[{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/","section":"Andrew's Blog","summary":"","title":"Andrew's Blog"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/posts/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Posts"},{"content":"As we step into 2025, reflecting on the past year feels essential. 2024 was monumental for me, arguably more eventful than the previous five years combined, which included my college life.\nI experienced significant growth in my faith throughout the year. Although I had previously accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I formally got baptized at the start of the year, marking a significant step in my faith journey. I also improved my habits around praying and reading the Bible, making time daily to pray and read scripture as well as keeping a prayer list so I remember everything I want to pray for. I also got even more connected into my church community through events, small groups, volunteering, and fellowship/friendships. I concluded the year by going on a mission trip to Cuba, which was a life-changing experience. It was also a big leap of faith for me, as I had never been on a mission trip, had never been outside the United States, and had never even been on an airplane before. But the Lord called me to go, and I’m very glad I did, and I hope I get to go again in the future.\nI experienced a lot of personal growth. I started the year by getting my own apartment, my first time living on my own for an extended period of time (i.e., not living with roommates or family). I also started the year changing jobs, where I primarily worked remotely and was the only person in my role at the company. I adopted my dog Maya, marking the start of my journey as a pet parent. I experienced some losses for the first time as well, including my first layoff from a job and my first time experiencing the loss of a close family member with the passing of my grandpa Ron. These events have helped me grow into the man I am now, having fortified my character and faith.\nBeyond these pivotal experiences, I also saw growth in other areas like relationships \u0026amp; friendships, learning new skills, fitness \u0026amp; nutrition, and other areas.\nOverall, although not every moment has been great, this has been a fantastic year of growth for me, and I feel like a much different person than I was at the beginning. Here\u0026rsquo;s to a year of continued growth, purpose, and faith in 2025.\nI\u0026rsquo;m not one for New Year\u0026rsquo;s resolutions, often seeing them as unattainable or too rigid. Instead, I like to set broad goals for personal growth:\nLearn to say no more often. I’m someone who is naturally very curious (leading to having lots of hobbies, interests, sideprojects, etc.), entrepreneurial (often working on my sidebusiness), enjoys being helpful (so I almost always try to help when I can), and am blessed to have many friend groups and communities (i.e., often doing lots of social activities). That is to say, I\u0026rsquo;m usually very, very busy. My biggest goal for 2025 is better time management, and in particular, learning to say no more often and prioritize my time better between the things I say yes to.\nGet out of my comfort zone more often. I’m a natural introvert, which results in not wanting to do things that are outside my comfort zone (things like public speaking, being in large crowds, going to events where I don’t know many people, etc.). I’ve grown a lot in this area over the years, but I still have a lot to go.\nDuring my recent mission trip to Cuba, one of the things I felt the Lord tell me is to use my voice more and with purpose. Again, this goes against my introverted nature, but I do think it’s the next big step for me, though it’s certainly a leap of faith. I’m starting on this goal by co-leading a young adults small group at my church. It’s open to all, and we’d love to have you: Group A11 at 4C, Wednesday evenings starting Jan. 29! Be more disciplined. While I\u0026rsquo;m generally disciplined, I struggle with maintaining a consistent sleep schedule, especially as a natural night owl. I’ve started doing daily bible study \u0026amp; workout at 6am with some of my church friends (shout out Daniel and Caleb), which I hope holds me accountable to following my 9pm–5am sleep schedule.\n","date":"1 January 2025","permalink":"/posts/reflecting-on-2024/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Reflecting on 2024"},{"content":"It\u0026rsquo;s Thanksgiving here in the US. For many, the best part of the holiday is Thanksgiving dinner. My favorite part is the opportunity to reflect on the year and share all that I\u0026rsquo;m thankful for.\nThis year I\u0026rsquo;m thankful for:\nI\u0026rsquo;m thankful for my faith. I\u0026rsquo;m thankful to the Father for creating us, sending Christ to save us, and for always being there for us. This year has been a huge year of spiritual growth for me, and this is by far what I\u0026rsquo;m most thankful for. ♥✝\nI\u0026rsquo;m thankful for never struggling to stay fed and hydrated. While many of us are staying warm at home enjoying Thanksgiving dinner tonight, it\u0026rsquo;s important to remember that many struggle daily to stay nourished. This is an issue I\u0026rsquo;ve seen firsthand here in the US, but it\u0026rsquo;s also a major issue worldwide. I witnessed firsthand how widespread it is on my recent mission trip to Cuba. If you have the means, I highly recommend donating to a food bank network such as Feeding America (https://www.feedingamerica.org/) or volunteering at a local food bank.\nI\u0026rsquo;m thankful for always having a roof over my head. Homelessness is a major issue across the United States and throughout the world. This is a major issue, especially here in the Northern US, where the temperatures get so cold during the winter that those without shelter can quickly die of exposure.\nI haven\u0026rsquo;t told this story to anybody, but earlier this year the Lord introduced me to a neighbor a few blocks away who was caring for their elderly mother who was on her deathbed due to cancer, and as a result this person struggled with food poverty. They struggled to even get to work because they had to sell their car to help with the medical bills. Shortly after their mother passed, they became homeless. It was clear to me that the Lord put this person into my life because they needed assistance, and the Lord has blessed me to be able to help provide it. They told me repeatedly they were so grateful for all I was doing because they had no one else to help them. Yet I wish I was able to do more. I didn\u0026rsquo;t tell this story to anyone until now because I feel good deeds should be done without seeking praise, but this story is fitting here because you never know who\u0026rsquo;s struggling. It\u0026rsquo;s not just people on the other side of the world; it\u0026rsquo;s people in your community too. Had the timing been a few minutes different, I never would have crossed paths with this person, and I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t have known that someone just a few blocks from me was struggling so heavily. I\u0026rsquo;m thankful that the Lord gave me the means and opportunity to help this person.\nI\u0026rsquo;m thankful for the time and place in which I live and the opportunities that have been provided to me. Here in the United States at least, we live in one of the freest, safest, and healthiest times in history. I\u0026rsquo;m not a slave or indentured servant, forced to labor away on a farm for little to no pay. I don\u0026rsquo;t live in the dark ages where I was likely to die of disease. I\u0026rsquo;m not stuck in Nazi-occupied Europe facing oppression and death, or in the Soviet Union facing mass famine, starvation, and death. We face problems in modern times, sure, but these tend to be relatively minor compared to what many people have faced throughout history or even in other areas of the world right now. I can choose to pursue any career I want, not locked into some caste-like system or command economy where your job is inherited or chosen for you. I can enjoy whatever hobbies I want. I\u0026rsquo;m not being forced to fight in a war or suffering the effects of a war-torn country. I can practice my faith openly without fear of persecution or oppression. These things should not be taken for granted, and I\u0026rsquo;m so thankful for them.\nI\u0026rsquo;m thankful for my health. As a healthy young man, health is not something I often think about. I just got over a flu that lasted a little over a week or so, and that\u0026rsquo;s really the worst I\u0026rsquo;ve been sick in a long time (that is to say, not very sick). However, recent events have reminded me how lucky I am to be healthy. My grandpa Ron is on his deathbed (complications from being a lifelong smoker) and will be lucky to survive another week or two. This is a good reminder that health is not forever, and I am thankful and blessed to be in good health.\nI\u0026rsquo;m thankful for my family. I often hear people say they wish they had a different family, but I\u0026rsquo;ve never felt that way. While my family and I definitely have our issues, I love them and am very thankful to call them my family. After faith, the next most important thing to me is family, and I\u0026rsquo;ve been blessed with the family I have.\nI\u0026rsquo;m thankful for my friends and community. The Lord has been very generous to me. Despite being an introvert, I have many close friends of many different types and personalities. I think friends shape you as a person more than anything else, and I believe a big part of the mental health issues facing our country today stem from people not having many true friends. When I faced a job layoff a few months ago, many of my friends reached out to support me and have been praying for me. I am beyond grateful to all of you. I am also thankful for the communities I\u0026rsquo;m in, from my amazing church community to the men\u0026rsquo;s/small groups I\u0026rsquo;m in, and all the other communities I\u0026rsquo;m involved in. I\u0026rsquo;m very grateful to all of you!\nFinally, I\u0026rsquo;m thankful for the personal growth I\u0026rsquo;ve experienced this year. There\u0026rsquo;s so many other things I\u0026rsquo;m thankful for, but this is already lengthy, so I need to end it somewhere. This has been the biggest year of my life, with more milestones and changes than the last 5 years combined. I\u0026rsquo;ve had significant growth in my faith, career, personal life, friendships, and more. I plan to reflect on this more come New Year, so I\u0026rsquo;ll leave it at that for now. The Lord has used this year to make countless positive changes in my life, and I am beyond blessed.\nHappy Thanksgiving, everyone!\n","date":"28 November 2024","permalink":"/posts/what-im-thankful-for-2024/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"What I'm Thankful For in 2024"},{"content":"I don\u0026rsquo;t post much here, but I figured this was worth sharing and reflecting on.\nI recently returned from a mission trip to Cuba. This was a lot of firsts for me: first mission trip, first time traveling out of the country (I didn\u0026rsquo;t even have a passport before this trip), and first time flying. But I felt called by the Lord to go, and I\u0026rsquo;m glad I did - it was an incredible experience, and I\u0026rsquo;m truly blessed to have had the opportunity to go.\nDuring my time there, I had the privilege of connecting with some of the most resilient, loving, and faithful people I\u0026rsquo;ve ever met. I was only there for 7 days, but I now consider many of these people family. We may not be from the same country or even speak the same language, but we worship the same savior, and there is something so powerful in that.\nCuba is going through difficult times; much of the trip was marked by sudden and long-lasting power outages. The country was in a nationwide blackout when we arrived (driving 3 hours in complete darkness is a surreal experience) and then had daily blackouts the entire time we were there. Much of the country struggles with severe food poverty. And Christians in Cuba are continually oppressed and persecuted by the authorities there, as the government wants to be the sole power/authority over its people.\nI am humbled by the strength of the Cuban people; despite these and the many other challenges they face daily, they continue to find joy in faith, family, and community. Their passion for worship and service was contagious, and it deepened my understanding of what it means to love and serve selflessly.\nMy heart is overflowing with gratitude and inspiration. I hope I get the opportunity to return in the future, and in the meantime I will be continually praying for conditions in Cuba to improve.\n♥🇨🇺\nP.S. I\u0026rsquo;m back-posting this on my blog months after I originally posted it on social media. I\u0026rsquo;m not including the images here, but you can find them on my original LinkedIn post.\n","date":"20 November 2024","permalink":"/posts/cuba-mission-trip-2024/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Reflecting on My First Mission Trip - Me Encanta Cuba"},{"content":"1/12/25 Update: This article was written awhile ago. While I still agree with what I wrote I think it\u0026rsquo;s not at a depth I\u0026rsquo;m happy with. If I can find the time I would like to write a much more comprehensive, in-depth article with plenty of footnotes \u0026amp; citations.\nFirst, let me start by saying I can\u0026rsquo;t claim to be unbiased here. I\u0026rsquo;m a bit of a \u0026ldquo;Bitcoin maxi\u0026rdquo; (though I usually don\u0026rsquo;t use that term). However, I\u0026rsquo;ve been following Bitcoin/cryptocurrencies since a whole bitcoin was only a few hundred US dollars (i.e. somewhere around 7 years now). I\u0026rsquo;ve done an immense amount of research through the years to support my opinions, which leads to my pro-Bitcoin bias.\nLet me lay out what this post is and isn\u0026rsquo;t. It is about why I believe Bitcoin, the Lightning Network, and proof of work (PoW) to be the only cryptocurrency protocols viable as money. It isn\u0026rsquo;t about shitting on other cryptocurrencies, though they will be mentioned where relevant (i.e. talking about PoS means talking about Ethereum).\nBitcoin has a lot of things going for it. It\u0026rsquo;s truly decentralized. It\u0026rsquo;s creator is unknown which is a good thing that led to a diverse decentralized group of developers working on it in the open. Etcetera. What makes Bitcoin so great for money that most others cryptos lack is a large PoW mining population, true decentralization (which is supported by it\u0026rsquo;s small blocksize allowing anyone to run a node), and political neutrality.\nNo-one is disagreeing with these points. Bitcoin critics usually have 2 major points: that PoW uses a lot of energy (leading to environmental concerns), and that on-chain Bitcoin takes too long / has high fees.\nI\u0026rsquo;ll address the latter first. Yes, it\u0026rsquo;s true that Bitcoin blocks take 10 minutes on average to mine and can sometimes have fees of a few dollars USD. These concerns were valid many years ago but are no longer so. Bitcoin provides a very secure and stable chain for medium and large transactions. When you are sending 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or more figures USD of Bitcoin, you want it to be this secure. Think of it like sending a wire transfer, wire transfers are not instant and often have fees reaching into the hundreds of dollars. Those fees are paid because of the security of a wire transfer. The same is true of an on-chain Bitcoin transfer.\nSo what do you do for smaller transactions? That\u0026rsquo;s where the lightning network comes in. I\u0026rsquo;m not going to say there are zero issues with the lightning network, but it works fine for day-to-day transactions which is it\u0026rsquo;s primary purpose. The lightning network allows you to send bitcoin for fees as low as 0 but usually around a few cents USD. It\u0026rsquo;s great for smaller transactions (less than 4 figures). This lines up nicely, because lightning allows instant, almost-free payments for day-to-day transactions (think of where you would use a debit card), whilst larger transactions can use on-chain Bitcoin giving them the immense security of the Bitcoin network. The real issue with lightning is liquidity, but this is less of a problem these days, especially when considering lightning is for smaller transactions so you really don\u0026rsquo;t need a large amount of liquity for personal nodes. According to 1ML currently the lightning network has over $114 million worth of Bitcoin in liquidy, with nodes averaging $6,500 each. And this is actually low because USD-Bitcoin price is down right now, it\u0026rsquo;ll be closer to $200 million total capacity if/when the price recovers.\nTLDR: Use on-chain Bitcoin for larger transactions or those needing immense security. Use the lightning network for instant and nearly-free smaller day-to-day transactions. Just think of when you would do a wire/ACH transfer or write a check and use on-chain for those situations, and lightning for situations where you\u0026rsquo;d use cash/card.\nWith that addressed, the other major concern of Bitcoin critics is energy usage of the PoW mining protocol. First, let me say this is intentional. Energy-usage is not some accidental byproduct of the PoW protocol, it\u0026rsquo;s the main input. Only PoW backed cryptocurrencies can say they are secured by literal energy. Literally secured by energy, that\u0026rsquo;s crazy to say but it\u0026rsquo;s true. Whenever you see those stats of \u0026ldquo;a bitcoin block on average takes x energy usage\u0026rdquo;, that means your bitcoin block is literally secured by that energy (in addition to time). Note that measuring per block makes sense, but ignore people measuring the \u0026ldquo;energy per transaction\u0026rdquo;, that\u0026rsquo;s not how Bitcoin works. Miners mine blocks with a variable number of transactions, so that number is always changing and very misleading (and ignores that many transactions happen on the lightning network leading to a much lower overall number than they claim). Technically, the amount of energy securing that specific block is slowly reduced as more efficient mining hardware is released, but that\u0026rsquo;s alright because by time that makes a difference there will be tens of thousands of additional blocks in front of that block securing the whole chain. When people say \u0026ldquo;Bitcoin uses the same amount of energy as a small country\u0026rdquo;, what they are saying is not only would an attacker need billions of dollars worth of hardware to perform a 51% attack, they also need to have access to the same power output as a small country!\nWhat this means is that the only attackers who could even potentially perform a 51% attack is essentially nation states with a TON of excess energy output, TONS of extra money for procuring the hardware required, and the ability to actually get their hands on that supply. There is currently no nation capable of this, it would take many years to actually acquire that amount of hardware due to supply constraints, and by then most other miners would have added more equipment as well as upgrading to better hardware. So the target for an attacker looking to perform a 51% attack is a floating one that is moving ever further away from the reality of being able to be pulled off. Additionally, whilst some nation states may have access to that amount of capital, they don\u0026rsquo;t have access to that much excess energy. When energy production facilities produce excess, they dial down their production, and get closed down if not needed. So, a nation state would have to spend billions more and many years to bring back online shut down plants and build new ones. Once again, a moving target, as the total amount of energy needed increases as new miners come online. So a moving target in terms of both hardware needed and energy needed (and thus money needed as well). It\u0026rsquo;s essentially impossible to do this, it\u0026rsquo;s much more efficient to just launch scams sites to steal Bitcoin from people or to find and exploit bugs in applications utilizing Bitcoin.\nYou might say \u0026ldquo;that\u0026rsquo;s all well and great, but that energy usage is hurting the environment!\u0026rdquo; This is partially true. Even when you ignore that most other money has externalities associated with it that Bitcoin doesn\u0026rsquo;t (e.g. keeping the poor out of the system), let\u0026rsquo;s address Bitcoin\u0026rsquo;s energy usage. According to data from OpenNode many miner use renewable energy resources, with around 73% having it in their energy mix, and about 40% of total consumption being from renewable sources. On top of that some energy comes from \u0026ldquo;wasted energy\u0026rdquo;. This is energy that\u0026rsquo;s being wasted (e.g. natural gas flaring), so Bitcoin is using a resource that\u0026rsquo;s otherwise being wasted. You cannot attribute these emissions to Bitcoin mining because they were already being emitted. Think of a gas-powered self-driving car that\u0026rsquo;s always driving, whether I\u0026rsquo;m in the car or not it\u0026rsquo;s emitting emissions so those emissions can\u0026rsquo;t be attributed to me just because I got in the car. It\u0026rsquo;s actually a good thing because at least those emissions aren\u0026rsquo;t being emitted for no purpose anymore. According to OpenNode it\u0026rsquo;s estimated that 39 - 73% of Bitcoin\u0026rsquo;s energy consumption is carbon neutral. So to look at it another way, already at least half of Bitcoin\u0026rsquo;s energy consumption is coming from renewable and wasted energy sources. And Bitcoiners do want to make the other half carbon neutral as well. There\u0026rsquo;s a better way of looking at this: Bitcoin can increase the proliferation of renewable energy sources. The biggest problems with renewable is they are located in weird locations (e.g. you may not live in a sunny or windy area) and that they are intermittent. Bitcoin can help solve both this problems, building mining hubs where renewables sources are located, giving a reason for renewables to be built there, and in addition Bitcoin miners can turn themselves on and off to even out the intermittentness.\nTLDR: Bitcoin\u0026rsquo;s energy usage is already much cleaner than you probably thought, at least half of it\u0026rsquo;s usage is essentially carbon neutral. Additionally, Bitcoin could be used to significantly increase the number of renewable energy sources and even out the problems of intermittentness.\nP.S. Proof of Stake (PoS) is not a viable alternative to PoW. Instead of securing the network with energy, it takes a \u0026ldquo;the rich get richer\u0026rdquo; mentality that matches traditional fiat. If you can\u0026rsquo;t afford to buy into the network, you get no control in the network. PoS is not a fair democratic system, PoW is.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s time to separate money from state, as church and state were a few centuries ago, and Bitcoin is the only money with potential to do so.\n","date":"16 May 2022","permalink":"/posts/bitcoin-and-pow-the-superior-protocols/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Bitcoin and PoW: The Superior Protocols"},{"content":"This is the personal blog of Andrew Mitchell. I created it so I can share my thoughts on various topics. I\u0026rsquo;m a programmer (mostly self-taught but I have a BCS from Wright State University as well), and so most posts here will either be about personal matters or programming related (though expect the occasional post to not fit into those constraints). I do write about other topics that interest me as well, namely on my Diving Into The Deep newsletter.\nThis blog is currently made using the Hugo static site generator, which I like because I can write my posts in Markdown and have them nicely and quickly go live without needing to manage a server (rather I use Cloudflare Pages, and in the future might publish my site to IPFS as well to allow distributed, decentralized access). I might experiment with other static site generators and themes in the future (I\u0026rsquo;m currently using Paper theme which is very nice).\nI don\u0026rsquo;t want to write a full bio of who I am here, but I\u0026rsquo;ll summarize the big picture. I\u0026rsquo;m a computer programmer, just graduating from WSU at the end of April 2022. I\u0026rsquo;m interested in many things from computers/tech to space, history, business, and more. I expect to mainly use this blog to write about projects I\u0026rsquo;m working on, interesting things I\u0026rsquo;ve been thinking about, etc. Content will be short form (most posts will be 5 - 15 minute reads), and completely free with no ads (for long-form content that offers a paid membership check out my previously mentioned newsletter). I don\u0026rsquo;t currently have a comments system (not a huge fan of Disqus), but will consider adding one in the future. If you need to reach me, check out the contact section of my website or just send me a tweet.\nP.S. I can write cool code snippets and have them automatically syntax-highlighted. Also if you haven\u0026rsquo;t noticed the sun/moon icon at the top lets you toggle between the light and dark theme.\nconsole.log(\u0026#39;Welcome to my blog!\u0026#39;) Welcome to my blog\n","date":"2 April 2022","permalink":"/posts/hello-world/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Hello World"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/categories/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Categories"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/tags/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tags"}]