http://i.imgur.com/7huEanyt.jpg?1

### There I was, a lone sponge...

There I was, a lone sponge in store window with a bunch of stuffed toys.  When would somebody get me out of here?!?!?!


http://i.imgur.com/7huEanyl.jpg

### Flashback - before I was a sponge.

Let me take you back to a time somewhere in the 2013 range.  The real me had already been living in Buenos Aires for over a decade.  I settled down, had a career, a home, two wonderful children, and all the empenadas you could want.  

In addition to my full-time job, I had tried many things.  I taught English, I rented out rooms to tourists, and I got involved with bitcoin.  I bought some high-end video cards and mother boards to start 'mining' digital currency. I found myself obsessed with pushing the "monster machine", as my kids called it, to generate one more mega-hash/second. 

I had mined bitcoin for 2 years at that point, my friends calling me thee shades of crazy for spending  tons on video cards without even using them for games. I watched as the little payments came in - 0.014, 0.018, 0.011 bitcoins, each one coming in hours after the last.  Naturally, I would talk about this "new money" with my friends.  A typical conversation would go like this.




"So, how much are you making?"

 - "About two bitcoins per day."

"... and how much is that in dollars?"

 - "... about six dollars."

"... and how much is your electric bill?"

 - "... about fifteen hundred dollars."


"...Well, you can't live on that!"



__until you can...__


I had not thought about bitcoin that much on a day to day basis, with work and all.  I was still maintaining my miners, but I was getting less and less return.  It didn't help when I finally got my ASIC's - they were worthless out of the box (Butterfly Labs).   Either way, I was involved in promoting coins -  I traded, invested, donated and saved bitcoins as I watched the price go to $10, then drop - $40, then drop - broke $100 and seemed to stick there in late 2013, which is when I made my spongy decision. 

http://i.imgur.com/n1171xxl.png
<a href="http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/mtgoxUSD#tgSzm1g10zm2g25zv">Image credit</a>

I didn't decide to take this route because bitcoin was at $100.  I was actually stuck in a rut, working Monday to Friday, then the weekend - rinse and repeat.  I would have never changed anything if  I weren't forced to stop in late 2013. 

I hit a hi-cough in October, meaning the IRS tried to reach deep into South America to fish for funds they thought I owed from 2008, and I needed to take time off work to show them their error. I dug around for trading records and receipts,  all the time getting more and more flustered with banks, brokers, tax returns, work, deadlines, etc.  - I was actually sick of the whole system.   At the same time, I was hearing all this talk about the NSA spying on us - not to stop terrorism, but to collect and save our communications.  I had heard it all before, but now there are documents.   As if raided without a warrant, I felt betrayed.   Even the buses started to remind me of the NSA. 

http://i.imgur.com/q4srtA4l.jpg?1


Anyway, I had paused my job as an Executive Recruiter to gather data from years back for the Feds.   It only took a few days to clear my name in Kansas, but I was now pissed off at my country of origin.  I have always paid my taxes, filed on time, both here and in the U.S., but why pay them anything when I can just stop earning dollars, stop earning pesos - just stop.  

### Thus the sponge

I spent 30 days thinking about my job - going back to work or not. After all, I had only taken leave to handle a problem with the bean counters.  But now, I began to dread the rat race.  Decision time.  Headaches vs. freedom.  Time with my kids vs. time doing endless interviews to get people $200k jobs. Banks vs. bitcoins. Being in the system or being in sync with only myself.  I decided to leave my job and let go of all my highly public Google+, facebook, Skype, and countless other accounts.   My direct business connections on LinkedIn gave me access to 26 million potential clients/candidates worldwide, but I ditched it all. 

http://i.imgur.com/OiahyAPl.jpg



I was not sure if I could live on bitcoin or not, but I was sure that I did not want the to be recorded, listed, tracked, or taxed.  The solution? Don't own anything - no tax on assets.  Don't make anything - no tax on income.  Don't show anything - on line or otherwise - stop existing. 

New computers, new youtube and twitter accounts, new IP, new home address, and it all belongs to my pal Sponge-Bob !  Here you see him installing Qubes-OS - a version of Linux for system isolation. (I helped)

http://i.imgur.com/kjyVMHBl.jpg?2
 

I am still me, but Sponge-Bob is the one with the computer, internet connection and public profile. He has encrypted email accounts, but otherwise is pretty public with my opinions, criticism, tweets, videos and posts. 

<hr>

It has been three years since I decided to live life free of all else.  I found a service that delivers paper rectangles to my door in trade for bitcoins - they also accept bitcoins for paying bills like gas, electric, water, and internet service.  I will not mention the site because their fees are scandalous. I use diamondcard.com for SIP service to maintain my phone number in the U.S. - also accepting bitcoin.  Done!   My job awaits me if I want to go back, but I am not headed that direction.  Sponge-Bob lets me use his computer for news and alt-coin trading, as well as Steemit.  So, I am at ease.


### Other things about me...

I cook  a lot, making things from scratch that don't exist here, including my own version of Reeses peanut butter cups, chocolate chip cookies, corn tortillas, corned beef (yes I have meat sitting for three weeks in a salt solution to achieve that), and Claussen type pickles - mine actually turn out better than the real thing.  

http://i.imgur.com/wGelxGXl.jpg?1

I do some programming and experiment with open source software / operating systems. I also trade about 30 alt-coins though not daily - mostly large fluctuations.   

Guitar and piano are on my agenda daily as well as studying biblical Hebrew on my own as a third language.   I may post songs in a few different languages if I am able to continue posting content.   

Steemit was very appealing to me from the first glance I took.  After a month here, the income looks like what I had been making when I first started mining bitcoin.  I am hoping for the best as time goes on!

Hats off to all who are producing world class tools for us new Steemians to play with too!

### A vote...

I know I have been lagging on content, but I have been concentrating more on learning the ins and outs of voting.  The coming update has lit a fire under my chair to get an introduction post out there __while people still have 40 votes to play with__. 

I have gotten to know some of you on the lurk - now you know a bit more about me.  

You may see my boys in some photos, but I am pretty camera shy.  I will stay in the shadows with my sponge-bob stuffy as my avatar.

*all photos and screenshots were taken by me of my accounts / neighborhood / experiences.