Excited to join the Steemit and share my adventures!

Hello all, my name is Andrew!

Steemit, what's that?

This past week I took a cruise with the primary goal of playing my first sanctioned disc golf tournament in another country. I love my cigars so going to the lounge was a must just about every night. Not only do I get to enjoy my stick, but it opens the opportunity to meet new and interesting people. Enter Hive account@georgemales! After a couple of evenings of smiles and nods, we got to chatting about crypto technology (I was involved very early in Bitcoin) and introduced me to Steemit. I was immediately sold on the idea and registered as soon as I was stateside. Not only was I looking for a place to share my hobbies, interests, and knowledge, but it was tied to crypto too! I'm excited to be a part of this growing community and look forward to becoming a solid member.

Here are just some of my current hobbies and what I'm doing with each:

Disc Golf

This is my primary hobby and I've been playing for about 17 years now, and 2 years ago decided to play competitively with the hopes of going pro. Last year I traveled over 6,600 miles for tournaments, with my most recent just last week on a private island in the Bahamas. Next month I'll be traveling to Phoenix to compete in the Memorial Championship. Living about 15 minutes from the Discraft factory has given me the opportunity to learn from, and play with, pros and other highly competitive golfers.

Cigars

I got into cigars about 4 years ago thanks to a good friend and went head first into learning about different tobaccos from regions all over the world. I have a varied collection though my go-to sticks are anything made by Tatuaje. I'm currently a member of their SnS Club (Saints & Sinners) and love learning about new blends and smoking them.

Amateur Radio

I currently hold an Amateur Extra class license, along with my father and grandfather, as well as my brother who hold a General class license. These days I mostly enjoy building antennas (I'm currently in the process of designing a magnetic loop) and using QRP power on digital modes like WSPR and PSK31.

Music and Synthesizers

Many moons ago I used a DAW called ACID to produce electronic music. As my interested changed it kind of took a back seat but recently I've gotten into building a collection of hardware and plan to again start producing. The last several pieces have needed repair and I hope to begin building my own analog synthesizer. My current setup comprises of a Yamaha XP-60, Korg Volca Beats, Bass, and Keys, and Korg EA-1. Eventually I may tie the computers back in, but for now is all about learning how to produce without one.

Electronics and Microcontrollers

Being surrounded by ham radio my entire life, I couldn't have gotten by without learning electronics and how to build my own circuits for various projects. Recently I've began to develop projects based on NodeMCU and Arduino, but they generally tie into my other hobbies.

Weather and Meteorology

Again tying in the other hobbies, I was exposed to severe weather spotting through the ham radio Skywarn program. Eventually I coordinated our local spotters and storm chased when I could. I'm not so involved anymore but regularly check the weather forecast models and learn when I can to try to understand this crazy weather we get in Michigan.

My Contribution

Prior to Steemit I was looking to generate more content related to my hobbies across various platforms, such as YT, Medium, Reddit, etc, but they all seemed to have their niche markets and I didn't want to have to manage multiple platforms for different content. With the recent introduction of DTube, Steemit provides a one stop shop for all the kinds of content I can generate and I look forward to sharing what I do and learn with all of you!