Difference between revisions of "2010-09-12 39 -76"

Latest revision as of 03:42, 9 August 2019

Location

Rosedale, just off of 95, just East of the Rosedale Shopping Center. It appears to be in the left yard of 8206 Edwill Avenue.

Google Maps Street View of the spot

Participants

Mike plans to be there, since it's about a mile and a half from his house.

Anyone else... Let me know what time you want to meet if you want to come.

Plans

Check it out, take pictures, and hope someone else comes.

Expedition

I was prepared to walk to the point, going to earn the Walk geohash achievement. However, my mom said she'd drive me there today since it was all drizzly out, losing the Walk achievement, but gaining the Drag-along achievement. So, since I didn't hear from anyone, I thought that the most probable time to meet anyone would be 4 PM, so I went to go there then. We set out at about 3:40 PM. It was just a short jaunt down the road, so we ended up right near the spot at about 3:50 PM. Once my mom parked, she said, "Alright. What do you plan to do here? How long do you plan to be?" I told her "Well, I didn't really hear from anyone, so I'm just going to the point, take a few pictures, and wait until a little after 4 to see if anyone shows up."

I took a picture of her in the car, since she didn't want to get out. So I hopped out of the car and walked towards the point. I got to the spot with the mailboxes that I recognized from Google Street View and I looked down and saw I was very close. I started walking onto the lawn to try to get closer, but for some reason, my GPS stopped updating my position as I was walking. I wasn't sure what was going on, so I walked back to the sidewalk and started walking back and forth up and down the sidewalk to try to change the number. It didn't budge. I was getting a little frustrated with my GeoHashDroid app at this point. I shut the app off and turned it back on again to try again. This time, it worked and was updating my position. So, I walked back onto the lawn and started up towards the back yard, looking to see if the owner was there, and trying to get an excuse ready for them. I was planning on trying the "Hi! I'm from the Internet." line. Fortunately, no one approached me.

Well, luckily, the spot was pretty close to where Google Street View pinned it, though it was a bit further up the hill and closer to the sidewalk. I got it to say that I was within 4 feet of the spot and no closer, so I called it a win at that. From the spot, I took a picture across the street and also one of the house I was in the yard of. It was at this point I realized that I was kind of screwed from a "proof" stand-point, since my Droid was my camera and my GPS, so I wouldn't be able to take a picture of the GPS screen. (Actually, I could go back and retro-hash to prove it, if anyone knows a way to take a screenshot on a Droid Eris.) So I did the next best thing. I took a picture of the foot-trampled grass where I was on the spot, as well as a shot from the street that pretty well matches the Google Street View picture. I also took a picture of myself when I was standing on the spot with the house clearly visible in the background. At about 4:05 PM, I figured no one else was showing up, so I went back to the car with my mom. Then, I thought we were going home.

No, of course not! :-D In something my mom didn't tell me about, we went to Home Depot to get my dad two boxes of deck screws. We got there, and that was a little story in itself. She brought the screw to compare, just to make sure we're getting the right ones. Well, we get to the aisle, and find the brand and all. We're looking for two five-pound boxes of 3-inch deck screws. Do they have them? No. They have everything but what we're looking for. All around, there's five-pound boxes of all other lengths, ranging from 5/8-inch to 3 1/2-inch. Also, they have one-pound boxes of 3-inch, as well as a 25-pound bucket. So we call my dad, and he'll settle for two boxes of 2 1/2-inch screws. Then, we headed home.

Photos

My mom in the car.
The view across the street, taken from the hashpoint
The house whose yard was the hashpoint, taken from the GeoHash
My footprints on the HashPoint, the closest I'll get to definitive proof until I get screenshot software for the Droid Eris.
Google Street View screenshot, annotated with HashPoint according to my Droid
My picture from the street to correspond with Google Street View
Me on the HashPoint, with the house in the background