The True Price of Free
We moved to our condo in Cathedral Hill almost exactly three years ago and one indoor parking spot was part of the deal. My wife had the newer vehicle when we moved in so she got the spot and I ended up parking my car on the street.
Our neighborhood is one of the largest intact Victorian neighborhoods in the nation so it tends to attract a crowd. There’s also a huge concentration of bars, shops, and restaurants in the area.
Cathedral Hill is undoubtedly beautiful and has a lot of perks but it also has its drawbacks. Because of the constant influx of people coming and going, parking can be scarce. Many of these visitors are from the burbs and aren’t used to parallel parking. Quite a few of them have been “whooping it up”, doing vodka flights at the Russian restaurant across the street or swilling too many $10 local double IPAs at the hipster burger joint around the corner.
As a result, my car’s been through the gauntlet in the past three years. It’s been hit least five times and dented with rocks propelled from a snowblower as landscapers were clearing snow from a driveway near where I parked. I recently was able to snag another spot in our parking garage so I figured it was time to bite the bullet and get the Prius into a body shop for a much needed makeover.
The photo below shows the damage to my wallet. It totals out to almost $100 for every month I parked on the street. The damage was so severe to the front of the car they had to replace the high density foam under the bumper cover. It’s true, nothing in life is free.
Ephemera Contest Announcement
I have a lot to catch you up on. As promised, you’re hearing it here on Hive first.
My brand new book, Ephemera, is off to the designer and the contest is a go! Without giving too much away, I’ve funded a wallet with .0084 Bitcoin ($500 worth at the time of wallet funding) and have embedded the private key into the Ephemera manuscript in, shall we say, a creative way. I know it’s not a lot but could be worth much more if the winner has the wisdom and foresight to hodl it.
I will warn you, the key is not going to be easy to find but it’s right there in the pages in plain sight for the person with enough diligence to discover it. The first person to find the wallet credentials can sweep that private key into a wallet and claim the prize.
I’m thrilled with how this book has turned out and running this contest will be the icing on the cake. I’m looking forward to seeing how long it will take for someone to find. Wrapping my head around how to do this has given me a much better understanding of and appreciation for how Bitcoin works. It’s truly amazing.
I really hope this contest helps to introduce more people to cryptocurrency and encourages other creative people to use similar methods to promote their own work. Good luck to everyone! I’ll be dropping a link to purchase the book here on Hive before I post it on any other of my social media outlets or website.
Doge-Mania And The (Temporary) Rebirth of SNL
In the hours counting down to Elon Musk’s appearance on Saturday Night Live tonight all I can say is things are going to get interesting. No one can predict with 100% accuracy which way it will go but I think, chances are, a whole lot of noobs are going to get their first lesson in feeling the sting of getting rekt. Most of us have been there several times before, it’s good for the character, right? Lol.
The amount of people I see on social media jumping on the Doge bandwagon who have absolutely no clue about how cryptocurrency works is truly alarming. I hope this stunt doesn’t turn too many people away from the true benefits of crypto. I suppose this kind of thing is the price of mass adoption. SNL feels relevant for the first time in years tonight and they can thank Elon and cryptocurrency for that.
Photos Of The Week
It’s not officially spring here in Minnesota until the lilacs bloom. These won’t peak for another week or so but they’re already filling the air with their intoxicating fragrance.
This is Amstel captured in the act of begging for popcorn, a skill which he's honed perfectly throughout his thirteen years of dedicated practice.
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In closing, I'd like to wish A Very Happy Mother’s Day to my own Mom, my wife, and to all of you other incredible ladies out there! Thanks for everything you've done and continue to do! Without you none of us would exist. You truly have the most important job in the world.
All for now.
With Gratitude,
Eric Vance Walton
(Gifs sourced from Giphy.com, photos are original.)
Most of us have experienced a moment of perfect peace at least once in our lives. In these moments we lose ourselves and feel connected to everything. I call these mindful moments. Words can’t describe how complete they make us feel.
These moments are usually fragile, evaporating in seconds. What if there was a way to train your mind to experience more of them? It’s deceptively easy and requires nothing more than a subtle shift in mindset. My new book, Mindful Moments, will teach you to be much more content despite the chaos and imperfect circumstances continuing to unfold around you. Upgrade your life experience today for only $15.99 on Amazon.com.
Let’s Keep In Touch
That is really awesome about the book! A great big ooof on the car repair bill. That sucks! We had a slight fender bender ourselves this weekend. I just touched on it a little bit in my latest post. Body work can be so expensive. Especially these days where everything is one giant part... Beautiful shots! I was driving down along the Scioto River in Columbus the other weekend and the lilacs were starting to come out. It was a beautiful blur of purple heading into town!
Thank you! Yeah, that was a difficult bill to get but at least the car doesn't look like it participated in a demolition derby anymore. We have some of the worst drivers/parkers around here. Oh no, sorry to hear about your fender bender! I'll have to pop over to your blog and read about it. That's a wonderful drive along the Scioto. I hope to be heading down there within the next few weeks. I got my second jab today so I should be all set by the end of May.
Hello, my friend. I loved the picture of the lilacs, they are a beauty. I thank you with my heart for your nice message of congratulations for the mothers. Hope you are well, many blessings to you and the mothers in your family. A sincere hug.
Thank you and I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day!
I like the contest idea and I am tempted to take the challenge even if I don't get the keys. It's just so cool. You have a cute dog too.
I can't wait for the release of the book so the hunt can begin
Thanks! It definitely has been fun to put together. I hope you give it a shot!
Hahaha. :D
I am laughing at the cover photo.
By the way, according to Mark Cuban, DOGE has an ease-of-use that makes it perfect as a stablecoin. “DOGE is becoming more of a utility in terms of currency".
He thinks that Dogecoin will reach $1 USD, and stay there.
And he also Tweeted that "Because Doge is the one coin that people actually use for transactions".
What do you think? How do you see it?
I think any coin that exists on a reliable blockchain can thrive as long as a lot of people agree that it's valuable. There are enough high profile people jumping onboard that Doge might just be a huge success long term but I think in the short term quite a few new investors looking for parabolic short term gains might get handed a lesson.
I see it similarly. People are already buying tickets and merchandise online with Dogecoin. It will probably be a long term success. It would be good to have something similar with Hive or with Hive Dollars (HBD). Maybe we will be able to buy foods with cryptocurrencies one day. That way the cryptocurrency would really be life changing for many people, including me.
Have some !PIZZA.
@ericvancewalton! I sent you a slice of $PIZZA on behalf of @xplosive.
Learn more about $PIZZA Token at hive.pizza
I would love to see that happen for Hive. Nano is doing something super interesting from a retail standpoint. They have a system that instantly converts Nano to the local fiat currency for online or face-to-face payments. If someone here on Hive could bring something like that to scale then it would be huge for Hive. The transaction speed might be fast enough to pull that off.
Directly accepting Hive (without converting it to fiat money) would be even better in my opinion.
I agree, although it might be a few more steps down the road in regard to implementation. We'll get there someday! Hopefully soon.
DOGE is going back down to 20 cents now! Not sure exactly how low, but the bubble just burst over in dogeland last night! The currency is a bubble now, just like bubbles of the past. DOGE tiger than HIVE really puts use too shame here! Nuff Said!!
All in all it still appears to be going strong but that might not be the case tomorrow.
Hello dear friend @ericvancewalton good afternoon
I am very sorry for what your car has gone through and what you have to spend to repair it.
Congratulations on your new book, what a great idea to include a key inside, that treasure hunt will be very interesting
Amstel is great asking you to share your popcorn
Congratulations to all the mothers in your family. have a beautiful weekend
Thank you @jlufer! Honestly, I drive so little that I could probably just get rid of it but I do like the idea of having two cars incase one breaks down. I hope you enjoy your weekend as well!
Your post is reblogged and upvoted by me. It is a good post. Thank you @ericvancewalton
Oh no the car bill!
Thank you for the good Mother's day wishes.
Eric, you really amaze me with your pioneering they'd have called it back in the day! Amazing what you've done now with your book contest, hiding the Crypto key in the book! Sheer brilliance!
Stunning photo of the Lilacs, enjoy spring🌻🌻🌻