What an awesome surprise to return to from a vacation. Congratulations.

As for your contests, I know I don't qualify for the Steem Monsters newbie contest, but I'd like to encourage @johndoer123 to put in an entry.

Then there's the witness votes. I'm currently supporting both @aggroed and @yabapmatt. I have to confess I didn't know much about them, and my support is fairly recent, with the catalyst being Steem Monsters.

I'm a big fan of the Steem platform, and I think what Steem Monsters brings to the table. Not only is there the sense of community that is developing, but the potential to bring new players from outside the Crypto world to the game and by extension to Steemit, bodes well for everyone. It also provides the Steem blockchain with another validated application which, when successful, can only encourage more developers to use the chain for their own projects.