Welcome on Steem @dorman !
You can buy crypto on localbitcoins if you dont want to go through 'verification' for cold hard cash. Or you can try to mine some through posting on Steem :)
I personally use Poloniex for trading, they have a nice selection of coins (less shit coins) that grow reliably.
Of course you should follow @heimindanger. I am the developer of steemwhales.com where you can check some useful stats and data about STEEM users.
Thanks.
steemwhales.com seems really interesting I´m looking foreward to exploring it and more features.
I will deftinitly try to be active and maybe earn some coins on steemit but I want to invest a porion of my money in crypto just so I wont regret not doing it later on. And maybe I´ll even make some profit.