In some ways this year is dragging with the COVID pandemic seeming to last forever, but it is also racing by as we reach August already. A tradition started on Steem of encouraging people to power up at the start of each month and it continues on Hive with prizes to be won. This time you can also earn a 
I do not qualify for the prizes, but I like to participate anyway. I have accumulated some crypto from various sources and may as well use it to boost my Hive account. I hope to reach orca status very soon and this will get me there quicker.
Firstly there are some reserves on my Wirex debit card that I built up whilst powering down my Steem. I have not been spending much money lately and so can use that. I wish Wirex would come to Hive. They have a dormant account at 
I have also gained some crypto through the various earning opportunities on Coinbase. Once in a while they invite me to watch some short videos about coins and answer simple questions to receive a few dollars in each coin. The questions are so simple you do not even need to watch the whole video each time, so it takes minutes. I actually just made another few dollars there via Tezos. I am unlikely to use those, but I am on Hive every day.
Coinbase places some restrictions on who can earn from this based on location, but for some of us it is nice extra income. I can make a little more if people use my referral link. What I make will be ploughed into Hive.
Some other extra income I have is from the airdrop on the newish Blurt fork of Steem. Some people may not be aware they have that. I cannot see much value in being active there, so I will use that to buy more Hive as well. The price is not great, but you can trade it on 
I will be using a little of this extra Hive on my two gaming obsessions Rising Star and Splinterlands. Investing in those can increase what I make from them in the long run.
After all that I have added almost 291 HP. I think orca is currently about 52k, so I have a little way to go. It is just a number, but it means something to me.
Even if you can only power up a few Hive it all matters. If we have more accounts with more HP it helps to spread out the votes. Use your votes each day if you can. You can do ten full votes and recharge by the next day. You should also vote for the witnesses you see doing good work. Your vote could mean a lot to one of the smaller witneses.
Hive five!