Hello, Steemit community :)

My name is Ashley, I'm 26, and I'm a recreational mathematician, blockchain enthusiast, and budding freelance computer programmer and web developer. I'm engaged to Matt, aka the witness @complexring and I decided to put a face and introduction behind my posts.

I have no desire to be anonymous on here (if I did, you all wouldn't know about it!) and I really want to build a coherent online presence across a wide variety of social media and blogging sites. I have the account @ashley-toth in addition to @edgeland, because I wanted to test the Facebook signup feature and grab my real name.

My life on Steemit so far

I read the whitepaper shortly after it was published (at Matt's prompting) and @ned was kind enough to talk with me on Skype! I knew this had potential, and was especially impressed with the way things are structured and the fact that it was Dan and Ned doing this, but I have to admit that I was skeptical about what would happen to the price...

• I thought the market might just tank significantly after July 4th because so many users would be cashing out their STEEM and SBD. Obviously, I misjudged people's long-term investment and interest in trading the token, and there were forces at play that I didn't understand. There's actually volume and buy support!?
• I was worried when the rewards structure was changed, because there was so much argument about it and the developers were changing the curation rewards so dramatically. At the time I thought the incentive to curate would be decreased and that users would be upset if a change were implemented retroactively. I actually like the way things turned out though.
• My family and friends thought I was scamming them. (Ok, this wasn't really a serious concern, but you know, negativity from others never cheers me up.)

Needless to say...never mind. We have already realized some AMAZING benefits of being early adopters of Steem, and I'm so happy that my fiancé had the foresight to start participating and mining from nearly the beginning. We're going to use what we've made to pay off some debts, help pay for our wedding, and invest in meaningful and innovative projects.

I plan to keep all of my VESTS indefinitely and build my blog while transferring some of my SBD to bitcoin and other tokens for holding and diversified investment. (Here, as always, it's important to diversify.)

I do still wonder about the very long-term value of STEEM and SBD. The points raised by @kyletorpey about altcoins deserve consideration. Are there plans to encourage people to buy SBD besides making an app for using SBD for direct purchase of merchandise?

More about me

I met Matt while pursuing my M.S. in mathematics at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO. The climate was absolutely beautiful there, and I see why it's ranked as one of the best places to live in the U.S. It really does look like this.

Crepuscular rays at Horsetooth
Photo submitted by: Preetam Yengkokpam

I wrote a thesis on the periodic points of Hénon maps (which are cross sections of the famous Lorenz attractor in chaos theory) and graduated in 2015.

When I finish my professional website, I'll provide a link to this work and my CV on Steemit and everywhere else.

We were in a long-distance relationship for a year and a half while Matt did fancy post-docs in Korea, China, Berkeley, and Canada and I was still in school. This was not fun, but there were some perks, like getting to visit China and have a free place to stay. Here I am at the top of the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai.

We are getting married on Labor Day weekend, which will be our 3rd anniversary of being together! (I wish I had seen the Bitcoin Wedding Registry post by @exitmass earlier: https://steemit.com/life/@exitmass/the-bitcoin-wedding-registry#@edgeland/re-kareemaudi-re-exitmass-the-bitcoin-wedding-registry-20160719t165144209z.) This was our engagement picture:

Work and blogging about work

I'm teaching myself PHP and Ruby on Rails for web development, and want to become well-versed in blockchains and be able to write up my own shitcoin! I'm a fan of Mr. Money Mustache's claim that understanding computers well is so rare that it can be considered an economic loophole in society. Having seen Matt and many people on Steemit succeed at working remotely, I plan to use my background in math to do the same, and to document my journey online. My primary goals are to network with people, build a resumé of completed projects, and write up original ideas on the @edgeland blog as often as possible. I would do this even if Steemit didn't exist, but definitely feel like it's the best community in which to operate.

You'll probably also see posts about attempts at convincing people to join Steemit (I'm going to step it up and try some of the methods of @cryptoctopus and @clains), math and science, and meta blogging.

Other things I care about

“All authority of any kind, especially in the field of thought and understanding, is the most destructive, evil thing. Leaders destroy the followers and followers destroy the leaders. You have to be your own teacher and your own disciple. You have to question everything that man has accepted as valuable, as necessary.”
— J. Krishnamurti, Freedom from the Known

I agree with this statement on all levels, and I really care about basic human rights and freedom. If I could change anything, I would like to see more people have greater control over their lives and less fear and anxiety.

I consider my involvement in the crypto-world and use of Steemit to be aligned with this vision, and I think the community here is wonderfully free-thinking and objective. It's so exciting to see.

Right now I'm working to generate publicity and funding for the David Bohm Society, which exists to connect people around the proposals of David Bohm and J. Krishnamurti and the practice of Bohm dialogue.

In my spare time, I play classical piano, read, hike, and enjoy home-brew and good red wine. :D

Twitter: Ashley Toth/apathlessland, and I'm tweeting this Steemit post
Facebook: Ashley Toth