Geocaching adventures!

My bf and I have been talking about giving geocaching a try for a long time now, but as is typical of us, we just never got around to it. This is partly because geocaching requires a GPS unit and as we rarely drive anywhere (we have lovely commutes!) an investment in a GPS unit seemed a little frivolous.

With the recent purchase of our (arguably unnecessary? :)) new phones however, we finally gained access to a GPS system and thought we'd give it a go. We were really surprised to find that the Nexus One has a really accurate system and that made our first adventure a lot of fun. Here are some pics of the first two caches we found - also taken with the Nexus One camera. (I have to say, after waiting ten years to buy a new phone... I think I'm going to love this!)

Geocachers typically take a lot of photos. The friends and family I've got that also geocache love to do so with a little buddy in tow. We thought it appropriate to bring along Scooby Doo...since his forte is solving mysteries! Here's Scooby with our first cache and the logbook.  A great find (and just challenging enough for first timers.)

The second cache was pretty tricky. For one thing, it's outside of a subway (so I'm pretty sure we weirded out a lot of bystanders.)  For another thing, there's a corridor of hydro electric lines pretty close by that obscures GPS readings. The person who placed this cache had to take several readings and average out the coordinates.  Nexus One pulled through though! It was "off" by less than a metre!

As you can see, this one was nicely camouflaged!   :)

For more info, check out the following:
Geocaching (wiki)
Geocaching.com (official)

Earth Hour 2010: March 27th 8:30pm (Local time)

It shouldn't come as any surprise to see me posting this. Do you participate in Earth Hour? How 'green' are you the rest of the year?

The Art of Maps...

Let me start by saying that I do fellow geographers a disservice here. I am neither critical nor academic in my following comments (though I attempt, vaguely, to be just that.)

Recently I showed a friend/colleague of mine my "new" blog, complete with all of the designs in Photoshop that I'd worked on/relaxed with over the course of Reading Week. I was pretty proud of it, especially given the fact that I have very little experience in Photoshop as a whole (preferring the 'ease' and simplicity of Paint Shop Pro).  On the surface, my friend's comment was "Nice!"  Underlying that (and particularly, though not exclusively, in response to my newly crafted "wax seal") was the remark "[I]t looks a bit Old World colonial..."

Now in fairness to my friend (whom I have paraphrased slightly), I have to agree. The nostalgia that is conjured up by images of dried parchment, compass roses and old wax seals brings with it a host of trouble, the least of which are the implications associated with colonial "mappings" of the world.  For geographers, it (should) bring to mind a series of questions, including: "What do these maps represent?"  "Whom does this representation exclude?" "Where's Waldo?" (I kid.)

The thing is, as a geographer, I've wrestled with my love of old-style maps. As an artist, I think they're absolutely beautiful (and I want nothing more than an old, discoloured map of the world framed for my office). There are times when I want to (and do) set aside my critical academic eye to appreciate the "beauty" that old maps possess.  I feel the same way about old books as well.  There is, however, a bit more irony to this story - the fact that I am neither white, nor male - the essentialized characteristics of those who dutifully mapped the world based on their sole interpretation.  Should a woman of colour love colonial representations as much as I do?  Am I somehow "betraying the cause" with my love for aesthetics? Where is that line?

(With thanks to PSHero for the psd file for this wax seal. I'd love to have done this tutorial in its entirety but... I cannot - yet- use the pen tool with any degree of accuracy.)