Hey Steemians!! This post is to thank all those who have helped me reach new achievements. And hopefully a little motivation for new users.

Special thanks to @riganronib for designing this logo.

As I type this, I have surpassed 10,000 Steem Power. In addition, as of this morning, I have achieved the reputation score of 68. Also, 2500 posts (posts + comments). And, last but not least, I now have 430 followers. (I need work on improving my follower count)

Since I stumbled upon Steemit back in August, I have been hooked every since. I have to admit that it took days to figure it out, the logic behind it all. (To be honest, I still haven’t figured it all out). It has been a roller coaster ride as with all the other emerging technologies of recent years. There have been down days and up days, I am happy to report that today is an UP Day!

When brainstorming on this post, I didn’t really want to mention any names, (because I knew I would miss many) but putting keystrokes to screen, I can’t avoid it. My very first post which I still vividly remember. I remember spending all of 10 minutes trying to understand what I was looking at and immediately made a post. It was horribly formatted but it had two key upvotes that hooked me to Steemit, from @blocktrades and @tombstone. I still receive motivation from those two upvotes. Special thanks!

Sorry for not listing the many, many other supporters. Without doubt, the list would be too long and I would miss many.

The price of steem was significantly different then, but I have faith and strong confidence that the value of the platform will return and surpass those numbers. None of us know when, but one reason I have this confidence is in the fact that we’re still growing, even at the current price of steem. New users, new quality users are still coming.

All of my posts for many weeks now have all been 100% Steem Power payouts. To be blunt, I don’t know why anyone would choose anything different at this point. But that’s another great thing about steemit, you can choose. The power of choice.

Here I go breaking my "not mentioning names" promise, but I have to agree with the points @papa-pepper made in his post STEEM NOW,.... To quote from his post, "If (when) STEEM climbs back up in value, the payouts will no longer have such a crazy amount of STEEM POWER available. Those who made the most of this opportunity that we have right now will be in an incredible position in the steemit ecosystem. Anyone who comes along later will have a much harder time gaining power than we did."

This is a 4 day weekend in the states. This weekend should see high user volume. Let’s all make special effort to support the newcomers this weekend. A little encouragement can go a long way.

*To all you newcomers, a couple words of advice: *
1. Try hard to post good content. This community loves good photography and lots of it. Whether you are a good photographer or not, try to include at least two or more photos in your post. You'll learn a lot about photography along the way.
2. Utilize STEEMIT.CHAT. It is a fabulous place to self promote your posts. And it's a great place to meet others and a fantastic place to receive support and helpful criticism. It's a very supportive community. I have never had a bad experience there.
3. Don't give up, whatever you do, do not give up. You will experiment with your posts and you may receive some harsh criticism from time to time, but don't let it get you down. Take the good from it and improve what you are doing. If you keep at it, you will get noticed and you will find some special people along the way that will take the time to give you their support.

So on this fabulous morning from Patagonia, Chile - Thanks to all. My hope and goal is to continue putting out good content and continuing this ride we all call STEEMIT.

As I often say in the comments I post:

STEEM ON!!

And just so I don't break my own two pics or more rule, here's a pic of our lead male Great Pyrnees.

AND A HUGE MASSIVE SHOUT OUT TO@rigaronib for designing my logo!!!! 

I am always open to feedback, and would love to know how you feel I could do better and please do not forget to

UPVOTE AND FOLLOW ME

PAY ME 100% STEEM POWER