I apologize, Can We Start Over?

Hi everyone! Thanks for stopping in. I stumbled across Steemit shortly after the hack that happened this last week while having recently started blogging on another platform. I'm kind of kicking myself now, as I am really excited to take part in this inventive spin on crypto and social media. And of course what a week to join with the first $10,000 post (now $30,000+), lot's of excitement. When I joined Steemit, I had absolutely no idea what this platform was about other than, FREE BLOGGING, that's all I noticed. Thinking the most important part of blogging is having material to read, silly me started throwing up some old posts of mine to see what would stick. Big Mistake! And I apologize for this. I should have known better and just stuck to new content. I really had no idea what Steemit was trying to create. I know a little better now, not much but a little. I should have taken the time to learn the ins and outs of the platform, but that just isn't how I function generally. I usually like to dive in headfirst, knock myself unconscious on the bottom of the pool, and have someone drag me out before I drown. That someone was dantheman who flagged my first blog within just a couple of minutes of posting. It was kind of embarrassing and it put me on immediate notice of what was expected here at Steemit. Again I apologize for my ignorance and will do better from now on. Man I just figured out you could look at other peoples wallets! WTH. The post about whales and minnows by cryptoctopus was particularly mind-blowing.

A little more about me. I'm a stay home dad and I spend the majority of time chasing my 3 yr old daughter around and keeping her entertained. My wife works as a childhood psychiatric nurse and is pregnant with our second child, due the end of January. And for a little added bonus stress we are closing on our new house tomorrow 7/18 and moving. Arghh! Maybe I will do a little post on our move with some photos!

This is what we generally get up to.

I've been in crypto since early 2013, trading altcoins, mining, and getting scammed by cloud miners (cough hashocean, scrypt.cc, pbmining, haha) Previously, I worked as an acupuncturist for 10 years, but have been on sabbatical since my daughter was born. Currently, I am on book 10 of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. If you have not read these, they are amazing. I have been practicing meditation in various forms for more than 20 years, utilizing TM the last few. I love herpetology and botany (degrees in both), natural history, and can't wait to get started on my backyard garden/urban farm at our new house! I have played WoW on and off for more than 10 years and was introduced to my wife through Warcraft. Loktar Ogar!

In the back of my mind I have been intending to start blogging for some time now. Maybe I was subconsciously waiting for this platform. I've been in love with the ideals of crypto since I first was introduced to Bitcoin. Decentralization, transparency, providing the unbanked with a means of storing and gathering wealth. I think concepts like Steemit are the future of many forms of commerce and certainly social media. Many here are going to be blessed with the redistribution of wealth that cryptocurrencies promise to deliver. Myself, I have no illusions that I will ever produce a $1,000 post, but if I can provide some value to the community and people enjoy what I write then it will have been worth it. Thanks for reading!

PS would someone be able to explain how to go about verifying myself? Do I just take a pic with the date? Or? I have read a few different posts and it doesn't seem there is a true consensus yet.
PPS anyone know a good GIF generator?