I saved $291 in fuel, 6 pit stops at questionable country gas stations, 2728 miles on my odometer, and 40 hours of children screaming in the backseat. I’ve always wanted to visit Washington. I probably would have preferred sipping a cup of medium roast in a hipster coffee house to three weeks of constant rain… but I’ll take what I can get. Whether the recent rain was a result of the untimely passing of Prince, May compensating because April was snoozing on the whole April Showers, or a storm track hovering over the Mid-Atlantic… we may never know. One thing is for certain: We’ve had a record...

I had this boss once. Granted, I've had a few bosses... but this boss instilled in me a great a wisdom. Besides encouraging me to read The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People--which I still reference from time to time--this boss equated my job to the act of spinning plates. I had to keep all the plates spinning--the salespeople, the collateral, the leads, and the quarterly pipelines. I could have taken my act to Atlantic City. Since then, I've shuffled positions in the same company. I'm no longer a corporate plate spinner--at least not like I used to be. I am--however--still spinning...

I've started to think of the digging community as a sandbox. We're all digging in the same little wooden box. You've got the kids who play well together, the kids who occasionally sling sand... and the kids who come along, mistake the sandbox for a catbox, and shit all over everyone else. Lately, there has been an excess of the latter. Rather than take responsibility for scooping the catbox, I've chosen instead to take a break from the sandbox.... but the ammonia stench is getting to be too much to ignore. Initially, I jumped right into the catbox and joined in the sand-slinging....

I vividly recall the moment when I turned in my Makro Racer for the Summer. As a matter of fact, I caught that moment on video for your viewing pleasure: [embedyt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rLTX46_Jxg[/embedyt] I'm pretty sure I almost passed out from heat exhaustion that day, but anyone who digs with me knows that I'm a bit relentless. You haven't heard from me in a while. I've been laying low this Summer--fixing up the house, enjoying time with the kiddos, chugging through an online course, and focusing on my big-kid obligations. But the truth is, I miss sharing my relic hunting...

Despite what you would gather from reading my blog posts, I have only been metal detecting for a short while. Before that, you could find me scrounging around in old bottle dumps and hunting yard-sales for cheap treasures that struck my fancy. I am a treasure hunter at heart and I suppose that taking up a metal detector was just the next logical step. I look at metal detecting as my way of connecting with the past. I think everyone has a different motive for metal detecting. Some metal detect to keep busy, others to stay active, a handful to get rich, and the rest to discover something that...

Since starting in this wonderful hobby, I have become familiar with terms like pocket spill and coin shooting. The terms puzzled me at first, but eventually I caught on. Now, before you read on, I will warn you that I am writing this post from the perspective of newbie and in the interest of a newbie. (Please feel free to chime in on the comments if you have anything to add.) In the first month that I took up the hobby, I was fortunate enough to be invited to detect with someone whose skill level far outmatched mine--Micheal Sheesley. (Well, let's face it... I had only been detecting once...