Love it, any colored field this deep is cool.Nice work everybody
Love it, any colored field this deep is cool.Nice work everybody
Originally shared by Nadia Amro
In keeping with the theme of Ingress, “The world around you is not what it seems”, many of us who love the fielding aspects of this game have learned that a map is not what it appears to be. When we look at a normal map, we see triangles, points of contact, good anchors, and most of all, a chance to meet new friends, drive a lot, see new places, drive a lot, and oh yeah...drive a lot. So begins the shenanigans of the weekend of April 14th. It all started on a lark really, with a simple field plan...ok, so maybe not simple but, we just wanted to field the eastern half of Tennessee, is that so wrong? ;-)
On Friday afternoon, an outline of a map was created and some basic key exchanges took place between myself, and Jeffery Wayne Boyce aka agent Book. On the morning of Saturday 4/12/14, our plan was still in place and our projected target time for completion was the 3:00am CST checkpoint. The fields were to go from Northern TN to the Knoxville area and down to the Chattanooga region. Regional agents were contacted, hangouts formed with the participating agents, Google docs were created and shared with link information, and everything looked to be in order. Then Smurfy’s Law hit and the northern anchors were taken out. In order to still implement the field, a LOT of driving would now have to take place for keys. At around 8:30pm CST I was off to the Knoxville area to collect the keys for the interior layers. Listening to polymer engineering lectures while driving 75 mph ahem (I REFUSE to incriminate myself), on the interstate is always a good time.
Luck was on our side and two agents from the Knoxville area, Jennifer Blakely and Matthew Blakely were at one of the eastern-most anchors and met me in Kingston, TN for key swapping. I now had a very limited amount of time to travel from Kingston, TN to Red Boiling Springs, TN and then from Red Boiling Springs, TN to Dunlap, TN, and ALL before 3:00am. Oh, and did I happen to mention that SEVERAL blockers needed to be taken out along the way? (Some people need to have their portal keys taken away and their devices slapped out of their hands, just sayin’.)
Arrived in Red Boiling Springs, TN with EXACTLY enough time to take back the anchors, throw the links, and get to Dunlap before the 3:00am checkpoint….aannnddd then the unofficial third faction of Ingress showed up: Agent John Q. Law-Enforcement (I secretly think that when they say they received a call “reporting suspicious activity in the area”, the reality is that Niantic made the call just to see what would happen). I often look at NIA-Ops akin to the gamemakers in The Hunger Games…”Ooh, let’s throw in a random snarling, man-eating dog right about here.” Anywho, by the time I was done explaining to the officer what I was doing there: “Yes sir….a game….no sir, I’m not kidding. Well you see, there’s a portal here that I REALLY need to capture….no sir, it won’t take long….yes sir, I have others I need to take...yes sir, I drove all that way for this…”, there was no way I could make the 3:00am checkpoint in Dunlap. I went home to regroup and hope that the northern points held through the night.
Sunday, 4/13/14, Jeff decides he’s willing to drive ALL day to get this up. He meets with Muley Tafkaa to swap keys, meets me for more keys to Northern anchors and starts to race against the clock. He would spend the next 7 hours flipping anchors, re-throwing links, and driving like a mad man. Agents Lisa Yoder aka Yodarn and richard yoder aka yodamonster were out clearing blockers and distracting the competition. Our target time was the 11:00pm CST checkpoint. At approximately 9:30pm CST I headed back to Red Boiling Springs to throw my final links. It came down to the wire…
Agents Yodarn and Forrest West aka silversqwerl took off to clear last minute blockers (@TPack1, we saw what you did there -_-), and throw links for the bottom layer while agent Muley Tafkaa hauled butt to throw the final link to the bottom half just before checkpoint. Next came the sound that all fielders love -- that sizzling bacon sound that fires up when you throw that last link. Bacon goes well with just about everything, but big, green fields best of all. :)
This project was the culmination of teamwork, collaboration, determination, and not a little bit of crazy. I had the unique pleasure of working with amazing agents who were willing to sacrifice time, miles driven, sleep, and let’s not forget sanity...to make this a reality. To you all I say…thank you.
I wish I could include pictures of the more Benny Hill aspects of this project but most of the tomfooleries took place late at night and remotely separated. I would have loved to have had a pic of the look on my face when I realized that I actually needed to use a link amp (who knew 5 meters would matter so much?), or pics of the facepalm moments when some of us realized we threw a link from the wrong anchor and blocked ourselves (so THAT’s what ADA Refactors are for!), or the look on Jeff’s face when he was questioned by the cops who were called to a lady’s house because someone had just broken into her front porch….the very house that he picked randomly to park in front of.
Miles driven: 862+
Total mu: 671,402
Overall Experience: PRICELESS
Take-aways from this project:
1. PHENOMENAL things can happen when people come together for a common vision and goal (it helps when they’re as crazy as you are too). The best part of Ingress is the people and places you are exposed to; cherish them both.
2. Keep your friends close---keep your keys closer.
3. I don’t care what the laws of physics say, 5 hours is only 5 minutes long…especially when you’re racing against it.
4. Cops are curious---VERY CURIOUS, especially when you’re hanging around somewhere in the middle of the night; total number of 3rd faction agents who intercepted us: 3.
5. The most important thing---HAVE FUN! This project was a blast to do and I hope that everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. Can’t wait for the next one!
THE TEAM:
Jeffery Wayne Boyce (@Book)
Muley Tafkaa (@MuleyTafkaa)
Lisa Yoder (@yodarn)
richard yoder (@yodamonster)
Forrest West (@Silversqwerl)
Jennifer Blakely (@iknownothing)
Matthew Blakely (@Mjjason)
And myself, (@Catwoman1)
If I have forgotten anyone, please let me know and I will edit accordingly.
And a special thank you to my Editor-in-Chief Brandon Downey
#ingressfields #enlightenment #tennessee
Originally shared by Nadia Amro
In keeping with the theme of Ingress, “The world around you is not what it seems”, many of us who love the fielding aspects of this game have learned that a map is not what it appears to be. When we look at a normal map, we see triangles, points of contact, good anchors, and most of all, a chance to meet new friends, drive a lot, see new places, drive a lot, and oh yeah...drive a lot. So begins the shenanigans of the weekend of April 14th. It all started on a lark really, with a simple field plan...ok, so maybe not simple but, we just wanted to field the eastern half of Tennessee, is that so wrong? ;-)
On Friday afternoon, an outline of a map was created and some basic key exchanges took place between myself, and Jeffery Wayne Boyce aka agent Book. On the morning of Saturday 4/12/14, our plan was still in place and our projected target time for completion was the 3:00am CST checkpoint. The fields were to go from Northern TN to the Knoxville area and down to the Chattanooga region. Regional agents were contacted, hangouts formed with the participating agents, Google docs were created and shared with link information, and everything looked to be in order. Then Smurfy’s Law hit and the northern anchors were taken out. In order to still implement the field, a LOT of driving would now have to take place for keys. At around 8:30pm CST I was off to the Knoxville area to collect the keys for the interior layers. Listening to polymer engineering lectures while driving 75 mph ahem (I REFUSE to incriminate myself), on the interstate is always a good time.
Luck was on our side and two agents from the Knoxville area, Jennifer Blakely and Matthew Blakely were at one of the eastern-most anchors and met me in Kingston, TN for key swapping. I now had a very limited amount of time to travel from Kingston, TN to Red Boiling Springs, TN and then from Red Boiling Springs, TN to Dunlap, TN, and ALL before 3:00am. Oh, and did I happen to mention that SEVERAL blockers needed to be taken out along the way? (Some people need to have their portal keys taken away and their devices slapped out of their hands, just sayin’.)
Arrived in Red Boiling Springs, TN with EXACTLY enough time to take back the anchors, throw the links, and get to Dunlap before the 3:00am checkpoint….aannnddd then the unofficial third faction of Ingress showed up: Agent John Q. Law-Enforcement (I secretly think that when they say they received a call “reporting suspicious activity in the area”, the reality is that Niantic made the call just to see what would happen). I often look at NIA-Ops akin to the gamemakers in The Hunger Games…”Ooh, let’s throw in a random snarling, man-eating dog right about here.” Anywho, by the time I was done explaining to the officer what I was doing there: “Yes sir….a game….no sir, I’m not kidding. Well you see, there’s a portal here that I REALLY need to capture….no sir, it won’t take long….yes sir, I have others I need to take...yes sir, I drove all that way for this…”, there was no way I could make the 3:00am checkpoint in Dunlap. I went home to regroup and hope that the northern points held through the night.
Sunday, 4/13/14, Jeff decides he’s willing to drive ALL day to get this up. He meets with Muley Tafkaa to swap keys, meets me for more keys to Northern anchors and starts to race against the clock. He would spend the next 7 hours flipping anchors, re-throwing links, and driving like a mad man. Agents Lisa Yoder aka Yodarn and richard yoder aka yodamonster were out clearing blockers and distracting the competition. Our target time was the 11:00pm CST checkpoint. At approximately 9:30pm CST I headed back to Red Boiling Springs to throw my final links. It came down to the wire…
Agents Yodarn and Forrest West aka silversqwerl took off to clear last minute blockers (@TPack1, we saw what you did there -_-), and throw links for the bottom layer while agent Muley Tafkaa hauled butt to throw the final link to the bottom half just before checkpoint. Next came the sound that all fielders love -- that sizzling bacon sound that fires up when you throw that last link. Bacon goes well with just about everything, but big, green fields best of all. :)
This project was the culmination of teamwork, collaboration, determination, and not a little bit of crazy. I had the unique pleasure of working with amazing agents who were willing to sacrifice time, miles driven, sleep, and let’s not forget sanity...to make this a reality. To you all I say…thank you.
I wish I could include pictures of the more Benny Hill aspects of this project but most of the tomfooleries took place late at night and remotely separated. I would have loved to have had a pic of the look on my face when I realized that I actually needed to use a link amp (who knew 5 meters would matter so much?), or pics of the facepalm moments when some of us realized we threw a link from the wrong anchor and blocked ourselves (so THAT’s what ADA Refactors are for!), or the look on Jeff’s face when he was questioned by the cops who were called to a lady’s house because someone had just broken into her front porch….the very house that he picked randomly to park in front of.
Miles driven: 862+
Total mu: 671,402
Overall Experience: PRICELESS
Take-aways from this project:
1. PHENOMENAL things can happen when people come together for a common vision and goal (it helps when they’re as crazy as you are too). The best part of Ingress is the people and places you are exposed to; cherish them both.
2. Keep your friends close---keep your keys closer.
3. I don’t care what the laws of physics say, 5 hours is only 5 minutes long…especially when you’re racing against it.
4. Cops are curious---VERY CURIOUS, especially when you’re hanging around somewhere in the middle of the night; total number of 3rd faction agents who intercepted us: 3.
5. The most important thing---HAVE FUN! This project was a blast to do and I hope that everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. Can’t wait for the next one!
THE TEAM:
Jeffery Wayne Boyce (@Book)
Muley Tafkaa (@MuleyTafkaa)
Lisa Yoder (@yodarn)
richard yoder (@yodamonster)
Forrest West (@Silversqwerl)
Jennifer Blakely (@iknownothing)
Matthew Blakely (@Mjjason)
And myself, (@Catwoman1)
If I have forgotten anyone, please let me know and I will edit accordingly.
And a special thank you to my Editor-in-Chief Brandon Downey
#ingressfields #enlightenment #tennessee
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