I remember a time when we were neck and neck at around 7k STEEM, was over a year ago. There's a lot going on, mostly good.. hope you can join the new STEEM again with us.

One question: What is the "timer" for voting now? is it 4 minutes now?

What was 15 minutes is now 5 minutes for a 100% curation return. At 4 mins, 20% of your vote slice will be returned to the pool, but you may get in earlier than other bigger voters. Its a juggling act.