Hey all. I haven't done a random fun post in a while, so here it is. I have been posting a bit more of my random social account stuff at @lukes.random so check that out if you're into that sort of thing (basically stuff I tweet about).

STEEM Trade Cards

First off, I got my STEEM Trading Cards a little while ago from @steemtradecards, and they look great!

I was so excited to get these in the mail and be included in this little piece of history.

I've been meaning to do a post on these beauties for a while now, so here it is (finally).

Thank you @kus-knee, @airmatti, and everyone else involved in @steemtradecards. Fun stuff like this are what bring a community together, and I'm honored to be included.

We Had a Tennessee Meetup!

Instead of telling the story over again, I'll let these amazing posts speak for themselves. Please, while you can still give them an upvote, go check them out:

• @katrina-ariel: Tennessee Steemit Meetup, with Some Live Music
• @daltono: Steem Meet Up MAY 18th/19th-18’ in Nashville, TN (with GUEST LIST)
• @ameliabartlett: Nashville Steemit Meetup + My Favorite Spots
• @thealliance: Tennessee Meets STEEM - Names to Faces
• @freedompoint: The Tennessee Collective: Intro | Steemit Meetup 5/18
• @freedomtowrite: What? Where am I? How did I find myself at a Steemit meet-up??
• @sircork: I went to Tennessee this weekend, and all I got was drunk and @lukestokes (but I heard he got drunker)
• @ancapbarbie: Epic Meetup - Nashvegas
• @steemcafe: 😀@steemcafe & @jonny-clearwater. 😈Thompson Station, TN
• @rhondak: Coming Home in a Thousand Different Ways
• @enginewitty: New Names and Faces

I think I included everyone's post about the meetup. If not, please hit me up in the comments, and I'll link it up.

Big thanks to @jonny-clearwater and @instructor2121 for making that happen. I was camping last weekend with my family and drove an hour to be there because I didn't want to miss it. Thankfully, I was able to take a quick shower (camping is fun, but it stinks) before hanging out with everyone.

I only took two pictures of the deck to give a feel for what we were up to.

Please check out the posts above for more pictures.

Also, if you read through the posts and comments, you'll probably hear talk of an intense discussion between myself and @sircork. Around dinner time, I intended to leave and get back to my family but ended up having a super interesting conversation for many more hours after that.

The basic summary is this: I think Cork could be more successful for himself and the community he represents if he treated everyone with respect and communicated that respect effectively. He's angry about a number of things and feels wronged in a number of ways. For him to change how he communicates to people is, from his perspective, capitulating, something he simply will not do. I think that's a fair summary.

Here's Cork's summary from his post linked above:

@lukestokes: Hey SirCork, I'm LukeStokes, I've been looking forward to meeting you, are you going to be a nice guy or be a dick all day?

@SirCork: <no hesitation> I'm going to be a dick all day.

I better respect how and why people in his community support and understand him, and why he's angry. I also hope he heard me (and, more importantly, the people in his community who agreed with me).

Moving on from that awesome event, I wanted to share one last thought.

Summer Fun

My kids were in the backyard earlier today, and I just had to share this video:

The local schools got out for summer today, so I thought it was the perfect time to post something like this. They love using the sprinklers and water combined with the trampoline. It's like their own water park. Since we homeschool, they've been done for a while, but now their friends can play during the day and not just the afternoon.

I hope you're having a fantastic summer day. If you get a chance to make a STEEM meetup, GO! It's always fun to put a face to a username.

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Luke Stokes is a father, husband, programmer, STEEM witness, DAC launcher, and voluntaryist who wants to help create a world we all want to live in. Learn about cryptocurrency at UnderstandingBlockchainFreedom.com

_{I'm a Witness! Please vote for @lukestokes.mhth}