My 41st birthday today and my 4 month birthday with Steem

Besides the things that come with OVER 40 - longer hangovers, droopy skin, loose balls, hair in weird places, rectal cancer exams "excuse me sir please cough to your left. lol that stuff. hahah

I wanted to get this out on my birthday of all days. I started December 17th, 2017 on Steem. And ironically enough, its been 4 months time to date on my Birthday today. Happy 41 to me right? lol

In my 4 months time here I cannot begin to tell everyone what accomplishments I've made here and so much more to go. The list goes and goes.

My Steemit / Steem Experience Journey

1. First Friends Met

• I meet @patrice and @themarkymark in my first week online here.

Patrice - without knowing me delegates me 50 SP to help keep my bandwidth alive because i was so excited to post stuff on this platform I ended up burning through my stuff so fast.

TheMarkyMark - one of my first friends here, And i still have no idea what the guy looks like but we've managed to become good friends on here, talking about everything. This guy is like your best beer buddy at the bar, without the bar or the beer... its all virtual man... hah. Great company, good insight to steem and a great educator on the platform.

2. Introduce Yourself

• I didn't understand this at the beginning. I thought this was a tag you posted when you wanted to tag yourself like a selfie lol. I didnt realize it had a one-shot lifetime USE on the platform. I aggravated so many witnesses not grasping the concept. lol .

3. @ma1neevent and @poeticsnake Radio Show

• I go on a radio show for the fist time using a Discord chat server I've never used in my life and for some reason i go on the show when they have a major leader in the steem world, @aggroed. Instantly him and I become friends as we start to discuss my skillsets in UX/UI and where I've been.

4. @Fulltimegeek

• I wake up one morning to see @Fulltimegeek has given me 1000 SP to help me build my reputation as a Steem advocate in the commmunity. I reached to him after reading a wonderful article and low and behold, a new friendship was born. Totally stellar guy. great community advocate.

5. I was a member of Stewards of Gondor / Friends of Gondor

• There was a battle that @fulltimegeek was spearheading and gratefully @davemccoy took on the @friendsofgondor. I was kind enough, to be invited to assist so I've joined @davemccoy cause.

6. I created #FollowFriday. A way to share people I've met along the way and showcase them.

• Some cool People

@princessmewmew - one of the nicest people on the discord channel that helps me with "everything Steemit" she's been great. Definitely follow her. She's part of #adsactly a great community of people helping, teaching, educating, learning.

@socky - best mechanic on cars providing you with great advice on anything car related and loves crypto too

@kerlund74 - UX / UI designer like me and a great asset to the building of this Steemit Community. I love artists and UX.

@overkillcoin - has some of the best onboarding 101 infographics I've seen for the platform and usually will always comment back on your interest in his posts or just general comments. I enjoy him.

@spiritualmax - we liked MTG cards and share equal affinity for growing this platform.

@itinerantartist - has helped me on my UI design builds.

@v4vapid - totally great guy bouncing creative ideas together.

@yabapmatt - great guy, built @postpromoter, has always had my interests at the highest level. all around great dude.

7. I was a guest on the @Freedonexists Whaleshares discord Radio Show

• This nice British guy I met on the platform when i did the other radio show with @aggroed. He too has a show on discord for great exposure and allowed me to contribute.

8. SugarSteem - A more personalized Steem Experience

• I became so frustrated with the Steemit website that i must have rage quit a dozen times trying to do just about everything from buying steem, to adding friends, to tagging them, to making posts, to commenting and trying to remember users names so i could review there content. the list goes on and on and on.

I decided I would take a stab at building out a new version of the UI for @steemit, @ned, @andrarchy, etc. I wanted to see if i could get their attention to spearhead UI/UX and Product development. My mission was to be a part of their creative process while listening to the voices of the people.

This redesign series became and was is my community advocacy program now. Since there was little to NO response at first I decided to build my own UI redesign series strictly through Discovery Exploration to conceptual Mock Designs. Little did I know how much of an impact i was to have on the community and eventually this has now become my STEEM obsession with building a new UI that is more personalized for the Steem Blockchain.

I call it SUGAR STEEM - A more Personalized Block Chain Experience.

After many more versions later, I new UI is born and from there I have met so many people in the community that have advocated their votes, their comments, their praise. This Steem community has grown so huge and I'm stunned about the voice I've created that is being heard throughout the world all because I decided to put a flag in the sand and build out a version of the UI i felt would help the community immensely.

Look at this list of advocates.

@aggroed, @themarkymark, @velimir, @fredrikaa, @fulltimegeek, @brandonp, @geofftk, @fourfourfun, @dlew, @venalbe, @grizgal, @shawnvanderveer, @dedicatedguy, @datascience, @mitneb, @edicted, @jlordc, @arcange, @spiritualmax, @makerhacks, @isnochys, @dlew, @mikesthoughts, @rock220, @daan, @davidshaw, @rawdawg, @yogajill, @mcblessing1, @patrice, @princessmewmew, @kerlund74, @yabapmatt, @ma1neevent, @poeticsnake @shadowspub, @folken, @whatsup, @kubbyelizabeth, @freedomexists, @bbrewer, @kurtgrey, @swolesome, @flemmy, @reewy, @leonard17, @syednur47, @amisteem, @memocorredor, @outtheshellvlog, @moreseke1, @travissilvers699, @artizm, @mafi001, @queenbee12, @blusky, @jerrybanfield, @gomovies, @theversatileguy, @theb0red1, @thecryptogold, @strangevision, @atmosblack, @drmake, @tattoodjay, @futurethinker, @rondak, @ashleykalila, @jpederson96, @therealwolf, @thebugiq, @minatubo, @el-cr, @thewayiseeit, @princessdharmy, @crystalpacheco30, @aleksandar.vasic, @gcamkerten, @cryptical, @itinerantartist, @libertyranger, @mikesthoughts, @dedicatedguy, @theversatileguy, @austinhopper, @masscollective, @multi4g, @giddyupngo, @pittsburghhodlr, @charitybot, @pathtosuccess, @minnowsupport, @socky, @thehoneys, @yogajill, @zahril, @funbobby51, @cryptosharon, @maverickinvictus, @polebird, @minnowsupport, @travelersmemoire, @thatsweeneyguy, @icedrum, @tts, @mominsdt, @alltech1, @thatkidsblack, @muqarrabshah, @danielsaori, @nicnas, @shares, @k9disc, @artgirl, @acidyo, @wackou, @ausbitbank, @xaero1, @wesleybos, @lrock, @playitforward, @mod-tamichh, @noboxes, @discordia, @kodaxx, @dbzfan4awhile, @teamhumble, @hottopic, @kimzilla, @whatsup, @scorer, @overkillcoin, @yairdd, @dshelton32, @revisesociology, @lenatramper, @glenalbrethsen, @coffeex, @fourfourfun, @msp-lovebot, @travelersmemoire, @mitneb, @friendsofgondor, @interfecto, @sexdeathrebirth, @ms10398, @robertvogt, @ryacha21, @mackcom, @triverse, @oliviadejeu, @baby07, @thealliance, @jdevora, @saffisara, @fishyculture, @fabiyamada, @indian-mom, @jamesgetsit, @ipromote, @carface, @slickwilly, @edwardlewis, @geofftk, @etcmike, @austinhopper, @karencarrens, @titusfrost, @dolladu, @doggedfi, @steempowerpics, @akrid, @ericwilson, @jschindler, @bandm2016, @creon, @macmaniac77, @cgbartow, @fow, @saadiallan, @c0ff33a, @shuta, @guchtere, @thehoneys, @masscollective, @alexis555, @bue, @techslut, @protegeaa, @fminerten, @steempty, @stephen.king989, @spydo, @personz, @cron, @timwu, @inventor16, @jlordc, @oleksandr, @theb0red1, @inus12345, @v4vapid, @totolina, @appreciator, @smartsteem, @abh12345, @inquiringtimes, @wesleybos, @leeuw, @geofftk, @protegeaa, @moreseke1, @cryptocat, @mes, @edb1984, @remcovdpluijm, @drpuffnstuff, @celsius100, @eirik, @atmosblack, @pwrup, @seveaux, @thecryptogold, @stsl, @mstafford, @evecab, @sutekh, @kevbot, @hitmeasap, @arobquinn, @larus, @yekrats, @zipporah, @jlordc, @iansart, @ponoj, @samysamy, @beccadeals, @roguelike, @stopfox, @memebot, @alnedkov, @movievigilante, @trkaplan, @thebugiq, @jmvs, @t2tang, @ahmadrabdi, @benmaurice, @eeks, @wesleybos, @clayford08, @etcmike, @r0nd0n, @mattclarke, @datascience, @steematis, @arcange, @rawdawg, @katrina-ariel, @minnowuniversity, @stormriderstudio, @planet-power, @raphaelle, @jacobts, @fukumineko, @netuoso, @brandonp, @fminerten, @shadowspuub, @ammonite, @kriptonoob, @jamesbarraclough, @venalbe, @nataliejohnson, @ghasemkiani, @antimedia, @pjau, @cryptotem, @arobquinn, @allfothegood, @dogeking, @antoniokt, @practicallyapro, @mulletwang, @fukumineko, @k9disk, @gcamkerten, @isnochys, @rajasameerkhan, @sheriffakin, @shuta, @fabiyamada, @sift666, @maverickinvictus, @fabien, @ekitcho, @newsflash, @cryptoctopus, @valth, @moemanmoesly, @omitaylor, @bitgeek, @natamiko, @febrisahputra04, @gavinthegreat, @yehey, @alikhanzari, @justinemullet, @kingsleyemeka, @melvadg, @ikhlassamudra @paulasands, @kyusho, @indigoocean, @emwalker, @rasel.khan69690, @shumuel, @riazsheikh, @kryptorero, @nick2018, @mdrakibhasan, @frankbacon, @johnskotts, @krazypoet, @boyerobert, @mcoinz79, @z8teyb289qav9z, @arama, @demotruk, @timcliff, @felixxx

9. I've become a member of the #steemdevs Slack channel.

• I couldn't have done this without the help of some really strong and kind people in my tenor here at Steemit. Thank you @ausbitbank and @cryptoctopus and @ned. I feel grateful to finally be in the community of design and dev and to truly start building with innovation in mind and growth for all steemians forward.

10. - its my 41st today!

Thank you everyone for the support, advice, praise, design assistance, and help in everything. I am sure i have left some people out. I listed what made me most proud so far. and I am grateful for another successful 6 months.