Hello Steemit, great to meet you!

Who am I?

Call me J; I live and work in Ventura County down here in sunny California, staring at spreadsheets for a living. In a nutshell, aside from plodding formulas into cells, my work entails a lot of learning new stuff and coming with ways to make sense of new information quickly. Naturally, that interest and curiosity spilled over to this thing called cryptocurrencies and the underlying technology behind it, the blockchain. I liked the topic so much that I ended up doing a degree from a university that takes Bitcoin on the same topic, eager to share to the willing about its possibilities.

How did I end up here?

After attending graduation in Cyprus, I was looking for a blockchain-related meetup in Ventura County, and among the first ones I saw were MLM-type groups that use FOMO and shady marketing tactics so separate the gullible from their retirement savings. If the general public is to have a positive reception with such a transformative technology (just like the Internet and all of its utilities), learning from charlatans isn't the best way to make a first impression.

Long story short, I found a more legitimate group and below is our photo (https://www.meetup.com/Steemit-101-Social-Media-Blockchain-for-Ventura-Networks/). Since we're talking about first impressions, why not participate in a blockchain-powered social media platform? As you can tell, this post has been quite late and due for some time, attributing to how busy I've been doing other things (or to my secret procrastinator personality). 

In any case, shoutout to @oliverwendell for organizing these meetups. If you're ever in Ventura County, tell your friends, tell your family, anyone interested in discussing technical / economic / social effects of the blockchain; even the basics of setting up wallets or anything tangential to the topic, you're more than welcome to swing by. The blockchain is a decentralized technology after all, stronger with more participants in its network.

What do you hope to gain from Steemit?

Love and Steem... lots of it.

But in all seriousness, I'm hoping that this blog would serve more as a creative outlet, as I've found out that I don't write as often as like and change that through regular posting. Most of the topics I'll post are probably for my own mental exploration, in an attempt to close the gap between what's in my head and putting down something coherent for others to appreciate, consume, or even critique. Of course, if you like discussing them with me and if it piques your interest, please feel free to do so in the comments.

And with that, thanks for reading and great to meet you!