Hail Fellow STEEM Networkers. Hope all is going good in your neck of the woods!

This Week as STEEM Witness

It was a roller coaster of a week for lack of a better term! Not only did I briefly achieve my goal of top 19 witness (woot!) but I also managed to find a new place to move come the 1st of February, 2017. Damn excited to move out of my current living situation which I dubbed "The Pet Shop" due to the smell and get the chance to set up office and resume life in a better living environment.

Hit Top 19 Witness Rank! For About 25 Minutes..

On the 25th by some great miracle I managed to briefly breach into a top 19 witness spot! Some evidence of this event was can be seen below! I started my celebrations but sadly started too soon, as support crumbled beneath me shooting me all the way down to 24-25.

After the initial shock of hitting top 19 and then being blasted all the way down to the mid 20's I went searching for answers. Sadly the answer that I found was something I'd long suspected of going on but hadn't experienced first hand. My first top 19 spot was cut short over a matter of politics basically. I was voted out by another top 19 witness who was trying to preserve complexring's top 19 position which has since then failed, but was told it was not fault of my own. Despite being shaken by the way everything went down I don't hold any grudges and realize "it's just business" at the end of the day. Politics man.

I have, however, had my eyes opened wide to the potential of possible "collusion" (not the right word, but you get what I mean) or "good old boy" mentality within the top echelons of the STEEM witness community. Perhaps it is just a matter of politics and with many amazing and deserving witnesses out there perhaps it isn't just as easy as amassing witness votes. You must be a "chosen one" so to speak, natural rise by votes can and will be manipulated by those wishing to keep their own interests safe or whom see potential in the witness.

With that being said I believe complexring is a competent witness and I understand the reasoning behind my supports being pulled out from under me. I'll make top 19 again soon. :)

I managed to draw as close to reality as possible what happened below (in fun of course).

Individuals capable of manipulating the witness order may in fact do so if it benefits them, the network or an allied party. Now don't take this as complaining please, it isn't. Simply my observation of what I only thought was rumor happening first hand to myself. The way the DPOS works is by weighted votes dictating who gets into these positions. There are maybe 20 accounts or so on the network that by their votes alone can hand pick the top 30. Most are held by Steemit Inc employees or early miner / witnesses of the network, some have completely unknown ownership.

Found a New Living Space

After a month of living in a place that smells only slightly better than a llama's ass I finally found a new place to move new month. Huge amount of stress has been relieved and although I hate moving I welcome the next few days of packing my things and moving on to a new place to set up an office.

Admittedly my output on projects has not been optimal the past month. It's been a time of uncertainty and change for myself and moving into a less than optimal living environment certainly has had a toll on my psyche.

Once moved and set up (again) I'm hoping to be able to "get back into the groove" so to speak and get some much needed catch up work done on my projects. Once moved I'll be replacing my destroyed work-station which was held off all month due to the fact I knew I had to move again within the 1st week of moving in. I miss having a desk to work at.

Adjusted APR Rate Downwards to 4%

Last week I'd adjusted my Steem Backed Dollar (SBD) holding interest rate down from 7.5% to 5%. As the price of SBD was trending slightly over $1.00 USD worth of BTC for a portion of this week I've adjusted my APR rate down to 4% to compensate for such.

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Vote @klye for Witness!

https://steemit.com/~witnesses

A Proud STEEMbassador of Canada

Thank you for your votes, the opportunity and support!

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Note: I am testing things in the comments.
Please disregard the testing ramblings!