Cache" multicache. This is only about .5 miles from my house so I spread it over several summer evenings. I'm quite sure I never took the most direct route.
The other tough one was the first one I ever did but that was my own fault. I didn't know you could put coordinates into the GPS so I kept trying to read the updated coordinates as I moved. Silly me!

Which was the easiest?
I don't know which was easiest but I certainly can say that they get easier as I see more. I just found a micro here in Chicago called "Tiny Tower." Since I had seen this type of hide in other places, I was able to quickly find the micro even though my GPS had totally lost the signal. This was important since it was 9 degrees. The hardest thing was keeping my gloves off long enough to sign the log!

Do you have a your favorite or favorites from among the caches you have found?
My favorites change all the time but right now I love "You Get A Line, I'll Get A Pole." My favorites are split between the clever hides and the great places I end up.

What's the most unusual thing you've found in a cache?
I don't do much trading but I did like the Easy Button found at the end of Runfrog's "Hillside Cache."

Have you had any memorable experiences while seeking a cache?
Probably the best story is when I was pretty early into the whole thing. I was on a cruise that stopped in Quebec. I had picked out several caches to look for there. I went out with the friend I was traveling with another duo that we had met on the cruise and talked them all into trying to find "Tree within the Old City." I didn’t' yet know all the tricks so we blindly followed the GPS over hill and dale. We did find the cache and it turned out to be a highlight of all the guidebooks to Quebec!

What advice would you give to a beginning geocacher?
The thing I learned on my own that I wish I had known was how to really use the GPS. There are definitely some tricks that a few hours with someone more experienced can teach you. In addition there are a number of great free and cheap pieces of software that really make caching easier and more fun. My cache numbers jumped when I went to paperless caching.

Your geocaching.com profile indicates you have placed 5 caches and that they were placed in the span of only 3 days. Despite this you placed caches that covered almost every type there is. Tell us a bit about your caches and who you decided what type each should be.
Whenever I took someone caching, they were always interested in hiding and urged me to hide some caches. It never appealed as much as finding but I figured after 400 finds it was time to give something back. All of my hides are in the Rehoboth area because I spend most weekends there.

I actually only have 4 hides. The fifth is really my first and I made such an abysmal mess of the whole thing that it was archived in 1 day! Since there are relatively few caches in the area, I figured creating two puzzle caches were a way to give cachers more hunting time.

Your profile shows that you have done several virtual caches. Geocaching.com no longer support the creation of virtual caches. What's your feeling on that?
That's a real disappointment for me. These are my favorites as they let me see something surprising in places I wouldn't have seen otherwise. One of my favorite caching trips was an early morning outing I took while on a business trip to Washington, DC. Prior to the start of the day's meetings, I took a cab to the Library of Congress and snagged 4 virtuals on my walk back to my hotel.

Have any of them proven to be more "popular" than what you expected?
All of them have surprised me. I'm amazed at the logs and the frequency of the finds. I get email almost every day on finds and people are very kind in their comments.

Have any of them proven to be more difficult to find than you expected?
The one that catches most people is "Out of the Park!" You'll have to visit it to see why.

Have any of them been muggled? If, so how did you handle this?
Fortunately, not yet.

What's your best caching story - the one you tell others to let them know the kind of fun and adventures one can have while geocaching?
My Quebec story is the best one but then I'm like a snowball rolling down a hill.

What advice would you give to someone designing a cache placement?
I'm really a rank beginner here but I'd say just try it. I was amazed at how people enjoy whatever you put out.

Beside geocaching, what other things do you like to do?
I enjoy biking, swimming, reading, video gaming and general computer-based activities.

What question did you expect us to ask but we didn't? And, what's the answer?
I thought you'd ask about what season I prefer and my answer is late fall through early spring. This is a time I'd usually spend inside and geocaching gets me out and about.

The other thing I wanted to share was to point folks to podcacher.com. This is a website and a twice-weekly podcast. I've learned a lot by listening to this on a regular basis. They've covered everything from basic tips through paperless caching. It's a lot of fun.

Thanks for sharing these answers with us.