I'd like to know how came into the bitcoin world.  Here are some questions if you'd care to share your experience:

1.  When did you start with bitcoin?  How did you first hear about it or other crypto currencies?

2.  What is your computer background or education? 

3.  How long was it before you truly understood all the concepts involved with using bitcoin and other alt currencies?
Are you comfortable with it or do you still have a lot of questions that are still unanswered?

4.  Do you (or do you intend to) mine or are you interested in just buying coin for speculation or investment purposes?

5.  Do you plan on opening a bitcoin or alt currency business in the future/or do you have one now?
 
6.  Could you explain how to use bitcoin to a 5th grader?

7.  Where do you see bitcoin and other crypto currencies in 5 years?  Where will we be?  Will all survive? Will new coins come into being? Will bitcoin and other coins be accepted by major vendors like ebay, amazon and big box stores?

8.  Any other insights, predictions or revelations about your bitcoin experience thus far?

Thank you. You have been most welcoming and helpful with my questions so far. 

I have some further questions about wallets and I hope you can help me:

re: wallet.dat

I understand that I need to run appdata, but I don't quite understand what kind of file this is?

If I go into Windows 7 and search wallet.dat - there is no such file that comes up in the search.
Is wallet.dat not a file?  Is it considered an executable or a program of some sort?

Where EXACTLY does wallet.dat reside in the file hierarchy if I can't search it and can't see it?
Is it not on the C drive? 

If I can't search it or see it, how can I save it or rename it?

(Forgive my ignorance but the bulk of my training is more hardware based and not programming based, more WAN than LAN.)

Also - suppose I copy my wallet onto a flash drive and I put it in a safe place for a few weeks.
Now I go to use my wallet for a transaction.

Am I stuck now for hours while this wallet updates all the blocks to synch up?
I probably am, right?

And if you put your wallet away for a long time or "buried it in a back yard", then if you went to
use it in 2014 or 2015, wouldn't you be sitting there for many hours, if not days waiting for this
to synch up?

Do the wallets ever upgrade?

How often should you upgrade your wallet?


Thanks in advance again for my many questions, but when I learn something new, I like to learn it as best I can.
I also like to understand things in as simple and as efficient terms as possible.

The BEST thing about Bitcoin and other crypto currencies is that I don't have to trust in any "god" or any other religious or mythological entity in order for it to be "real". 

I don't have to express any religious ideas at all, nor do I expect anyone else to have any religious beliefs in order to do a simple business transaction.

I don't have to BELIEVE in this currency, I don't have to have FAITH in this currency in order to do business.

Either it works, and all the parties involved make it work - or it doesn't work because of a failure of one, some or all of the parties involved.

Pure data - that's cold, hard cash.  Outside of biting a gold coin, it doesn't get any more real than that.

Can anyone link me to some easy instructions on how to put your bitcoin wallet onto a flash drive?
Is there an easy way to lock the flash drive?

Second - I've heard people talk about loading your bitcoin wallet onto a website?  Is that true?
How would it be done and how safe would that be?  How could you make it safe?

Also, can you install multiple bitcoin wallets onto one computer or drive?

Thank you.

I'd like to get my feet wet with some litecoin, yet every faucet seems to dried up.

Many people are talking about litecoin, they want it to get popular, people are mining it but nobody seems to be making a move with it.

The interest is definitely there!

Anyone? Bueller?