Tonite I’m on a bit of a high. I’m going to take a page out of a completely different book and spend a little time being a bit “braggy”. I’m not an egocentric person and I don’t brag about much, but right now, I am feeling pretty damn good about myself. So be prepared for a mild departure from my regular personality.
Tonite, a secret me and my friend Ken have been keeping under our hats for 7 months, was revealed. As you can see by the photo above, I participated in part of The Amazing Race Canada. The geocaching website I help run, Cache Up NB, was asked to build one half of the detour for this leg of the race. Me and Ken had several meetings with the shows producers and on May 19th and 20th of this year, we shot our part of the show. Unfortunately, none of the racers chose our task (which at the time burned us) but despite that, I’m feeling pretty damn amazing myself right now. And here’s why…
I started Cache Up NB. It was an idea that I conceived in my own head and executed what I needed to do to make it happen. That happened about four and a half years ago. Something that didn’t exist before that I created in my head, became real, and became something that has become a force to be reckoned with in the world of geocaching in New Brunswick. The involvement of CUNB with The Amazing Race Canada is the ultimate form of validation of what I have been working on these past four years. It’s pretty hard to say that CUNB is just another geocaching website or group when Canada’s highest rated TV program came to us and asked us to help them. We didn’t seek them out. They came to us. If that doesn’t tell people about what CUNB is about, and the kind of quality I have strived SO hard to show in our projects, then nothing ever will.
Judging by the amount of Facebook comments, retweets, emails, and other feedback, it seems the community agrees with my opinion.
For me, this experience is a definitive way of showing that when you do things the right way, good things happen. There have been times where people might have wondered why I chose to do things on CUNB a certain way or have chosen not to do certain things. It’s those kinds of decisions, and the specific “mission” and mandate I have stuck to over the last four years, that has made it successful. If CUNB was just another cookie cutter geocaching website, we would likely have never seen this kind of exposure. The lead producer was very clear on why he came to us and it’s our unique take on geocaching that seemed to impress him. The proof is in the pudding folks.
I don’t dive deep into something and do a half assed job. I am ridiculously anal about some of the things we do, but it’s because of how I steer the ship that Cache Up NB has become a name that people respect and know can accomplish great things. What aired on TV tonite is proof of that.
No, I didn’t get to where I am now with CUNB on my own. My good friend Ken has been there from the beginning and has helped out more than anyone will ever know. Ken has been my partner in crime in all of my biggest projects and my biggest supporter on CUNB. He’s been so great to work with. Something people wouldn’t know is that the moment we found out we would be doing The Amazing Race, the first thing Ken said to me was that I would be the one giving out the clues. Yes, we didn’t have an awkward conversation about that. He deferred to me knowing that we are truly partners in the work we do, but that I’ve always been the one to steer the ship and to put us on course to the bigger things. I don’t take ownership of Cache Up NB very often as I have always felt that it is more than just me and that it is a sum of our community and our volunteers. But this is a case where I’m not ashamed to lay claim to the fact that Cache Up NB is something I started and something I continue to be the driving force behind.
So, for me, right now I am reveling in the success of my work. I’m feeling immensely proud of what I have been able to accomplish through my own actions, and through the actions of my friends. And for the next little while, I’m going to be on a little bit of a high. It will pass eventually but I wanted to record it here for myself so that I can remember later on how I felt in the moment.
And right now, this moment is f*cking awesome.
