True Confession Of The City App-Share Driver
I don’t even remeber my last post in here as I have been focused more a bit on my more “main stream” blog focusing on cryptocurrency. Check it out.
Aside from my adventures into the market of “fake internet money” (thats my favorite when people tell me I;m wasting time), I have become a driver for the populer app-share ride services Uber and Lyft. All I can say is it certainly keeps life interesting. I have had some interesting conversations with people, had some crazy rides, and been told some peoples life stories in a 15 min car ride. I have decided to highlight some of the best moment I’ve had and give you a general idea of the time of night/day it is so you get a sense of what this is like.
Friday night around 9:30 waiting by a nice resturant in the north end
Passenger come running to the door and hops in: “Hey man, Can you like step on it? or at least just get out of here? NOW? Worry about the GPS after 2 traffic lights, crazy bitch…”
Me: “You didn’t just do anything illegal did you? I don’t want to be an accessory to your crime. Plus I think Lyft has a policy against that….”
Passenger: “Nah, not illegal, a little crazy maybe. Just broke up with my 5 year girlfriend, and she thought i was proposing tonight.”
Me: “Wow thats a terrible mixup! Sorry to hear it didn’t work out.”
Passenger: “No trust me, I got out alive. I got my spare key from her when she went to bathroom and left me her purse. I was more concerned with her running out after me throwing shit and hitting your, wow, nice car.”
Me: “Much appreciated. GPS time, so headed home?”
Passenger: “Didn’t you just hear the story? I’m single after 5 years. Do you know how to get to Centerfold’s?” (strip club in Boston)
Sometimes when these people tell you their life stories in a 10 min car ride and you don’t know how to respond, ‘Do I say sorry? Congrats?’
Friday night around 11 @ The Whiskey Priest
Call from passenger: “Umm Hi. I know the app is saying pick us up here but were out in front of the whiskey priest. How far are you? My friend isnt feeling well.”
Me already nervous since I know what “not feeling well” really means…
Me: “Yes, I just need to pull a u-turn up the road, should be there in 3 minutes.”
Pulling up to the bar, I see 2 girls stumble in my direction…
Sober girl 1: “Sorry. My friend isnt feeling all that well. Were going to the BU south dorms.”
Drunk girl 2: “Where are we going? Who’s that guy driving? I want another shot…”
Girl 1: “No, It’s time for us to go home. That nice guy is bringing us back home.”
Girl 2: “Are you sure he’s not kidnapping us? I think hes kidnapping us. We should scream for help!”
Girl 1: “No [Annonymous], We’re not screaming. This nice guy’s name is Cory and hes doing a great job at bringing us home.”
Girl 2: “Ok well I’ve read about Uber drivers raping their passengers. I don’t feel good. Where are we?”
Girl 1: “I know you don’t like Uber, this is Lyft, and I don’t think Cory wants to harm us. We will be home in 15 minutes I promise.”We hit traffic
Girl 2: “I don’t feel good, I feel sick…”
Girl 1: “Do you feel like you need to throw up?”
Me: “If she gets that look, I’m dropping you guys off up here on the corner of Comm ave and Mass Ave. No one is getting sick in my car tonight.”
Girl 2: “No, but I will when we get home…”I keep peeking in my rearview mirror looking for ‘the look’
Girl 1: “Do you have a bag just in case?”
Me: “Here, I’ve had this happen before. You are going to be very unhappy and possibly broke if she gets sick in this car. They will charge you a cleaning fee, and because my car is brand new, its usually $150-$200 and you ordered the Lyft so its your card.”
Girl 1: “I think she’ll be fine.”4 Block from their dorm, I see ‘the look’
Girl 2: “I can’t find my phone! I lost it at the bar, we need to go ba…… *Cough and a heave* I need to be home!”
Me: “Get out.”
Girl 1: “No please it’s just up here a little further!”
Me: “Yes through Kenmore and 2 stop lights. Get the fuck out right now…”Sober girl gets out and helps drunk girl
Girl 1: “You know you’re kind of an ass h….”
Before she can finish, her friend with 1 foot ouf of the car projectile vomits all over her sober friends legs and shoes just missing my car by 5″
Me: “See? I’m sure a load of laundry is cheaper then a $200 cleaning fee. Have a nice night.”
I could tell she was going to be a problem so I just beat her to the punch, called Lyft and told them i had to kick out someone becasue they were drunk and about to get sick in my car. The support person responded with: “Thats fair. I get a lot of these calls on weekend nights. Her rating won’t effect you and we will adjust your fare as if you completed the full trip, and not stopping 1/2 way.”
I have more, but those were this weekends highlights. That and the 2 girls I had to bring to Brockton at 2:30am when I already called last ride… Last ride took 44 mins and 30 miles. paid well but pain in the ass.
The Confessions of an Uber Driver
Well, it has been quite interesting my first coupe weeks driving for Uber. Some people will literally tell you everything, their life story, and what the meaning of life is. Others can be stuck up and even when trying to be friendly and just make small talk, they respond with “Can we just get there without the chat?” But for the most part the people of Boston are cool.
What I find interesting is how much different some people treat you knowing your a local versus those that don’t think you know your way around because your using Waze to find their destination. There is a reason most drivers use Waze; traffic! Boston’s traffic patterns are more unpredictable then New England weather. I digress…
I have received a lot of comments on the fuzzy dice I have hinging in the mirror. Truth is they have sentimental value and have been in every car I have ever owned and given to me by a close friend when I just got my license.
I have also gotten some weird requests with directions, and drop off locations. What most people seem to forget is Uber is similar to a taxi service. You pay a base fare, and for distance and time. A ride from Stuart St (cross Arlington St) to the seaport hotel is only a 1.5 mile ride, but in Friday rush hour traffic will take 40-45 minutes. The rider was really nice and it was 12 degrees outside but it was a $31 ride for me (which means she paid like $36)
Not a bad part-time second job. Love being able to just do it whenever. Just watch out for the 10 million potholes…
Crypto-taking over the world! (Internet rich?)
It all started with a huge research project for work. Who knew it would turn into a hobby of this magnitude. It was just a few months ago (September 2017) that I was dipping my toes in the water to see how it felt. I have built myself a nice little income machine. I know its crazy to think that in the 3 months I have been doing this, most cryptocurrencies have doubled, and others tripled. The price (or I should say initial investment) of equipment, both ASIC mining machines and mining rig GPU components are now at a serious demand. Prices have doubled on most things (be careful who you purchase from) required to mine.
When I first got into the game, someone offered me their used ASIC Antminer for $1700. At the time I thought it was a ripoff since you could go buy a new one (or so I thought) for $2300. Just to use actual numbers, An Antminer S9 is rated for 12.5 TH/s (T stands for theta, as in a lot) and uses 1200w of power. At the time in October, it would have made about $18-$22 in Bitcoin daily. This is when Bitcoin was still selling for $4-5k. Then the spike happened in December around the time NiceHash was hacked. Bitcoin hit $19k literally over night. People became “internet rich” overnight. Now that same S9 would make around $35/day and I would have already had my return of investment back (originally figured about 70 days of mining time) and letting a computer bring me Bitcoin daily.
In today’s age with YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter, It is becoming more common that people become famous stars overnight. I guess this is the next progressive step in our millennial driven world. Now its the “new age stock market” with a lot more risk, but the potential for a killer reward.
My initial investment was the price of 3 GPU’s (graphic/video cards) and a lot of time to learn the business and market. Crazy to think how 3 cards would turn into a hobby that is now paying over $10/day due to the influx of investors.
This evening I was helping a friend tune his monster rig and I finally hit a milestone (for mining anyway). I got his rig to run a flat 200 MH/s mining ETH. It was not easy, but now I have done it for myself as well as others. [Yes that’s a shameless plug on my own blog, for myself] 
If you or someone you know wants to get in on this, its not too late and still very profitable. I am willing to help as a consultant plan, build, set-up, and fine tune your mining rig.
I don’t expect Bitcoin to take over the $USD but it has the potential to alter our capitalistic society.
EDIT: Here is a screenshot of my buddies rig pulling $30 per day (or .00201 Bitcoin)
Crypto rig part deux! (Mostly pics)
In the process of this ‘rebuild,’ one night I was trying to figure out different software settings and when I looked down, my CPU was idling at 98C degrees. After further inspection, I found the culprit. The heatsink has so much dust caked and cooked in the aluminum fins it was gross.
That project required me to pull the motherboard from the case, and disassemble the CPU mount and stock intel heatsink bracket. Somehow in the process i shorted 2 DIMM slots of memory. Oops. Its a 5 year old motherboard that need to be replaced anyway with a more “mining appropriate” board. Right now im using one of those PCIE riser cards that splits the PCIE into 2 different busses so you can use 2 different GPU’s. I know thats not the ‘correct’ or recommended way but it works for now. Here is the setup now mining ETH on nicehash.
She may not be pretty, but its still a work in progress.
Focusing on XMR(CryptoNight) since the payout rate is still crazy high at 343 BTC/GH:
All while keeping the temps nice and chill 😎
Cryptocurrency mining, my experiment, and what could be the future
Edit: Check out part 2 for more pics
As some of you know, recently I have indulged in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrency. For those reading who don’t know what crypto is, think Bitcoin. If you have been living under a rock and haven’t heard of Bitcoin, check out the youtube video at the end of this blog post (don’t worry its short and to the point so you shouldn’t be too bored 🙃 ).
So in the most basic terms possible, its internet money. For years bitcoin hasn’t been profitable to mine unless you are a big “farm” with multiple rigs networked together to make a super-computer, or a ‘farm’ or ASIC miners (basically machines designed to mine bitcoin that tend to be expensive to purchase, and expensive to run). That all changed with the release of Ethereum, and how quickly it took off. It de-centralized the market (again, kind of) and brought mining power back to the home ‘user.’ Over the course of the last year, different algorithms have been used in blockchain technologies to create a new market of cryptocurrencies known as ‘alt-coins.’ This essentially launched the crypto market into a real economy. Its stability is a hot debate topic amongst the tope economists and technologists in the world.
Asleep yet?
So I decided to get involved. My funds are very limited, so this is a slow experiment for now. This is what I call Prototype phase 1:
This is an old gaming PC I built with my AT&T ‘fuck you’ money in 2012 when I quit. Specs:
– 3rd Generation Intel i5-2400
– ASRock z77 Extreme4 Mothboard
– (Started with) 12GB DDR3 (i think PC-3200 but i could be off) which became 8GB after i managed to short out 2 memory DIMM’s
– Thermaltake 730 watt PSU
– 4 PCI-E 16x to 4x power risers
– 3 ATI RX 570’s (2 MSI Armor’s, 1 XFX OC Gaming) (only 1 MSI and the XFX pictured above)
– EDIT: There was a 4th card, a GTX 1050ti i originally chose since it drew almost nothing for power, however the hashing power wasn’t worth what i paid, so i will be replacing it with a bigger ‘heavy-hitter’ soon
I have an old intel 120gb SSD for storage.
Its certainly not pretty, nor is it complete (need a new PSU and motherboard, along with my final GPU). It basically just a torn apart PC with wires all over the place.
Right now I’m mining on Nicehash using their algorithm switcher. Average daily profit:
Still have lot to fine tune and complete!
EDIT 2: Some asked what my hash rates per card are: (i can play with tuning and get better but this is average)
Back Bay Parking…
Well quick update: I was T-Boned in the brand new Jeep in Lawerence and it was such a hard impact, the Jeep was totaled. I was not at fault, deductibles being waived, no added points. Anyways…
I have since bought a new 2017 Jetta GLI. Absolutely love my new car. With winter rearing its head, it’s time to consider parking options at work. So far i can park on Dartmouth St or Arlington st for $140/mo which for those who know Boston, is quite cheap. Just as a comparison I searched open parking spots in the back bay on craigslist. HOLY S#!T! $395/mo? Wow.
I have decided to approach this with my boss in a tax write-off. He fronts my parking cost, deducts from my check, and writes it off on his taxes. Win/win right? Well we shall see…
Protected: I haven’t posted in a while and this gets a little personal (must read if you’ve ever had chronic pain)…
Protected: Surprise, surprise, I F’ed up again…
Well folks, I think its time to keep up with the times, and change formats…
I know I haven’t written in a bit, but I have been stressed beyond believe the past week weeks between looking for a new job in an area I don’t know that well, a narcissistic boss who has been making life absolute hell, and every sign in the world I need to get my ass in gear and get south. I know i have been pausing and going back and forth for a month or 2, but recent events have solidified my choice of leaving. I need to go.
The reason I am writing this is because I am (unfortunately) a millennial by birth-age (however I will never identify as that) so I need to keep up. Blogging is becoming a thing of yesteryear, and now everyone “goes live” or records them selves.
You will see me “live” more often via facebook (fuck that periscope BS) but Al of my videos will be posted here. So My Blog just became a Vlog. Hope you enjoy my ugly mug of a face 😉
Technical life of a city transplant 