CASCADE, CO

LOGIC

I am sitting in front of her in a chair, and she clips a questioning glance at me.
"Do you have an unusually high IQ?" she asks me in all serious. I don't really want to get into explaining this, although there is little to explain. I just smile at her and tell her I don't know anything about that.
Later, we talk about a pressing problem, and she says to me, "See, you're trying to apply logic to it. That doesn't work. It's an actual equation. Logic, applied to emotional context, equals frustration."
I don't really understand why it has to be like this. I talk to Jib about it and she says of course, emotions have very little to do with logic.
And when we talk, I tell her it reminds me of something funny. I did take an IQ test once, that I know of. It was a three day long test we took in high school, and when you were eighteen, you could get your results. Three of us went down to the counselors when we were of age and asked for the results. There were three types of tests applied. One was just a general knowledge, and two were mathematical in nature, which included quantitative and qualitative math.
My scores were where I expected them to be. Now, for those who have not looked too deep into IQ tests, what the test really means is how is your "intelligence" compared to your peers. One hundred percent means that you are exactly average. Most courts use around 70 points or below to determine mental retardation. I always figured I would score "slightly higher than normal". On this test, the "genius" level was 130. I got close to that number on two tests, but one test I scored above genius on - qualitative mathematics, or "logic".
This test was mostly recognizing patterns. Part of it involved looking at an imaginary piece of paper. The test described actions taken to the piece of paper, and you had to pick the image that best represented what the result would be. You had to recognize the pattern and anticipate the end result.
Kind of like I do at work, I think. I tell Jibber this, and she agrees.
"That's what makes you good at what you do."
And I think of Misty, who is probably the most "logical" person I know, and nights we worked together under a crazy boss. There were times I was venting, frustrated, and she looked me right in the eyes and said, "Yes, but you are applying reason to an irrational person. It doesn't work." It seems like I do that a lot.
I like reason. I want it to stick around. Reason seems like truth, reason takes in all the facts, reason does not give in to emotional impulse. Reason thinks through what they are going to say based on the circumstances, not on the fly. I like reason, but I can't say I always follow it. I believe I also have high impulsivity, which acts on emotion, and so my life is a series of logical steps interrupted by impulsive dances, all the while focusing on the patterns in attempt to gain some kind of cosmic truth.
"You must know that you are very bright," the lady says to me again, the next time we meet. "Very wise for your years."
Every time I want to agree with this statement, I think that if I took an accurate IQ test now, I would score lower. I know this man who is super smart, and makes me feel like small potatoes. It's all relative to your peers.
This same man posted something online that I found really interesting (shamelessly stoled from the HCGC boards):
"....also always tryyy to keep in mind that 2 people trying to communicate that are 10 or more IQ points apart may come away with a completely different message than intended especially if the communication is written.
This week, I might run into that man at say, a mexican restaurant, and I'm gonna ask him what his IQ is. I'm very curious now.
Then I am going to ask him,
"Now, is this general, or qualitative, or quantitative?"

I mean, let's be logical about this.

Oldest Existing Geocaches

Amended list from Oct 2001,
Checked over for archived caches and updates.
As of June 2009, these are the oldest caches still listed:
1. GC30, 5/11/2000 Kansas, Mingo by The Kansas Stasher

2. GC12, 5/12/2000 Oregon, Geocache by Jerry Connelly

3. GC28, 5/13/2000 Illinois, Beverly by Robert Reindl
4. GC3E, 5/18/2000 New South Wales, Australia, Lane Cove by Paul Edwards

5. GC46, 5/26/2000 New Zealand, Geocache by Kevin AndeO'Byrne rson

6. GC39, 5/26/2000 New York, The Spot by GPS_Fool

7. 19. GC31, 5/31/2000 Kansas, Arikaree by The Kansas Stasher

8. GC1D, 6/3/2000 Georgia, Beaver Cache by Jim Gooch

9. GC43, 6/3/2000 Ireland, Geocache by Chris

10. GC16, 6/4/2000 Oregon, Geocache by Jerry Connelly
11. GC1E, 6/11/2000 Georgia, Stone Mountain by Chris Reynolds

12. GC53, 6/15/2000 Kenya, Rift Valley (Virtual Cache)

13. GC25, 6/17/2000 Idaho, Camels Prairie Stash by Moun10Bike, Cindy, Laura and Jasmine

14. GC37, 6/20/2000 Missouri, Missouri's First - Watts Mill by Steve Brown

15. GCD, 6/21/2000 Washington, Geocache by ajromanelli

16.GC26, 6/21/2000 Idaho, Two roads by Ry Jones

17. GC27, 6/21/2000 Idaho, Eggcellent by Ry Jones

18. GC1F, 6/22/2000 Georgia, Geocache by Jim Pate

19.GC4B, 6/25/2000 New Zealand, Aukland Stash by nz_etrex

20.GC1B, 6/27/2000 Arkansas, Gorilla Stash by Ed Normandy

21.GC18, 7/2/2000 Colorado, Tarryall by Mike Frazier
22 GC40, 7/7/2000 Belgium, Geocache by Pierre Cao

23 GC35, 7/16/2000 Michigan, Power Island by Kluso

24. GC20, 7/17/2000 Georgia, Geocache by Jeff Andrews

25. GC19, 7/20/2000 Colorado, Geocache by Rob Garrison

26. GC 17, 7/21/2000 Oregon, Geocache by Jerry Connelly

27. GC23, 7/21/2000 Hawaii, Geocache by Tim Billings

28.GC21, 8/16/2000 Georgia, Lake Lanier by Jay Chamberlain
29 GC36, 8/21/2000 Michigan, Geocache by Gregory Benn
30. GC3B, 8/27/2000 Utah, Potters Pond by leaper64 & dirk88
31. GC57, 9/9/2000 Arizona, Geocache by Dan Rich
32. GC5B, 9/10/2000 California, Phil's Memorial Cache (Oldest CA. Cache) by GoodDogSD
33 GC5C, 9/17/2000 Idaho, Southern Idaho's First! by Eric
34 GC62, 9/26/2000 Texas Tombstone
35 GC67, 9/28/2000 Colorado, Paul Barclay Stash by Terry Shelton
36. GC 68, 9/29/2000 Alaska, Centurion Guards by Gary Short
37. GC6A, 9/30/2000 Denmark, Kippers in the Jungle by Klaus Alexander Seistrup
38. GC6E, 9/30/2000 Alaska, KidsGeoCache by Gary Short
39. GC70, 9/30/2000 North Carolina, Octopus Garden
40. GC72, 9/30/2000 Finland, Sun Gear by Kalle Reunanen
41. GC74, 10/1/2000 Massachusetts, First Mass by Jeremy Gilbert
42. GC76, 10/1/2000 Georgia, Rock Town
43. GC77, 10/2/2000 Germany, First Germany
44. GC78, 10/2/2000 California, Firestone
45. GC7A, 10/8/2000 Australia, Melbourne's 1st
46. GC7B, 10/8/2000 Arizona T824 Table Mesa
47. GC7E, 10/8/2000 Arizona, Labyrinth Canyon
48. GC7C, 10/9/2000 Utah Beaver Springs
49. GC7D, 10/9/2000 Massachusetts, Lowell, aka Second Mass
50. GC80, 10/9/2000 Utah Little Creek Stash

51. GC85, 10/14/2000 Massachussetts Camera Cache

52. GC 86 10/14/2000 Vermont 1

53. GC89 10/15/2000 Georgia Iron Horse

54. GC8A 10/15/2000 Utah Pony Express

55. GC90 10/19/2000 Mississippi Bonita Lakes

56. GC92 10/22/2000 Oregon Un-Original Stash

57. GC93 10/23/2000 Indiana's First

58. GC98 10/28/2000 Texas Double

59. GC9B 10/28/2000 Utah Clover Spring Stash

60. GC9C 10/27/2000 California Rabbit Eye View

61. GC9E 10/29/2000 New Hampshire Mines Follies

62. GCA0 10/30/2000 California Creekside Stash

63. GCA1 10/31/2000 Texas A Walk in the Park

64. GCA5 11/4/2000 Oregon Hembre Ridge

65. GCA8 11/4/2000 Utah Wah Wah Stash

66. GCAB 11/8/2000 California Orange County Stash

67. GCAD 11/11/2000 Australia Devil Bend

68. GCAE 11/12/2000 New York Sleepy Hollow 1

69. GCAF 11/11/2000 New Zealand Mount Cargill

70. GCBO 11/11/2000 New Zealand Flagstaff Hill

71. GCB1 11/12/2000 New Zealand Unity Park

72. GCB2 11/12/2000 New Zealand Botanical Gardens

73. GCB6 11/13/2000 Georgia Yellow River Stash

74. GCBF 11/19/2000 New York Boston Cache

75. GCBE 11/20/2000 New York Turkey Cache

76. GCC2 11/24/2000 California Azucar Mine Offset

77. GCC6 11/25/2000 Indiana Turkey Run Stash

78. GCC8 11/25/2000 New Jersey gerbiL cacHe

79. GCC9 11/28/2000 Texas No Walk in The Park

80. GCD2 12/2/2000 California Doggie Do

81. GCD4 12/3/2000 California Bovine Hill Stash

82. GCD6 12/2/2000 California Born Free

83. GCDE 12/10/2000 California Igor

84. GCEO 12/10/2000 Massachussets Aldo's Andover Geocache

85. GCE4 12/11/2000 Connecticut Another Brick In the Wall

86. GCE6 12/12/2000 Massachussetts Willow Brook Wander

87. GCEC 12/16/2000 Rhode Island Brenton Point

88. GCED 12/17/2000 Arizona Senda de Tonto

89. GCEF 12/17/2000 Texas CenTex Prime

90. GCFO 12/15/2000 Scotland Scotland's First

91. GCF1 12/17/2000 Australia Frying Pan

92. GCF2 12/19/2000 Massachussetts The Silver Lake Stash

93. GCF4 12/24/2000 South Carolina Modoc Stash

94. GCF7 11/25/2000 Australia's Used-To-Be Highest

95. GCF9 12/26/2000 Nevada XKD-380

96. GCFA 12/25/2000 Florida Christmas Cache

97. GCFE 12/27/2000 Arizona Diablo Point Cache

98. GCFF 12/27/2000 Pennyslvania Stone Wall Stash

99. GC101 12/27/2000 New York Hudson's Folly

100. GC103 12/28/2000 Denmark High Tension in the Bog

Street Scenes, Manitou Springs

June 14, 2009

Left In Manitou

Sometimes I can still see her

Peering out the bedroom windows

Then disappearing

Walking down the blue ramp

Into the park,

Past the penny arcades

Turning left, then heading up Lovers Lane

Where that blue light is always on

Stops at the Dead Man's Tree

Where the noose hangs limply

Then in the dark into the park

With the giant sundial

Only seen in the light of the moon

Take a sip from the fountain of healing waters

Walking over to the big clock

Keeping the time

The time before

The slamming door

And the baby who is always crying

And the mother who was always dying

And the husband who was never around

In this tiny one horse town

Written circa 2001

This is me now, in front of my old apartment in Manitou Springs, Co. I left this apartment in 1998 to move to a ranch with my husband, who was then my boyfriend of only four months. This is me over this past weekend as we celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary by going back to the town where we met and fell in love. I got to go in my old apartment, that was wild! I used to take a walk almost every night, the walk I describe in this poem, in the four months I lived here, and now it exists in my memory. I meant to make that night walk again, but instead we decided this time to create new memories.

COLORADO CHRONICLES

We're not even going to talk

about where the first night went

Nor the morning after

Suffice to say, our plans pushed back

Midday is when we began to make strides

By a creek, down a trail, up a wall

Up a hill, by a rock, in a car

Fountain Creek, site of our first Colorado geocache, Family Reunion, where a local cacher named kwbforest had dropped off our very own travel bug the day before, with a note to leave it for us. This bug had the goal of making it to Colorado Springs, where we were, and was a tribute to our not-quite-perfect love.

Through the Garden of the Gods

We drove past the places of our past

Coming out into Manitou

The town of our youth

Then driving downtown

The streets of our passion

And finally a rest,

Youth not being ours

But belonging to the past,

Like this town, and our place in it

MISS ME MUCH
I haven't been around here much lately.
There's a lot of places I've been wandering instead....

You might have seen me sitting at a soccer game
Or making phone calls for snack and team photos
Or in my minister's office
Trying to understand my life and faith
Or outside reading a book watching kids play
Stuck in high water, driving in the rain
In Willis TX with a GPS
Or in Goodrich, Texas, looking at a mare

Or wiping sweat off my brow,
walking through a blacktop parking lot
Loaded up with kids, and groceries, and worries

Exploring the wonder of flowers in the gully
Or at a park, watching children laugh
Or in a forest, going for a walk

Or leading a white horse down a dusty trail
Or at a fast hand-gallop along the arena rail

Walking in boots,
in tennis shoes,
In sandals down the street with a kid or two
Maybe scrubbing a dog in the Sunday sun
In prayer, or in church with a friend
Watching a little one turn three
Or teaching some kids how to steer a horse
Or some just to hang on
You might find me with a birthday cake

A bridle, a brush, a birdhouse, or a burrito
Or a pocket western in hand
One Louis L'Amour treaded for another

Talking on the phone to an old friend
Or shaking hands with a new one
Driving and crying, or leaving it all behind
Having a smoke and a Sprite on a country road
Or a burger and coke with an old friend and our kids

I might be walking in the forest
following a compass and leading a child
I might be saddling up as you read this
To teach a child, or go for a ride
I might be reading a book to a boy in bed
Or walking next to a kid and a dog on a summer evening stroll
I might be around here, somewhere