Every once in a while, I post a comment or two on Small Town Misfit. It's fun.

At the start of the day today, I had already figured out what I had calculated wrong on the geocache I tried yesterday. I had converted some numbers in the opposite direction. (An analogy would be thinking you had miles and converting them to kilometers, when, in fact you had kilometers and needed the measurement to be in miles.) Also, at the start of the day, no one had logged a find, logged a DNF, or even posted a note. Phillip and I decided that we had a good shot at a First To Find.

Throughout the day, Phillip and I conversed by email, and kept a watch on the geocache. Throughout the day, the cache owner posted hints, and I became worried that someone else would figure out the clues, and beat us to the FTF.

At the end of the day, there were still no logs, except for my DNF from yesterday. Phillip and I set out as soon as I got home. The geocache was set up like a hybrid puzzle/multi cache. The challenge was to solve a puzzle, find the coordinates, and go there to find numbers - then you had to solve another puzzle in order to find the coordinates for the actual geocache. The first part of the geocache (the part I logged the DNF for) was about five to ten minutes from home. The corrected answer for that part wasn't any farther away. It took us so long to locate that first set of numbers that we were both thinking that I had solved it incorrectly the second time. But then Phillip spotted the numbers. I converted the numbers, which told us the geocache was about a half mile away.

We got to the final location and found the cache quickly. We opened the fresh log book, and found that another geocacher had found the cache in the middle of the afternoon. We were second to find.

I sent an email to the FTF geocacher, congratulating him.

I do take pride in the belief that I am very likely the only person to have solved the difficult puzzle without the hints, and that Phillip and I found the geocache without the hints.

1. I went to a Church Council meeting tonight, but my heart wasn't in it. Worse than that, I wanted it to be over the whole time. (Should I resign, with less than a year to go?)

2. I came up with the solution to a very new, very difficult, puzzle cache today. I believe I may be the first to solve it, and I posted a note to that effect. At Phillip's urging, I went out as soon as I got home, before I went to Church Council, in an attempt to be First To Find. I didn't find it, but I think I made an error in my solution. I was the first to log a Did Not Find. I am still convinced that I am the first to solve the puzzle - or, at least, the first to see how to solve it. It was exhilarating while I thought I'd be First To Find, but the defeat felt so much more like a defeat. Afterwards, I felt kind of silly. I enjoy geocaching, but I'm feeling like I shouldn't make it such a competitive sport.

3. I feel like I've learned a lot about yoga, and I see the progress I've made in the short time I've practiced it.

4. I enjoy playing my djembe, even though I don't play as often as I once did. I should play more often.

5. Deseo estudiar español en una clase.

6. I feel proud of my job.

7. I enjoy working with wood, and I enjoy making necklaces, even though inexperience makes either activity frustrating at times.

8. I'm reading a book I'm not enjoying.

9. I'm feeling adrift and unfocused.

I work in an interesting clinic.

Patient: "Excuse me, you might want to know that there's someone sleeping over by the fishtank."

My co-worker (without a pause): "Oh yes, that's Fred."

(No real names used.)

I'm on page 42 of Bee Season, and I'm already wondering what all the acclaim is for. I'm not liking this book. It has no voice. Who's telling the story? Is it the story of a young misfit heading for spelling bee glory? Is it the story of her brother training to be a rabbi? Is it the story of their parents' sex life? Will the book make up its mind?

Where did the weekend go? It seems like we did a lot, and didn't do much at all.

On Saturday, we did some geocaching. We looked for three puzzle caches I'd solved, and found all three. We went to an art show at Magnuson Park, where all of the art was very good, but out of our price range. We also looked for two more geocaches in Magnuson Park, and found both of those.

On Sunday morning, I attempted a multi-cache on Queen Anne Hill. Phillip wasn't interested in it, because he doesn't enjoy walks around Queen Anne as much as I do. I spent a half-hour looking for, but not finding, the first waypoint. I gave up. A few minutes after I logged my Did Not Find, the cache owner emailed me with help. From his description, it sounds like the first waypoint is missing. He told me where the second waypoint is. Phillip and I then looked for three more geocaches, and found all three. One of those geocaches was an interesting puzzle: Hidden in the same spot as the first geocache in Seattle.