https://i.imgur.com/jLU2mCX.jpg

Being that it looks like I will be able to at last make a secure and comfortable living purely off Steemit, with the recent increases to the price of SBD and STEEM, I thought it was justifiable to invest in a really solid laptop from which I could publish content as comfortably and easily as I can from my desktop PC(s). 

I suppose I didn't have to get one this powerful, but if I am going to bother lugging such a thing around, it ought to be worth the weight. The Acer Predator Helios 300 includes a Core i7 processor,  6 gig GTX 1060, 16 gigs of DDR4 memory and a 256 gig SSD. 

Crucially, this this is VR ready. Not just barely either but with a decent amount of overhead in excess of the Oculus minimum recommended spec. This will permit me to record VR let's plays wherever I am, provided there's a hotel room or some other suitable space for....VRing? 

It was tough to stomach dropping such a hefty chunk of change, but again, look at the hardware top Youtubers are rocking. Putting money back into whatever made that money in the first place is a self-reinforcing feedback loop, which is just exactly a convincing enough excuse to satisfy me.

No matter how well STEEM and SBD do, no matter how much I put away in savings, I will probably always feel paranoid just because I was dead broke for so long. But of course, having bought myself an expensive new toy I will also remember to share some of my prosperity. 

The care packages have all been given out now, but I have plans for new and improved ones which include a small power bank and the means to charge it. Everybody has a phone these days, even people living on the street as it's a necessary tool for filling out job applications now, checking shelter vacancies, etc.  

https://i.imgur.com/uK7jgVF.jpg 

I have found it's a good habit to get into, whenever I splurge on something for myself, to also ask "What have I done for others recently?" and factor that cost into whatever I am buying, treating the two as a package deal. The more my own fortunes improve, the more resources I have to improve the fortunes of others.

But I can only do that so long as I keep the content flowing, and I can only do that without becoming even more of a reclusive hermit than I already am if I have the means to produce and publish content portably, without compromising any of the utility of my desktop setup.

So far so good. It already ran through setup, I turned off all the data mining options in Win10, downloaded and updated firmware from the Acer website and have begun to install my usual mainstay applications. This will undoubtedly be where I write many stories I have yet to devise.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, so it goes. But work and play blend into the same thing when you get to perform that work on such a capable and handsome machine as this. I am so far well pleased and expect only good things from it going forward.   

https://i.imgur.com/A6fYIIT.jpg

Bonus doggo pic since I was downtown today and must stop to pet/photograph cute doggos. Look at his confusion as he performs 4D calculus in his head, trying to figure out who this "good boy" we keep asking about could possibly be. (Little did he know that it was him *the entire time.*)

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*<sup>Stay Cozy!</sup>*