Chat with Lindsay, "On our first date, he bought a house with Bitcoin!" - part 1

Tali: 00:00:00

Hi everyone.

Tali: 00:00:01

Welcome to Orange Chatter.

Tali: 00:00:02

Today you're listening to a conversation I had with Lindsay.

Tali: 00:00:06

Welcome to Orange Chatter.

Tali: 00:00:09

I'm so happy to have you here.

Tali: 00:00:10

We have lots to talk about, lots of fun things.

Tali: 00:00:13

But let's start with our first question.

Tali: 00:00:15

When did you hear about Bitcoin, and what was your journey like

Tali: 00:00:18

from discovery to conviction?

Lindsay: 00:00:21

Yes.

Lindsay: 00:00:21

Thank you so much for welcoming me onto your podcast.

Lindsay: 00:00:25

I'm really excited to be here and to talk about Bitcoin today.

Lindsay: 00:00:30

When did I hear about Bitcoin?

Lindsay: 00:00:31

Okay, so this is kind of interesting, but I first heard about Bitcoin when

Lindsay: 00:00:36

I was living in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Lindsay: 00:00:40

I was running errands and.

Lindsay: 00:00:44

Driving down the street and I saw a sign and all the sign said

Lindsay: 00:00:49

was like, Bitcoin accepted here.

Lindsay: 00:00:51

And I was just like, hmm, what is, what is Bitcoin?

Lindsay: 00:00:55

And over the next few years, I, I heard about it a little bit in the news,

Lindsay: 00:01:01

but I didn't pay a ton of attention.

Lindsay: 00:01:03

I'm not really in like the finance world personally or professionally, and so I

Lindsay: 00:01:09

just kind of like, I knew about Bitcoin but didn't know much about what it was,

Lindsay: 00:01:16

and then a few years later, I found myself on a first date with a guy who was a

Lindsay: 00:01:24

Coiner and I met the guy for dinner and we were just getting to know each other,

Lindsay: 00:01:30

talking about our lives, our backgrounds.

Lindsay: 00:01:33

You know what we were doing in Nashville.

Lindsay: 00:01:35

I live in Nashville, Tennessee.

Lindsay: 00:01:37

And it comes out that this guy is preparing to buy a house and actually as

Lindsay: 00:01:43

of that day, had like seen a house and put an offer on it, but he was waiting

Lindsay: 00:01:49

to hear if his offer was going to be accepted because the offer was in Bitcoin.

Lindsay: 00:01:55

So of course that kind of led to conversation of like, what is Bitcoin and

Lindsay: 00:02:02

what do you mean you're, you're buying a house with Bitcoin and tell me more.

Lindsay: 00:02:06

And that, that just led to more and more conversation about just

Lindsay: 00:02:12

everything that Bitcoin is and.

Lindsay: 00:02:15

I was intrigued because I had already like gotten an impression of this guy,

Lindsay: 00:02:20

that he was highly intelligent and just the way that he spoke about, you know,

Lindsay: 00:02:24

his life, his education, his career.

Lindsay: 00:02:28

I could tell that he was like a really smart guy, and so I

Lindsay: 00:02:31

hearing him talk about Bitcoin.

Lindsay: 00:02:33

I was like, okay, this, it, it gave it like a credibility that I

Lindsay: 00:02:37

don't think that, you know, me just like reading about Bitcoin on the

Lindsay: 00:02:41

internet would've like given it.

Lindsay: 00:02:43

So yeah, that's how I heard about Bitcoin.

Lindsay: 00:02:46

So I ended up, dating the guy for a while and we are no longer together,

Lindsay: 00:02:50

but we are still really good friends.

Lindsay: 00:02:52

And at one point he invited me to the Nashville Bitcoin meetup, I think.

Lindsay: 00:02:58

I think I like declined his invitation a few times and then I finally made

Lindsay: 00:03:03

it out to a meetup and that's when.

Lindsay: 00:03:06

I started learning more and more and really just noticing that, okay,

Lindsay: 00:03:12

there's like all these people in Nashville and people who come from

Lindsay: 00:03:16

outside of Nashville coming to here.

Lindsay: 00:03:19

You know, these panels of people who are experts in different areas of

Lindsay: 00:03:24

Bitcoin and just like the vibe at those meetups was just one of hope,

Lindsay: 00:03:31

and it was really alluring to just.

Lindsay: 00:03:35

Keep coming back and keep learning more and like kind of just like basking in

Lindsay: 00:03:41

this like feeling of hope that I didn't really have anywhere else in my life.

Lindsay: 00:03:45

So yeah, I am privileged to attend most of the Nashville Bitcoin meetups

Lindsay: 00:03:50

these days and just get more and more connected with people in the space.

Tali: 00:03:55

So that must have been a really strange experience to be sitting across

Tali: 00:03:59

the table from someone on your first date.

Tali: 00:04:02

And he's in the process of buying an entire house with Bitcoin, which

Tali: 00:04:07

a lot of people think is a scam anyway, and not something real.

Tali: 00:04:11

And yet he was making a real life purchase.

Tali: 00:04:14

What, what were the first thoughts that went through your mind?

Tali: 00:04:17

That must've been quite a scene?

Lindsay: 00:04:18

Yes.

Lindsay: 00:04:19

So exactly what you said.

Lindsay: 00:04:22

It was something that made this sort of like abstract idea,

Lindsay: 00:04:26

this like alternative currency.

Lindsay: 00:04:29

It just made it way more tangible and way more real, and something that's.

Lindsay: 00:04:35

Kind of a fun fact is that that offer did go through and that transaction was the

Lindsay: 00:04:42

first Bitcoin transaction for real estate in the county where he bought the house.

Lindsay: 00:04:49

So it was really kind of historic and you know, it closed the deal closed and

Lindsay: 00:04:55

that's like he has the title to the house.

Lindsay: 00:04:58

So now this asset of Bitcoin has become, you know, another hard asset in his life.

Lindsay: 00:05:06

So you can't really like, argue with that.

Tali: 00:05:09

It's right in front of your face.

Tali: 00:05:10

You're living in it, you're touching the walls, right?

Tali: 00:05:13

So that's really cool.

Tali: 00:05:15

Now, when you first, that's a pretty convincing evidence, I would say, for

Tali: 00:05:19

most people to believe that it's true.

Tali: 00:05:21

It's a real thing, right?

Tali: 00:05:23

So then what was it like when you first started learning about it because I know

Tali: 00:05:27

that you mentioned he started explaining what it is to you from knowing nothing

Tali: 00:05:33

to witnessing the purchase of a house and then someone explaining it to you.

Tali: 00:05:39

Was it overwhelming?

Tali: 00:05:40

In the beginning?

Lindsay: 00:05:41

It was.

Lindsay: 00:05:43

There's so much to understand about Bitcoin, but what I will say is that

Lindsay: 00:05:49

he was such a patient teacher and really, like, would, would try to

Lindsay: 00:05:56

explain one facet of Bitcoin and I would like repeat back my understanding

Lindsay: 00:06:00

of it and he would then be like, okay, not quite, so let me try again.

Lindsay: 00:06:06

And he, he just kept doing that until one day it was like, it was probably a year

Lindsay: 00:06:13

later we were actually playing your game.

Lindsay: 00:06:17

Yours and Scott's game HODL UP.

Lindsay: 00:06:19

So it was, it was really cool because it was kind of like the culmination of all

Lindsay: 00:06:25

of these conversations that we had had about Bitcoin and we're playing the game

Lindsay: 00:06:30

and I'm actually like interacting with the pieces, um, strategizing how to win this

Lindsay: 00:06:36

game, and that is when like just clarity about like the blockchain and how math.

Lindsay: 00:06:44

Can turn into like this proof of work, which is, you know, like the block reward

Lindsay: 00:06:51

and basically like mine, what mining is.

Lindsay: 00:06:55

And it's, it's a concept that's really difficult to understand until like

Lindsay: 00:07:00

it finally does click and it finally clicked for me playing huddle up.

Lindsay: 00:07:04

So thank you for that, that creation and the way that you are helping

Lindsay: 00:07:09

people understand Bitcoin and have, have a fun activity to do together.

Tali: 00:07:14

I'm actually so happy that you said that because I didn't know that about you.

Tali: 00:07:19

I didn't know it was the game because that's the game that

Tali: 00:07:21

Scott used to orange pill me.

Tali: 00:07:24

I just could not under.

Tali: 00:07:25

He was talking at me a long time before the pieces finally clicked together.

Tali: 00:07:30

Sometimes you just need that one moment, right.

Lindsay: 00:07:33

Yes, it's, it's great.

Tali: 00:07:36

I'm glad it helped you.

Lindsay: 00:07:37

Yes.

Lindsay: 00:07:37

About like being orange pilled.

Lindsay: 00:07:39

I love just the concept of what that is and yeah.

Lindsay: 00:07:43

Hoping to, to orange pill many others through this podcast.

Tali: 00:07:48

Yeah, me too.

Tali: 00:07:49

So can you talk a little bit about your background to help our audience

Tali: 00:07:53

understand where you're coming from?

Lindsay: 00:07:55

Yeah, I would love to.

Lindsay: 00:07:57

So I am a registered nurse.

Lindsay: 00:08:00

I have been working as a nurse for almost 14 years.

Lindsay: 00:08:06

13 of those years I have been a neonatal ICU nurse.

Lindsay: 00:08:11

So I take care of premature babies and other sick babies in their

Lindsay: 00:08:16

first few days or months of life.

Lindsay: 00:08:19

One year of those 14 was spent in the emergency room, so that was

Lindsay: 00:08:24

during 2020, 2021 at like peak covid.

Lindsay: 00:08:28

I, I love my work.

Lindsay: 00:08:30

I really do love the babies that I work with and their families, and

Lindsay: 00:08:33

it's a tremendous privilege to get to walk through some really hard

Lindsay: 00:08:38

times with people when they're in the middle of a NICU journey.

Lindsay: 00:08:41

So, super grateful for my work, but it's also been through my professional.

Lindsay: 00:08:47

Lens that I have kind of come to understand some things about just the

Lindsay: 00:08:54

way our government involves itself with things that I don't really

Lindsay: 00:08:58

think that it should involve itself.

Lindsay: 00:09:00

So that's kind of where I'm coming from.

Tali: 00:09:03

What would you recommend, like is there any other supplemental

Tali: 00:09:07

educational stuff that, that you were able to access that someone

Tali: 00:09:11

else might be able to learn from?

Lindsay: 00:09:13

Well, I would just say the Nashville Bitcoin meetup, and I know

Lindsay: 00:09:18

in Nashville we're extremely fortunate to have the community that we do, but I

Lindsay: 00:09:23

know there are other cities around, um, the United States and internationally

Lindsay: 00:09:28

where people have organized together to be able to meet at a regular

Lindsay: 00:09:34

interval to just talk about what's going on in the Bitcoin space together.

Lindsay: 00:09:39

So seeking that out is something I would encourage and I have not even

Lindsay: 00:09:45

like, you know, I haven't like dipped, uh, too far under the surface of all

Lindsay: 00:09:50

there is to like read, you know, books.

Lindsay: 00:09:52

I just signed up for your book club, Tali.

Lindsay: 00:09:54

So I'm excited to just read and be able to discuss, you know, books about Bitcoin.

Lindsay: 00:10:02

I know there's so many things out there.

Lindsay: 00:10:04

But really I think a good place to start would maybe just be taking stock

Lindsay: 00:10:11

of your understanding of the dollar.

Lindsay: 00:10:14

Because when I talk about Bitcoin with people, they a lot of

Lindsay: 00:10:18

times, you know, they're like, I, I just don't understand it.

Lindsay: 00:10:23

Um, and I'm like, okay, well, I didn't either.

Lindsay: 00:10:27

It took me a long time.

Lindsay: 00:10:28

So it's okay that you don't understand it immediately, but

Lindsay: 00:10:32

do you understand the dollar?

Lindsay: 00:10:35

And most of the time people don't really understand the dollar either.

Lindsay: 00:10:39

And so, and I'm here to say I don't fully understand the dollar and

Lindsay: 00:10:44

all of the, the forces that, you know, make it real or not real.

Lindsay: 00:10:49

So I think that kind of takes Bitcoin from being this like really fringe

Lindsay: 00:10:55

idea to like, oh, like it's actually in on the same playing field as

Lindsay: 00:11:00

other currencies and actually is superior because of its properties.

Tali: 00:11:06

Yeah, if you just even spend a little bit of time learning how

Tali: 00:11:10

the dollar actually works, and there are lots of resources, and we'll

Tali: 00:11:13

list some in the show notes as well.

Tali: 00:11:15

You can't help but start questioning whether or not there's a better way.

Tali: 00:11:19

But let's talk about inflation because that's something that I think

Tali: 00:11:22

everybody's feeling the pressure of.

Tali: 00:11:25

You have mentioned that you were a traveling nurse and, but now you're not.

Tali: 00:11:29

You traveled for a number of years and now you're actually a staff nurse.

Tali: 00:11:34

So can you talk about from the point of view of what's going on in the economy

Tali: 00:11:38

right now, how it's affecting you personally, financially transitioning

Tali: 00:11:42

from traveling to staff, but also just everyday experience with inflation.

Lindsay: 00:11:47

Yes.

Lindsay: 00:11:48

So I did spend a number of years of my, my nursing career as a travel nurse.

Lindsay: 00:11:54

So I would travel around just working as a contractor at these hospitals where

Lindsay: 00:12:01

they had a hole in their, you know, their staffing from maternity leave or

Lindsay: 00:12:06

unexpected high census or whatever it was that caused them to just need, you

Lindsay: 00:12:11

know, an extra staff person temporarily.

Lindsay: 00:12:13

So I made a career of that for a little while and it was a really cool way

Lindsay: 00:12:19

to see the country and to learn more about my field, just different ways of

Lindsay: 00:12:27

doing things with the same population.

Lindsay: 00:12:30

And it was also a way to make more money.

Lindsay: 00:12:32

I started traveling in 2012, so it was definitely not the, um, the super high

Lindsay: 00:12:38

paying contracts of covid years, but I, I doubled what I was making as a

Lindsay: 00:12:45

staff nurse by becoming a travel nurse.

Lindsay: 00:12:48

And just enjoyed that and enjoyed being able to take more time off throughout the

Lindsay: 00:12:53

year and just the flexibility that being a travel nurse afforded me at that time.

Lindsay: 00:12:58

But eventually I wanted to not be uprooting my life every few months and

Lindsay: 00:13:04

just kind of wanted to settle down in one place, potentially like buy a home,

Lindsay: 00:13:09

which is something that I did, but it was difficult to come to terms with

Lindsay: 00:13:14

the pay cut that I was gonna have to take by becoming a staff nurse again.

Lindsay: 00:13:19

And it's definitely a trade off because you know, even though it's a, a pay cut in

Lindsay: 00:13:25

like, you know, an hourly dollar amount.

Lindsay: 00:13:28

The trade-offs were, you know, being able to plant roots and being able to

Lindsay: 00:13:33

just be a more integrated member of the staff and all of, you know, benefits,

Lindsay: 00:13:39

different things like that that, that I didn't have as a travel nurse.

Lindsay: 00:13:44

It's been difficult just taking that pay cut when I'm doing the

Lindsay: 00:13:50

exact same job that I was doing for way more money not too long ago.

Lindsay: 00:13:55

So that is something that was really discouraging because it felt like I

Lindsay: 00:14:02

don't really have a choice, like I can, I can keep living a lifestyle that

Lindsay: 00:14:07

I don't want and make more money, or I can, you know, pursue a lifestyle

Lindsay: 00:14:11

that I do want, but have a lot less be compensated, a lot less for the same work.

Lindsay: 00:14:17

So I've, I've tried to just kind of keep those trade-offs in mind and

Lindsay: 00:14:22

I guess the, the economic principle at play here is like, it must be,

Lindsay: 00:14:27

it must be worth it to me or else I would go and choose something else.

Tali: 00:14:31

Thanks for joining us today and learning with us today.

Tali: 00:14:34

If the discussion with our guest resonated with you and you would

Tali: 00:14:38

like to dive deeper into the world of Bitcoin, don't miss out on joining the

Tali: 00:14:42

Orange Hatter Women's Reading Club.

Tali: 00:14:44

The meetup link is in the show notes.

Tali: 00:14:46

Also, if there are women in your life whom you think will both enjoy and

Tali: 00:14:50

benefit from learning more about Bitcoin, please share Orange Hatter with them.