Hello, winter

I only have a few photos to share this time as it has been really busy with all the snow that has fallen and the holidays. If you want to know exactly how much snow, just look at those bucks in the picture and imagine how cold their dinks are.

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So we have made it through the update, however, I did miss a block when I messed up putting the signing key back in after the update. It was a dumb mistake and one I will try to learn from.

Other than that, the witness still has lots of life before it will need to be scaled up so that is good news. It means that I won't need to take funds out of the account to pay high server fees for a while and can use the power-downs to directly fund the Lost In Translation project. You can check it out at @lit or in our Discord server.

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@comedyopenmic and I are hoping to have a full node up and running in the next little while. He is very busy right now and I don't have the tech skill to even look at a job like that, so I will keep you updated on that front. If you get a chance to use one of your witness votes on him, I think you would be doing a good thing for the blockchain. While he isn't as socially active, he is always clicking away behind the scenes in COM and LIT; and if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here right now.

I mean that in the blogging sense, not the suicide sense.

He is possibly one of the most patient and understanding people I know and when I was about to quit Steemit the first time, he commented on a gripe post I did and told me that he thought I was funny and encouraged me to join their contest. I wasn't going to but then thought that it wouldn't hurt, and really, who doesn't like encouragement?

When I announced that I was leaving Steemit for good after staying an extra five months, he told me that before I go, I should make a Whaleshares account because he thought I would like it better here.

Obviously, he was right about that too. I guess it is possible that he made some sort of prediction script to tell him that but I'm pretty sure he is just wise. (Really though, if he did build a prediction script, wouldn't that be worth your vote alone? Can you imagine the possibilities?)

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This is a photo from a week or so ago. It was a very full moon during a temperature change, so a heavy fog came up from the river. Just to give you a perspective of the depth and breadth of the fog, here is a photo from last winter, during the day, in the same spot.

That's probably 100m down to the water if I had to guess.

I was actually on my coffee break and talking to @erodedthoughts when I took the first photo and sent it to him because it was so bright out and there was just a really weird feeling in the air.

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Oh, Gerri and I went out for NYE to a really cool, local resort that we love and had an excellent time. If you have ever seen the show Timber Kings on one of the channels from TV, it was made by them. Here's a peek.

And the view from the couch.

I hope to get around to making a post about it, but in case I forget, I thought I would at least put a couple up here.

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My Top 5
Here's something that I thought I would try out on these updates. They can change at any time but I figured I would list my top five witnesses each update and why they are there. Some have changed since I started but everyone is still in my top ten so I guess that I still find them very solid.
1
@comedyopenmic - Has helped me the most, personally and as a witness. I know that he cares about people and is a staunch defender of the little guy. These are traits that I obviously feel deep in my cockles. Plus, he is trying to spread comedy to the far reaches of Whaleshares and beyond. How can you not love that?
2
@bushkill-witness - It is probably obvious to most but he does so much for this platform and is often not out in the open about it all. From what I have gleaned in any conversations I have with him, he truly wants the good and true Whalesharians to get the best possible experience from their interactions here. That is aces in my book.
3
@krazywitness - maybe isn't around as much as she used to be but she loves the people here and works very hard to make this place the best it can be. I don't care who you are on the blockchain when your real life calls you, you take care of your real life. I don't think I could respect someone who neglected their family and personal life to make sure that they are here 24-7 to wipe our asses. I know that she still loves us and that's why she is up here.
4
@ceruleanblue - He was one of the first nerds I met when I got on discord here for the first time. He and my #5 choice were speaking gobbledegook in general chat and I called them on their shit. I think I said something like "I don't know if this is the right place for me. I don't understand anything you people are saying.". Ever since then I have been happy to have met him and to see how hard he works to keep this blockchain moving forward. Anytime I need to ask a question, he is there to help out and I don't hesitate to send people with tech questions his way because he always points people in the direction they need to go.
5
@ijmmaiwitness - for anyone on discord, this is a no-brainer. Jamie is one of the most helpful people on the platform and is tirelessly battling plagiarism and scamming on the platform via @whaleguardians. From the lotteries to patience when dealing with new users and trying to explain complicated things in layman's terms, definitely a top 5 staple, in my mind

You can go to https://whaleshares.io/~witnesses and vote for the people you feel best represent you and your values. If a witness you want to vote for is not in the top 50, you go down to the bottom and find these boxes there.

Type the name in the top one and click the button. Easy peasy.

You can see the full list of witnesses at https://whaleshares.info/witness_votes/ . One thing I do is check out who is disabled and who is voting for who. If I see someone I like as a witness voting for someone I don't like or understand, I will sometimes ask them privately why. A lot of time there are things we don't know about someone that put them in a different light. It works both ways of course. Sometimes we find out things we don't want to hear. Either way, I'm a person who likes to know.

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Sorry for the length of the post and the lack of pictures but I figure you are smart enough to not need eye candy to get through it. If you are even still here. Are you?

Thanks for taking the time to check out my update and if you want to talk to me, I am open to conversation. On here or on discord.