Good news!
While I don't currently intend to run against the other Witnesses for a paying position, I'm happy to announce that I am now running a witness for the STEEM blockchain.
I intend to compare my uptime against the other witnesses to see how good of a job they're doing compared to a hobbyist.
The hardware:
2x Xeon x5650 2.67ghz
72GB RAM
16TB HDD space
Maybe someday in the future I'll shill myself. Until then, I'm just doing this to participate in the community! The more witnesses, the better - for everyone.