Steemit Gods, I am not spam!

Hi All! This is my first blog on Steemit...and first blog anywhere.

I've been reading about Steemit and watching on the sidelines for a few weeks. After watching a few videos by @boxmining @dollarvigilante @jerrybanfield @crypt0 I decided to sign up. I followed the process to get approved, bought some Steem on Bittrex, and started getting excited. While waiting for the confirmation email I was telling friends about Steem and how great it sounds. The excitement started to fade over the next few days. I emailed support, read every FAQ I could find...same answer every time, "Be Patient...they just want to reduce spam accounts". ...7 days go by and still no progress.

Then I found the post from @anonsteem in the FAQ, paid 0.6 Litecoin, and signed up. Instant account!!

I've happy to finally be on Steemit, but that wait was painful. Everyone I did talk to was very helpful including @timcliff but it would be good to give people a heads up that 2-3 days isn't the true estimated wait time anymore. Let's be realistic, Steemit is blowing up, users are flooding in...some people will be okay with paying upfront if they get it back in Steem dollars. I assume most people get on Steem and then buy Steem anyways to powerup?

Why I'm here?

Anyway, rant is over...excitement is back. Steem, I ain't mad at ya. I'm a believer in Steemit as a platform and as an investment. Not a fan of the inflation, but it makes sense with the powering up and incentive structure. You can see from my wallet that I powered up with around 3k steem (as soon as bittrex lets me transfer). So much easier than mining and even easier than staking in most other currencies. I'm looking forward to talking about altcoins and getting feedback on my crypto portfolio.

Who Am I?

I'm Indian American, in the cusp of mid to late 30s and live in Raleigh, North Carolina. I'm married, have 2 beautiful 6 year old puppies, and a baby on the way! I'm an entrepreneur, investor, and work for a tech company in operations/finance. One of the puppies getting some beauty sleep...

I stumbled across bitcoin around 2013 and have been hooked ever since. I've been researching and trading cryptocurrency with some mining here and there. It's hot in North Carolina in the summer, so mining is only an option in the winter.

For fun, I like to kayak fish and improve the fishing efficiency of my kayak. You'd be surprised at how fast I can locate fish, get lines in the water at various depths with a the beautiful array of baits, and still not get a bite. Theoretically I should be catching a lot of fish. I think it'll happen soon though. Besides that, I spend time doing DIY stuff around the house, working out, and taking road trips with the wifey and pups. We are lucky to be just 15 minutes from lakes, 2 hours from the beach, and 4-5 hours from the mountains.

If there are any basic beginner Steemit suggestions/tips anyone has for me, please share!