Hi there Steemians!
Did you know @eoj is Joe backwards? It's true!
Hi all, my name is Joe. Really! In my continuing quest to be the Most Interesting Man on Steemit, I submit to you my #introduceyourself post. Let's go!
Here I am with my small family in a very small taxi in Kathmandu, Nepal.
How did I end up in a tiny taxi in Kathmandu? Well, let's go back. Waaaaay back. Back to the beginning. I was born and raised in from California, not a bad place to grow up. Living near the coast, I grew up loving everything to do with the ocean. Here I am about to go bodyboarding at my home surf break in Southern California:
And here I am surfing a little wave in Indonesia:
Believe it or not, you can make a living bodyboarding, so I gave it a shot in my late teens/early 20s. I'd make some finals in some local pro/am contests, but never enough to quit my day job. That's okay, because after a two week trip with my church to South America I soon became hooked on something else: travel mixed with service.
Soon that's all I was doing. After I graduated university with a degree in Education, I promptly stopped teaching and began living and volunteering abroad, mostly in Mexico and Honduras.
After I built up a bit of experience I applied to a small Swiss humanitarian organization. To my delight, they hired me. They sent me around the world responding to disasters in Angola, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Indonesia, Sudan, and Haiti.
I became the guy going into war or disaster zones on empty planes, while the planes out were always packed with people fleeing from danger.
In between disasters, I would go back to California to await my next assignment. To pay the bills I would take odd jobs. I was a tutor, a photographer's assistant, and a tour guide for an adventure/camping company. I'd run tours mainly in the American Southwest. I grew up camping with my family every summer, so I loved returning to many of these places as an adult and sharing America's natural beauty with visitors.
My love for the outdoors is deep. One of my favorite things to do is get off the grid and off the beaten path with @suitcasemama.
Eventually, I was able to find work full time as a humanitarian. I went to grad school on the east coast to study humanitarian assistance, spend a short time in D.C., then moved back abroad. Most recently I've worked on disaster responses in Afghanistan, Syria (from Turkey), the Ebola outbreak in Western Africa, and the Nepal earthquake. I've most recently returned from Bangladesh looking into the Rohingya crisis.
Over fifty countries. A handful of languages. Travel to some of the most wild and untouristed parts of the world doing life saving work. Yawn.
The real adventure began more recently, when I met @suitcasemama. Here's us riding bikes in Bangkok, where we're both based:
And here is us getting married:
And yes, I've convinced @suitcasemama to join Steemit as well! She's a professional photographer so her posts are beautiful, check out them out now!
@suitcasebaby joined us a few years after we tied the knot. If marriage is an adventure, fatherhood was like diving into the unknown. I'm usually a very in-the-moment type of person, so didn't spend too much time imagining what having a child would be like. Once he arrived on the scene, I was floored by my reaction to this new role assignment. I absolutely loved it. Much more than I imagined, much more than I was told.
Speaking of family, my sister @silvertogold has just joined Steemit although I don't think she's posted yet. Keep an eye out for her. This is what we looked like in the 80s:
That's me in a nutshell. A humanitarian expat enjoying family life in Thailand.
So, why am I here and what is my approach on Steemit?
Simple. I want to test out the Steemit tagline:
"Authors get paid when people like you upvote their post. If you enjoyed what you read here, create your account today and start earning FREE STEEM!"
My approach is to try to contribute to the platform and the community through quality posts.
So, what kind of posts @eoj?
I've already posted a few times. Here's a taste of what you'll get:
Photo (Source)
I've even created my very own contest (which very few have entered - hint hint!):
I also am the alter-ego of @starthere, my other account that I started in January mainly to discuss the humanitarian implications of blockchain and track a year long Top Ten cryptocurrency Experiment I'm running.
Check out my latest June Recap at the link above if you're into that kind of thing. Spoiler alert: it's not going well.
Before I go, I'd like to give some recognition to the @newbieresteemday initiative launched by @davemccoy and @mudcat36 supported by @bashadow, @beeyou, and others. Steemit can be a confusing and frustrating place at first - these folks have kept both @suitcasemama and I on the platform. Thank you.
I'd also like to mention that this post is kindly supported by @sjennon's Sjennon Support Series.
Who is @sjennon you ask? Excellent question. She likes puppy dogs, long walks on the beach, designing things, and supporting minnows. She's like a Steemit humanitarian. And I think we're in similar time zones. For all of those reasons and more, you should check out her recent posts and show her some love.
Well Off the Beaten Path - Restoration of Saat Tale Royal Palace - Nuwakot, Nepal
CONTEST - Think you're well traveled? Name that.... TAIL!
It's July 4th - Happy Birthday America!
Cox's Bazar Surf Report and the Father of Bangladeshi Surfing
World's 50 Best Restaurants for 2018 Announced
How to Overcome Screen Addiction - 5 Practical Tips
Bubble dividers courtesy of @kristyglas. They're nice, huh? Not too much, not too little. Just right. Thanks @kristyglas!
