Spy vs. Spy

(I know the post looks long... And it is, but if you don't read it all, try to at least skim it) =)

I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock- 5:30 on a Saturday morning wasn't exactly my definition of "sleeping in," but it was well worth it. We were going letterboxing =)


After hearing so many great things about the original Spy vs. Spy event, my dad- X Marks the Spot -thought it'd be a good idea to go to this one and try our luck with some friends. Originally, he intended it to be myself, him, Gallant Rogue, and BullDawg. But, BullDawg got busy and, unfortunately, couldn't make it to the event. So, we decided to let a seeming double agent into the group. It was Yankee Chick, who wrote a request to join the team to Gallant Rogue, interestingly, literally minutes after Casa del Sol had told him to trust no one. We made sure she was legit, of course, and agreed to let her join the group.


So, I checked Facebook, showered, ate cold pizza for breakfast, etc., just in time to wait for Gallant Rogue to pull up. We headed out for our three hour drive and on the way, started chatting about our strategies and plots. Meanwhile, a motorcycle going around 120 raced in between our car and several others' while being chased by multiple police officers around 8:15 in the morning.


He obviously was running from the law (and not just from a speeding ticket), and it turns out he fell off the motorcycle a few miles up the road. He didn't look like he was in too good of shape when we went past, and we made conversation as we wondered how his motorcycle had ended up a good 300 yards past where he landed... It was an interesting and bizarre drive up, but we finally got there.


We were to start at Starbucks. We parked in the Burger King next door's parking lot and had 20 minutes to kill. Yankee Chick pulled up, as X went to get chips for the potluck later from the Farm Fresh across the street. When he came back, we realized we had forgotten to carve a team signature stamp... We pulled together some carving supplies and came up with a design. At first, X used the wrong team name for the design (niiiiiiiice), so we had to come up with something quickly. Rogue had a brilliant idea- our name was "Rogue eXiles" so he recommended we use the design of the Rx, as a pharmacy does. So, the design was drawn up, and within ten minutes, I had carved the stamp (Rogue finished the last corner of the X off), and we were all in matching white patterned headbands. Our team was ready to go.


Everyone but I, who was carving on the hood of Rogue's car, went into the Starbucks and got the first clue from the Special Agent Jason Bourne. It was a toilet paper roll. On it- a notice that we'd need it to for the park that had only Porta-Potties. Rogue had researched all the nearby parks and he immediately knew which one.


There was also one little detail- I was the Mole. Essentially, I held the key to the other teams' victory. The others were to tell someone a key phrase, in hopes that the person they were telling it to was the Mole. If they told the correct individual (me), then they'd get one of the five required mission stamps. The other 4 were boxes in the park that you had to get lucky in locating. There were quite a few scattered in the park, but only 4 of them were ones that would help you win the game.


We decided the best strategy to hide this fact and keep them from bothering me would be for me to play the disgruntled teen. I had one or both of my headphones to my MP3 in, trying to keep a bored look as other teams passed by and asked other members of my team if they were the Mole.


We were told at the gate that we'd need everything we'd received. X slowed us down, as he made small talk with Casa del Sol. Soon, we hurried him along and got into the park. We figured we'd solve the harder cyphers while we were fresh. Yankee Chick, Rogue, and I cracked several of the letter one, while X worked on one he specialized with. Overall, we spent about 20 minutes sitting under a small shelter working on codes.


But, we were in danger of being caught. Another group of Leabhar and Buster Bunny approached us and quickly roped us in offering to take a team picture. They had us. They told us they wanted to make a guess as to what country we were from. (We were assigned a country in the beginning that, if anyone with the two elimination stamps correctly guessed, we were out. If they're wrong, the other team gets to take the death stamp to use.) They quickly came up with a genius lie. They told us they had already taken out two teams with the stamp. Rogue decided to attempt a deal with them- we'd tell them who the Mole was if they intentionally guessed wrong. It was a great deal that we don't regret, even going back and analyzing our game.


The deal was made and the Mole stamp was quickly stamped into their book. It was something that may threaten our game, but if worst came to worst, we had an elimination stamp to try to get them out.


We had to get to some boxes and start getting on with finding the other 4 required stamps. We met Sherlock and Jason (again), and bribed Casa with an opportunity to solve Cryptex!... Bribing was incredibly legal, and strongly recommended, so we definitely knew how to pull it off. We got some other boxes, likely contained in places and with clues that are classified (well, may be used at future events like this, so I won't post any potential spoilers)...


We soon ran into Nancy Drew... But we had a problem: We had found a TON of the boxes and only gotten one of the required stamps other than the Mole stamp we already possessed... The other teams were gaining hugely, we suspected. So, we resulted to meeting with the double agent slicky kitty. We got some crucial information as to which boxes may be important to go for and which ones we probably should probably skip.....


But, there was another problem. We had told a double agent that I was the Mole. This... was a mistake.


We proceeded to go to a box that we believed contained a significant stamp. We got the box (across a bridge). But it was a dud- nothing of significance to winning the game. We were in trouble- being pursued. It was about to be all over.


We started crossing the bridge back to the main portion of the park when we encountered a group of four women. The double agent had given away who the Mole was. The group had four of the required stamps... and I was the last one they needed. But there was no escape. They had us. We reluctantly gave up the Mole stamp...


But wait! There was still hope. We had the elimination stamp. We had a shot!


And, the shot missed. We guessed the wrong country and the four women ran to the finish line... The game was over... And it had been a TOTAL blast =D


I was sad to see the game was over. It was a great time. In the end, we had skipped 6 boxes and half of them were ones we needed to win... We had gotten unlucky, but I truly think we had played a great game strategically.


So, we stuck around for the potluck. Had some fried chicken, jellybeans, and some other really good stuff =) We got some exchanges (although I forgot my signature stamp at home, so I'll be sending out quite a few copies of my signature stamp on Monday). Overall, it was an event of good company and well managed. I'd definitely do it again =)


And, on the way home, I got to sleep for a little while, so I made back some of the lost sleep this morning. But, my family will not see me until later than usual tomorrow morning. I'm sleeping in =)


~BOB~

Mysteries in the Mountains (The 100th Post)

First and foremost, this is the 100th post to the blog! Didn't think we'd get this far, but woohoo! =)

(This post looks really long... And it is, but try to get through it all- it just looks really long because I made it into so many paragraphs)

So.... this weekend was awesome =D =D =D

We headed up to the Foxes' farm on Friday in my dad's Toyota truck (despite the poem I wrote on Thursday). We stopped at Subway restaurant on the way and later at the grocery store to pick up some chicken for dinner...

And, we got to the farm first... And I mean first... Mama Fox wasn't even home yet, so we put on all our warm excess clothing. Then they all started to show up... And, I gave her the event stamp, which Wassa cleverly suggested I mount to a whoopee cushion. It was inside an Outhouse birdhouse, so the farting noises just made it a hilarious stamp ;D

I found a few of the newer stamps on the farm, but it was so cold I was really wanting to hang out in the barn. Plus, mixing, mingling, and exchanging are fun =) I met a ton of boxers I've been waiting to get exchanges with, but it was so cold and there were so many people, I wasn't really going for too many PTs...

Mama Wolf finally showed up with her family and Seattle Bound (she didn't have her alligator with her, sadly)... While everyone was exchanging, the Wolf Family and I all went over the Outhouse to get the HH Hostel. Mama Wolf decided we needed to do a parody of the Blair Witch Project... That was the most hilarious part of the weekend! It was staged perfectly ;D

I have since learned from Mama Wolf that the rights to the "production" have been acquired by Wassa.... There's no telling what he could do with that!! The footage is hardly usable, but the entire situation, including the audio is priceless... =D =D =D

So... the rest of the event was a lot of exchanging in the cold and listening to others sing for the Sheeeet Music! PT... Yeah, I chickened out... I can't sing...... AT ALL ;)

We got Dixie to guide X, DC Stones, Seattle Bound, and I to our cabin. It was pretty nice, and we found the name of the street it was on amusing: Spooky Branch =)

That night, X, DC Stones, and I stayed back at the cabin while Dixie, Mojo, and Seattle Bound all went out in the cold to put some of the boxes in their places for the event. They asked if we wanted anything from the store... I always have a craving for cookie dough ice cream, so I kiddingly asked for it...

All of us at the house fell asleep around 11 while everyone else stayed up until like 4 in the morning ;)

Speaking of which, I'm kinda wondering what the loud crash *cough*DIXIE!*cough* in the middle of the night was... ;)

And......... When we woke up in the morning, it sucked... THERE WAS SNOW ON THE GROUND! We drove 7 hours to go box in the SNOW?!?! But, the weather channel told us it was going to be sunny later... I'm not sure I believed it, but it did...

So, the "early sleepers" got up and went for some boxes near a really nice almost fairytale hotel. X and I planned to get those and then go meet up with the Wolves... On our way to Carrier Park (HQ for the event), we found out she totally wimped out... She claims it was because of the snow and her old green van's difficulties in it, but we all know she was just scared of the hug Fluffy Cow was going to plant on her =)

We froze our butts off at Carrier Park... The wind chill must have been around 0 degrees (maybe less) under there. But, I got my exchange with Fluffy Cow!! Wooh! =)

So, we dove into the Chinese all-you-can-eat buffet (considering the fact that my dad didn't even get me breakfast) and stayed there for a while. I got exchanges with people I had missed the night before and others who weren't there...

The event stamp was PHENOMENAL!... It was carved by 3 Blind Mice (who else?) and a very large two layer stamp (are you regretting leaving yet, Mama Wolf?) ;)

X, DC Stones, and I all got together with Lavagirl and Seattle Bound. We did some quality slack-car boxing for the cemetery, but got some incredible stamp out of it =)

Lavagirl had to head home, but the rest of us hunted some more boxes and headed over to the barbecue restaurant... Those cheese fries were good (are you regretting leaving YET, Mama Wolf?) ;)

We decided to go for some night boxes... HELEN COME FORTH!! My dad's truck's engine had been spazzing out all day and I still hadn't gotten my exchange with Seattle Bound.

When we got up there, weird things began to happen......... As X and Seattle Bound were hunting the box, Seattle Bound's signature stamp disappeared... She set it on the top of her logbook right next to her and she reached down and it wasn't there. We checked all over, but it wasn't there.... And Dixie's passenger seat was up when she got back in her car...... and it wasn't any of us because we were all looking for Seattle Bound's sig stamp... But, in return for the sig stamp, the truck survived another day and got us through the 7 hour drive back home....

Thank you, Helen! But at the same time, darn it, Helen!

That's okay, because I'm going to carve her a new one within the week and send it to her, I'm hoping =)

We also picked up Undead Mayhem (great box!) and Zombie Elvis (a little freaky because of a story Mojo had told me about a usually drunk homeless man that lives near the box)...

We went back to the cabin after that around 10:30 or so... Everyone slowly started falling asleep... Except for Dixie and I... We were eating rocky road and cookie dough ice cream at 2:15 in the morning! ;D

Good times, good times =)

~BOB~

Twas the Day Before the Outhouse Event

Twas the day before the Outhouse Event when all through the house

Only Bobguyman was stirring... For he wasn't carving a mouse.

Nor a cow, a fish, a chicken, or a lhasa.

He had carved a bird complete with an idea from wassa!

Bob too had carved a PT with a silly little pun.

When he saw it, he said "This'll be fun!"

It could be received from telling him a secret word.

He hoped that this everyone had heard.

The next day, he'd ride in X's Prius.

He kept saying, "I know they'll be happy to see us."

For it was sure to be a great event...

Even better than a Christmas present!

The boxers would anxiously log into the Outhouse!

Some with their kids and spouse.

The next day they'd head over to Carrier Park.

And box rain or shine until after dark!!

At the end of the day, they'd probably have some scars

And hopefully, (unlike Dina) be able to find their cars ;)

They'd all return home with fond memories.

Some might write 'em down on blogs or in diaries.

They'd all be happy to be back home, but then...

They'd all agree: We all must do it again!

Looking forward to the events!

~BOB~

Fredricksburg!

WOW!

Just wow!

Today was a BLAST! It was the most fun day I've had in quite a long time =D

So... if you guys all follow the boards closely, you already know that Dixie, Mama Wolf, and Mojo all came up for the weekend event! Dixie wanted to learn more about her history and experience Fredricksburg, Mama Wolf wanted to exchange with me and hunt some boxes at the event, and Mojo was along for the ride! ;D

X and I woke up normal time this morning, got ready, and got on the road! It was about an hour drive to Fredricksburg... And, as we thought we were getting closer and closer, we noticed a car on the side of the road....... And, it said on the back "FREDRICKSBURG OR BUST!"...

...And, then I saw Dixie!! We were in the right spot! ;)

We got out of the car, did the hugs, and got all our stuff in order =) ...And then there was Wolf... Cussing under her breath as she approached ;D

Then, she got really excited as she saw all of us and we went into the coffee shop... Mojo joined us pretty quickly... We got our clues, my dad got his coffee, and Mama Wolf and I did our long-awaited exchange! * HALLELUJAH CHORUS IN THE BACKGROUND!*

The event organizer, Four Survivors had to get the lollipops separated for anyone who got the bonus clues... So, I decided I could help with that... And, we didn't have any scissors, so I used my ever trusty carving tool! Four Survivors asked if I wanted to get some scissors from the front desk, but I was having too great of a time! I DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' SCISSORS! ;)

Soon after finishing my job, BullDawg and Trailing Emerson joined us with their new baby Journey, as well =) We all picked up some clues...

...And we were off! After being kicked out of the coffeehouse by management (even after people offered them money to stay), we decided to hunt boxes =) Gallant Rogue decided to join us for the adventure =)

So, we went from store to store to bar to store finding nearly every single box =)

After running around in the rain, we stopped for lunch at one of the box locations. It was reeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaalllllllly good food =D Scarab came in for a short time while we waited for our food and we exchanged =) Journey fell asleep, so BullDawg and Trailing Emerson departed...

And we hunted more and more boxes, exploring stores and bars and the Confederate Cemetery. Dixie was extremely interested in all of the history there, as she should be! It was pretty cool =D

We headed over to Carl's World Famous Ice Cream, which actually serves custard, according to Ellbee =) And it was GOOD!

And we walked around town and found just one more from that point... We told stories and talked about carving... Ya know, lettergeek stuff ;D

Dinner time came around so we made our way back to the tavern... There were lots of exchanges, some hard times given... (Yes, I'm talking about you Mama Wolf!) AND..............

I GOT NOT ONE, NOT TWO, BUT THREE HUGS FROM WOLF! ;D

It was for a 3 Blind Mice stamp, so we had to! And there had to be photo proof.... And, Dixie was such a bad picture taker, we had to take it over and over again... We fired Dixie as the photographer after the second blurry picture and got Mojo to take it =)

Thankfully, the bad photography gene was not inherited from her mom ;)

Mama Wolf says she needs therapy, especially after having to do it three times!

So, after the hugs were done, we went upstairs, had dinner, exchanged with people, and had a raffle! I won a fancy cork to a bottle of wine and X won a box of fudge =D

Mmmmmmm.... Hopefully he's out of the house tomorrow so I can break into it before he gets the chance to =)

So, after saying our goodbyes, we departed... Agreeing we'd see each other again within a few months at future events =)

.....X and I agreed that it was a great time. I certainly wish we could do it again tomorrow! ;D

~BOB~

A weird week

The week after a bomb threat isn't usually too crazy, right?

*obnoxious buzzer noise* WRONG!

This week has been CONFUSING beyond any other since school started! Allow me to explain...

If you don't already know how my schedule works, I have orange and blue days. Orange has 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th periods. Blue has 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 7th periods. 7th period is half the length of a normal period because we have it on both days...

So, Friday when we had the bomb threat, it was a blue day. As a result of the evacuation, the day wasn't completed and classes got behind.

Monday was off.

Tuesday was orange.

And... Wednesday was considered Blue. However, we did not get to go to our classes that day because of PSATs (which caused us to get farther behind).

So, today was orange (even FARTHER behind!) and tomorrow is blue.

BUT, tomorrow we won't even come close to catching up in my most important class of the day because we're having an assembly during that period! Which means I am going to have a ton of homework to make up for time in class missed.

So, as you can imagine homework has been confusing for me and I'm not really sure exactly where I'm at...

But, there is an advantage! Because teachers are trying to keep classes from both days at the same pace, I've had much less homework =D

PSATs were not too bad... Except for the reading assessment... Reading's never been my strong point!

And..... THIS WEEKEND'S THE BIG EVENT!! The weather's looking pretty crappy, but heck with it! I'm from Oregon! The rain is part of me! ;)

Dixie and Mama Wolf are coming up for the weekend... Fun =)

And, lastly... If you haven't checked out my DSi "artwork", here's the link ;)

I have added more since I posted the link last on my blog =)

http://letterbob.webs.com/art.html

I feel a good hot tubbing coming on tonight! Rainy and cold outside feels even better when you get in... Getting out.... Well, that's a different story ;)

~BOB~

Flinging Into Spring

X and I went out around 9 o'clock this morning to go to the 4th Annual Spring Flinger. It was about a two hour car ride up there. I stepped out of the car and wondered where everyone was... It was pretty quiet outside, except for a few people... So, I went into a sheltered area where a ton of people were... It seemed like a lot more signed up for the event when I checked... I found out everyone was out on the trail. Well, I took about an hour to exchange with the people that were there, including Wild Rose of PBandJ, her daughter (Buggaboo), Celtic Cross, Spider Monkey, SN Bone, Claudia of Claudia and Alex, and Thunderbird. I also got the amazing event stamp! There is a ton of detail, folks. I let several people stamp the Midsummer Night Dream stamp and left it behind while I found boxes.

Then, X and I met up with Bookworm on the trail and found a few boxes... by the time we were done with the few boxes, it was time for lunch. So, we went back in and had at it. I had half a sandwhich, potato, chili, and bacon bits (made of real bacon!) =D

We were planning to go back out to hunt some more boxes, but we got caught with exchanges again ;) I met nsfbeads, Shutterbug, Nite Momith, Nana Banana, Cat Eyes, and Gischer Gryffindors. They were all very kind, but we never got back to hunting boxes ;) Oh well, meeting people is always fun =)

I got cootied twice, but I passed them both off! Yesssssssssssssssssssss......

I also got a ton of PTs and I filled a ton of my pages filled... And some cool stamp images =)

That was my day =)

~BOB~

The Ides

Well, as many of you know, I went to a great event yesterday called the Ides of March! Wow! It was a TOTAL BLAST! =D I met a ton of people, hunted some great boxes, and got rid of the rest of my LTCs that I made...

So, X Marks the Spot and I were supposed to go to a running-jogging-walking thing. Well... the weather was TERRIBLE: windy and rainy and just flat out nasty.... So, we didn't take a two hour drive to Portland at 6 in the morning in the nasty weather after staying up 11 the previous night.

So, we waited till a little later... the hunting for boxes were supposed to start at 10 am, but we got there at about 1:15, which was 30 minutes before the linner (lunch/dinner) started. We got talking with Maiden and Marmalade and the coffee cake was so dang good that we left about 1:40...

We hunted one box, which had a great stamp =D We huried up and got money for the linner and headed to the restaurant. We got there only to find about 7 people inking up and stamping on the front of the Weatherlys car. It was another great stamp =D

After stamping in, we walked in to find a TON of people. They started it off with a game of Clue- Roman Edition... No one solved it within the time limit, so they drew names from a hat. I didn't win, but X did. So, he let me have the prize: a custom logbook from Camp Fire Lady! Oh, it looks amazing! Thanks, Camp Fire Lady =D

Lunch was awesome too! Very tasty pasta and bread! We sat at the table with Wildhair and her husband, 4 Ch, and Fenghuang.

After lunch, I exchanged with a bunch of people... Oh man it was great! So many nice people at one time! I missed exchanging with a few people, unfortunately... but I'm hoping to exchange with them at the Spring Flinger...

My Midsummer Night Dream stamp was not stamping too well... I think it all depended on the ink pad, whether a roller was used or not, and the texture of paper... I am hoping to have all that good stuff working well at the Flinger...

Anyways, I was sad that it had to end.... but I had a great time when it was going on... Afterwards, we went and hunted three other boxes for the event, and we only missed out on one of the three, which I think had been pulled earlier in the day... we headed back to Marmalade's house where we had a little afterparty and I got to exchange with Der Mad Stamper and his little Monkey boxing buddy =)

I got one more box at Marm's house and said goodbye... we had to head home.... sigh... but I'm sure we'll be back to Portland sooner or later... =)

~BOB~

Penguins at the Beach

Today was AWESOME! We drove up to Virginia Beach for an event and 'X' discussed some of his future plans for the west coast... We met at the Farmer's Market at 10 o'clock! I met some great people and we inked up for an hour. Overall, I had a great time! We found dulcimerdave's box at the Market. Then, some of us went over to the park to hunt another one of his boxes... We found the location and guess what!............ the pages of the logbook had been torn out of the logbook and left on the ground with the tuperware... It looked like it had been destroyed a few minutes (if that) before... =( So, never got that stamp (it was stolen when we got there), but I had a fun time anyway! =) Thank you Penguin Patrol for the great time!! =)

~BOB~

Event Stamp Carved!

I just carved my event stamp for the "'X' and ~BOB~ in Asheville" event! It's got the theme of summer! YAY! I won't post spoilers, because I don't want to ruin it! It will be awesome! It is likely I will be using the stamp for an LTC... =)

~BOB~