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Finally! I'm creating the traditional #introduceyourself and entering a #contest at the same time! Thanks, @mallorcaman (BTW, I Loved Palma and Magaluf when I was on Palma in the early 1980's)

I'm a Baby Boomer who learned about digital systems in the US Navy back in the Carter era. I was always fascinated by the though of owning my own computer back when most computers cost millions and took up whole rooms. I got my wish when the Commodore Vic 20 came out and never looked back since.

I remained a steadfast Commodore advocate well into the 1980's owning each of their systems: Vic-20, C-64, C-128, and Amiga. I ran a BBS on the C-128 for several years. and attended may Homebrew and FOG meetings in the SF Bay area as well as the vaunted West Coast Computer Faire through its first 10 or so years.

I then got out of the Navy and found employment in the L.A. area precipitating a move down there and coincidentally a switch to the PC platform as I had to support IBMs as part of my job.

Then in 1991 I was transferred to Missouri and fired a year later. (I tend to get fired whenever there is a regime change in Washington). Unable to secure a new job I enrolled CompSci at the University of Central Missouri. This lasted until Calc II when I wisely changed to a Business major in Computer Information Systems.

in 1997 I almost graduated and moved to Saint Louis to work for a major aircraft manufacturer. This went well until 2000 when, yep you guessed it, I had to look for a new job. The search took me back to Kansas City and my new wife.

I finally found IT work at a health system then moved to a medical software company. In 2007 I went to work for a major PC manufacturer and thought I had hit easy street. This lasted until the election and the financial crisis of 2007 when I was let go from there.

Two years of temp work and back to working on my degree. I landed a new permanent position and received my B.S.B.A in 2010. I'm still in that job even though I was let go in November and re-hired the very next day.

During my temp employment jobs and my current position I am able to work from home. This is great and I would not change it for the world! But, I ended up putting on an extra 100 pounds and was pretty miserable.

In 2013 I turned that around and lost all that weight and more in just 18 months.
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Meanwhil I found James Altucher via his podcast and joined his Choose Yourself Facebook group. From there I learned about another Western Missourian (at that time) who goes by the name @stellabelle. I own her book and went to the launch party and everything!

About the middle of 2016, she started posting about this new fantastic platform that pays you to contribute called #steemit. I immediately went over and created an account, but I found the learning curve to be more than I was ready to tackle at that time.

I've recently decided to give #steemit another look and am falling for it head over heels. What a wonderful free and open space to explore the world of ideas! I'm still trying to grok the #cryptocurrency aspect and could live without the current squabbles. Although, TBH, they vitriol on Facebook these days make the growing pangs being worked out over here seem pretty mild at worst.

I've begun the process of buying steem with some cash and now this intro article. You'd think I like it here. 

Hi my name is Reed and 
I bleed it out digging deeper just to throw it away. ~ Linkin Park