User:Thepiguy

About me

Greetings to my fellow geohashers, both near and far! I'm currently a UBC physics and computer science student living in Richmond and will bike/bus to the ends of the earth for that perfect hash point!

I try and get to as many locations as possible, but school occasionally gets in the way. Me and my bike Josephine are willing to cycle any distance if it means one more awesome expedition.

I may also be heading to Germany for a co-op job in May of 2009, which should make for some exciting trans-continental geohashing.

One quick note about my user name, if one were to add in the spaces it would be The Pi Guy. As in that mystical mathematical constant, and having nothing to do with the animal commonly known as bacon. If we ever meet at a geohash, ask me how I got the name Pi; it's a good 30 seconds worth of entertainment.

36 / m / 49,-123

Upcoming Schedule

Weekly Schedule:

• Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are still full of school so any geohashes will have to be attempted on the way home are in the evening.
• Tuesday and, to a greater extent, Thursday are once again reserved for morning hashes. If I can manage to get my sorry but out of bed and check the co-ordinates in time, I should be able to get anywhere in the lower mainland on Thursdays.
• Saturday and Sunday are open for now, although getting into February I start getting pretty busy.

Geohashes

My current count is 25 successful geohashes in 5 different graticules, including 7 Saturday meetups. (Posted most recent first)

2009-03-05 49 -123 Picnic-twister-collision-hash in a Park!

2009-02-10 49 -123 Another transit geohash in Vancouver.

2009-01-17 49 -123 Fogtastic Vancouver geohash.

2008-12-21 49 -123 A frozen snow-man Richmond-hash in a blizzard.

2008-12-11 49 -123 Another Richmond hash! Located adjacent to the new Richmond Speed Skating Oval.

2008-12-07 49 -123 In Richmond again! On my way to work.

2008-12-03 49 -123 The usual intra-Vancouver geohash.

2008-11-08 49 -123 Evidence of previous geohashers found!

2008-10-26 48 -123 Another amazing bike ride on Vancouver Island. Greatest bike path evar!!1!

2008-10-19 43 -79 I don't think this even qualifies as an expedition, but I had a nice walk through Toronto.

2008-10-18 44 -79 Another bus ride followed by a 9km walk into the middle of nowhere.

2008-10-17 43 -79 500m off shore in Hamilton Ontario. Stopped by lake Ontario, of course.

2008-10-11 49 -123 Finally back on my bike, even if it was only for 13km.

2008-10-09 49 -123 My creepiest geohash location yet.

2008-09-25 49 -123 An irresistible Thursday morning Vancouver location.

2008-09-21 49 -124 8 hours and 1° of longitude west the doublehash is complete!

2008-09-21 49 -123 A sunrise water geohash. Part 1 of the multihash.

2008-09-19 49 -122 A midnight pirate geohash with Robyn!

2008-09-11 49 -123 Another urban geohash in sunny Vancouver!

2008-09-07 49 -123 A simple mid-morning Vancouver hash.

2008-09-01 49 -124 I went 237km by bike and 4km by kayak for a beautiful water geohahs!

2008-08-19 49 -123 Four in a row! I biked out to north east Richmond on my "way" to work.

2008-08-18 49 -123 For my third geohash in three days; I dragged a few friends out in the dark!

2008-08-17 49 -123 A mid-morning adventure through Vancouver.

2008-08-16 48 -123 An epic bike ride with a great view!

2008-08-09 49 -123 Transit geohash, all by my self, in the rain. =(

2008-07-19 49 -123 Ended up biking 109km and still has a great day!

2008-06-18 49 -123 Bike geohash, and an accidental geohash!

2008-05-31 49 -122 First Saturday Geohash meetup!

2008-05-27 49 -123 First Geohash! Land Geohash achieved!

Other Geohashers Met

In order of first encounter:

• srs0. A fellow UBC student, we're in the same program, take all the same classes, and worked at the same co-op job. We spend... far to much time together. He's working at the computer next to me even as I type this.

• Some guy in his car at the 2008-05-31 geohash in Surrey. We never even got his name! Do you know who he is?

• Warren at the 2008-05-31 geohash in Surrey. He came all the way from Bellingham!

• Robyn at the 2008-09-19 geohash in Surrey. It was about time!

Achievements Earned

It's pretty obvious, but I'm sort of really obsessing about my achievements. I don't care how non-notable it is: if there's a ribbon, it's goin' up!

thepiguy earned the Déjà Vu Geohash Achievement by reaching the (49, -123) geohash on 2009-01-17, and previously on 2008-09-01.

thepiguy earned the Frozen Geohash Achievement

by reaching the (49, -123) geohash on 2008-12-21 while the temperature was -1.0°C.

thepiguy earned the Snowman Geohash Achievement by building a snowman at the (49, -123) geohash on 2008-12-21.

thepiguy earned the Trail of blood consolation prize by being too injured to reach the (43, -79) geohash on 2008-10-19 ..

This user achieved level 1 of the Minesweeper Geohash achievement by visiting coordinates in Toronto, Ontario and 1 of the surrounding graticules.

thepiguy earned the Earliest geohasher achievement by arriving first at the (49, -123) geohash on 2008-09-25.

thepiguy earned the Speed racer achievement

by passing through the (49, -124) geohash on 2008-09-21 at the maximum legal speed.

thepiguy earned the Multihash Achievement by reaching the 2008-09-19 49 -123 and 2008-09-19 49 -124 geohashes on 2008-09-19.

thepiguy earned the Sunrise Geohash Achievement by reaching the (49, -123) geohash on 2008-09-21 to smile at the first rays of sun to cross the horizon.

Thepiguy earned the Water geohash achievement by reaching the (49, -123) geohash on 2008-09-21 by inflatable raft.

This user earned the Buccaneer Geohash Achievement by swashing his buckle at the (49, -122) geohash on 2008-09-19.

thepiguy earned the Midnight Geohash achievement by reaching the (49, -122) geohash on 2008-09-19 in the middle of the night.

thepiguy earned the First Sip GeoSquishy Achievement by enjoying a slushy carbonated beverage at the (49, -123) geohash on 2008-09-07.

thepiguy achieved level 3 of the Minesweeper Geohash achievement by visiting coordinates in Vancouver, British Columbia and 3 of the surrounding graticules.

This user earned the Water geohash achievement by reaching the (49, -124) geohash on 2008-09-01 by kayak.

thepiguy earned the Consecutive geohash achievement by reaching 4 consecutive hash points starting on 2008-08-16.

thepiguy earned the Drag-along achievement by dragging Lauren, Taryn and Josh to the (49, -123) geohash on 2008-08-18.

thepiguy achieved level 2 of the Minesweeper Geohash achievement by visiting coordinates in Vancouver, British Columbia and 2 of the surrounding graticules.

thepiguy earned the GeoTrash Geohash Achievement by cleaning up the (48, -123) geohash on 2008-08-16.

thepiguy earned the No trespassing consolation prize by almost reaching the (48, -123) geohash on 2008-08-16.

thepiguy earned the Public transport geohash achievement by reaching the (49, -123) geohash on 2008-08-09 via 410 Railway and 404 Ladner buses.

thepiguy earned the Media Attention Geohash Achievement by being immortalized in the hearts of others during the (49, -123) geohash on 2008-07-19 For whining about the ferry system to the Vancouver Sun.

thepiguy has visited an Easy Geohash by reaching the (49, -123) geohash on 2008-06-18 without really trying.

thepiguy earned the Bicycle geohash achievement by cycling to the (49, -123) geohash on 2008-06-18.

thepiguy earned the Meet-up achievement by meeting Warren at the (49, -122) geohash on 2008-05-31.

thepiguy achieved level 1 of the Minesweeper Geohash achievement by visiting coordinates in Vancouver, British Columbia and 1 of the surrounding graticules.

thepiguy earned the Regional geohashing achievement by reaching a hash point in all possible GVRD graticules.

thepiguy earned the Land geohash achievement by reaching the (49, -123) geohash on 2008-05-27.

Geohashing Check Lists

Items in bold are things I have forgotten at one point or another.

The very basics

• Keys
• Wallet
• Phone
• iPod (for those solo-hashes)
• Coat (So I don't have to sit in the cold)

The geohashing basics

• GPS (with coordinates!)
• Camera
• Google map of area
• Geohashing signs
• xkcd shirt
• Nibs (Gotta' love Nibs!)
• Extra batteries for the electronics
• Sidewalk chalk (For when I don't have a sign)
• Flashlight (Because I can't see in the dark)

For any bicycle geohashes

• Bike (!)
• Helmet
• Gloves
• Sun glasses (more for bugs than for sun)
• Bike lock (with keys)
• Bike repair kit
• Bike lights and reflectors (never know how long a geohash might take)
• Lots of water
• Extra snacks/lunch

Water geohashes (I can't believe I even have this list)

• Change of clothes
• Waterproof GPS bag
• Pelican cases for camera and other valuables
• Seafaring vessel (be it raft or reservation)

Picture Gallery

I was flipping through my pictures, and thought it might be neat to create a few collections of pictures from multiple expeditions. The result (or lack thereof) can be found here!

Video Gallery

I recently compiled my expedition photos into one gigantic geohashing montage that can be found on youtube