(tap tap) Is this thing on?

I kind of wonder who out there reads blogs. I've wondered if anyone is reading this one too. Heh. Why not try an experiment! I love that type of stuff. In advertising we see ads targeted to see what kind of feedback comes back. Sometimes you do a special where you know that if someone asks for that deal, then they had to see that ad. I figured I might try the same thing.

I've been thinking about coming out with my own coin. I have been working on art and all that stuff for a few weeks now. We are officially going into production right now. How about a quick look at the artwork!




I hope people like them. They will be 24k gold plated with enamel fills as you can see. The recessed gold is darker than the polished gold. This will help the US map show more against the background. I hope the effect looks good. They are due in around the end of February.

Now for the deal. The first active geocacher that emails me from my web site email submission form page will get a free coin when they come in. You will need to give me your geonick (geocaching.com user name), your real name and your mailing address when you email me. Once someone emails me I will update this blog and let you know who was quick on the draw.

EDITED 1-28-06 2:20PM: We have a winner already!!!
Thanks Fro.

I'm excited about them. I hope you all will like them too.

Groundspeak Volunteer Geocoins

Each year for the past couple of years, Groundspeak has sent the reviewers a little Christmas present in the mail. It is nice that they show appreciation for the volunteer services we provide to the geocaching.com site and to the geocachers around the globe.

Just before Christmas this year a box showed up on my doorstep. They told us that something was coming but wanted us to be quiet so the surprise would not be spoiled for others. I opened my box up and much to my surprise I saw a whole bunch of new geocoins! The folks at Groundspeak had created a Volunteer Appreciation Geocoin.


I was speechless.

They look so good and as hot as geocoins are I knew that they would be in high demand. Geocoins are like beanie babies right now. People pay insane prices to get coins that are hard to find. I figured once we got these that emails would start to come in trying to get one, and they did. I did not get as many as I thought I might, but a few did come in from people I had never heard of before. It is going to be hard to decide where I am going to send them all. I have given some of them to cachers already. We take ownership of the coin by activating it ourselves, which adds it to our "owned" profile. From there cachers can log it if they see the coin. I will not be allowing any "virtual logs". "Virtual logs" are where a cacher emails the person who has the coin to ask for the secret number used to log the coin (removed in the photo above and replaced by my nickname). They never actually see the coin, but the coin icon appears on their stats page. I think it is amazing that people are somewhat shallow and want the icon but don't care enough to actually see the coin. It is a practice that is frowned upon by Groundspeak, and I agree with Groundspeak regarding the practice.

So, we will see how the Volunteer Geocoin goes.
I am so honored that Groundspeak did this for us.