Introduction as well as First Post

Hey Steemit

My name is Michael. Let me start out by telling you a little bit about my cryptocurrency journey. I first heard about Bitcoin in 2012 from reading an article in the June 2012 issue of the magazine IEEE Spectrum. I thought about the possibility of learning more about Bitcoin and mining it but decided against it and I wondered if I would later regret the decision. In 2013/2014 I had a hiking buddy who was into crypto and had miners in his house. He tried a little to get me interested in crypto and encouraged me to join his mining pool. But I was hesitant and never really got interested in it.

In June 2017, I started watching some videos about Bitcoin on YouTube. One YouTube channel in particular (Joe C.) inspired me to actually get started and I finally committed to getting into cryptocurrency. (Unfortunately since then for some reason he deleted his YouTube channel) I started by downloading a wallet and working the faucets just to get my hands dirty a little by creating a small portfolio of different cryptos for my wallet. Learning about the crypto world quickly became my new obsession.

During the past few months, I’ve found that there are so many different aspects of crypto to learn and discover. There is everything from understanding the technical stuff like the blockchain and smart contracts to learning about mining to researching different types of currencies and applications. It was not even until October 2017 that I discovered Steemit. I had actually come across articles on Steemit in the past just through googling stuff but I did not know what Steemit was. I now have a solid grasp of the basics of the crypto world but it seems like I continue to learn new things on a daily basis.

My username ninjamike is actually a nickname that my mailman gave me. I have a tendency to sneak up on people because I am light-footed and I often don’t announce my presence. Several times out of nowhere I showed up beside his truck to give him outgoing mail and I always ended up startling him.

I enjoy watching sports and I’m an amateur guitar player. I’ve been playing video games for almost 30 years. I have owned every Nintendo system except the Wii U and Switch though I do plan on getting a Switch in the future. I am a huge follower of the YouTube fitness community. Some of my favorite YouTube fitness channels are scooby1961, Steve Shaw, Team 3D, and of course Jason Genova. I work out 2-3 times a week. I mostly do pull-ups/chin-ups and dumbbell work.

I’ll admit I am a still a bit of a skeptic when it comes to individual currencies/protocols i.e. Bitcoin even Steemit. But I believe the basic ideas behind crypto, i.e. blockchain, decentralization, virtual cash, etc are here to stay.