Hello Everybody!

Just like any other month, it is time to recap all the things that went on within our estate.

First, I want to start by wishing Second Life a Happy 6th Birthday and continued success. In the almost 2 years of the Costa Rica Sims’ existence, I have made a few friends with the Linden last name and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for the continued support towards our estate.

Now, I would like to talk about a few changes within the Executive Team. Brian Lindman, Chazzzz Cazalet, Felicity Sneerwell, Jac Mornington & Sunshine Zhangsun are leaving the Executive Team to spend their time engaging in other personal endeavors around SL and in RL. I would like to thank them for the great job they did for our estate while a part of our team, but foremost I want to thank them for their unconditional friendships. They have all been some of my closest friends, and will remain so, and I wish them nothing but the best in the future.
 
Next, let me introduce the newest members of the Executive Team. First, we have Stephen Hilra who will occupy the Chief of Security position. Stephen is someone that even before joining our team has been helping us in different ways. He is known for flying all over the estate looking for prims that do not belong to residents. He is also known as someone that likes to change parcels every so often. I think he has moved 7 times so far around our estate. He will be responsible for setting security orbs for our residents and dealing with unwanted guests. He will also monitor that residents follow the covenant when it comes to leaving 32 prims free in their parcels, so others can sail and fly around. Lastly, he will monitor scripted objects to make sure those objects are not causing a drop in performance in our regions and therefore lower the SL experience of our residents. So if you have a security issue Stephen is the person to call.

Isobel Desantis and Punisher Skall will be our resident liaisons. When I first met this wonderful couple, I knew right away we would end up working together, not only they are charming and witty but also very skilled builders, and I must say Isobel is one of the smartest blonds I know. As part of their duties, Isobel and Punisher will continue with the  guided tours for our residents. These tours are a great way for our residents to discover all our estate has to offer and learn a few things about what makes Costa Rica a unique place. They can also answer questions residents may have about rezzing prims, scripts and building in general. So don’t be shy and don’t let Punisher’s name scared you. Feel free to contact them for a guided tour or if you have any questions. Also remember there is an entire section on our webpage FAQ that answers most common questions residents have about pretty much all land related issues.

Last, but definitely not least, DzinWiz Babii will return as our webmaster. She was the original creator of our beautiful web page. She has been one of my most loyal friends in SL and we all look forward to having her back on the team. In the coming months we will start updating some areas of the web page to give it a fresh look.

Cocos Island

July 7th is the last day to vote for the New 7 Wonders of Nature finalists. I encourage all of you to vote for Cocos Island at the New 7 Wonders of Nature website. Click where it says "Vote Here." Don't forget to check your email to activate your vote.

Land Settings

When residents first come to our estate, we instruct them on how to adjust the land settings. These settings are a part of our covenant and ensure that all residents can enjoy the various amenities our estate offers, including sailing around our open waters.  Recently, a few of our residents have been unable to fly or sail around the estate due to other residents changing their land settings. This inhibits members of our community to enjoy the amenities that are a key part of the Costa Rica Sims experience. So please take the time to review the photos below that display the appropriate land settings. This includes our no ban lines policy which is explicitly stated in our covenant.

Land Sales

As predicted there was a slight decrease in land sales for the past month. We do feel that during the summer months less new people join SL since they spend more time outdoors and this is a pattern we saw last year during the same period of time. Even so our estate remains at 98.6 % occupancy.

New Residential Sims

During the month of June, we added three new homestead regions to our estate. These regions were sold in a matter of hours once put up for sale.

Events

Yard Sale

What a fun event that was! The response was so great from the community that we had to extend it a few more days. I hear many residents walked out with lots of cash and most important we got rid of unwanting objects cluttering our inventories. Since this was such a succesful event, we have decided to have a yard sale per quarter, that way we will have enough time to load our inventories once again.

The Ladies’ Society Victorian Midsummer Nights Ball

This was a very touching event! I had no idea the Ladies of our estate were planning to pay a little tribute to me during this event and I must admit that it really warmed my heart.  By hearing how much it means to you what we do around the estate, it pushes me and all members of the Executive Team to keep working harder to bring you the best Second Life experience ever, making our estate the best estate in all Second Life.

Rezdays Party

Our Arabian Nights theme party in honor of our June residents was hot and packed! I love our rezz parties not only cause is fun to dress up, but mostly because it give us the opportunity to get together an see all the other fellow residents. Arabian theme parties are always exciting and exotic and many more happy rezzdays to our June residents.

Costa Rica Designers Showcase

Beautiful show! Once again Rawly was able to capture the vision of what the designer had in mind. Word has it that Indyra was on cloud nine when she saw the beautiful setting. Of course, a beautiful setting would not be enough without the hard work of the talented MAD Agency team which showed how professional they are even when our region was down for almost an hour, forcing the second show to start late. Same as last month’s event, both shows were at full capacity. Starting in July we will have the after party for our fashion shows at E-co Club.

Rancho Pacifico Resort, Club E-co, & The Criss Museum of Contemporary Arts.

Each month our business partners keep bringing innovative events that I strongly recommend you attend. The idea for us to bring you these events is to give you the opportunity to meet others here in SL and to have fun. I have always said that most of the people that join Second Life do it because they want to socialize with others, so make sure to attend as many events within the estate to meet all the wonderful residents that also call the Costa Rica Sims their Second Life home. Be sure to check our event calendar on our website to learn more.

Second wedding at the event sim

I want to congratulate our second couple of residents that held that special moment at our event sim. On behalf of all of us here I would like to wish Mr. Addicted Offcourse and his beautiful bride Ms. Florentine Rau lots of happiness.

Remember that if you are planning your wedding, the event sim, with its 15,000 prims, is available for residents to use for free, just let us know the date with at least 6 weeks in advance.

Merchant News

New great stores at our shopping district for you to check out:

Adora
AE
Garcons Tokyo 
Mashooka Designs
R.E.A.L.E

Upcoming Projects

Second Anniversary Celebration

I know our second anniversary is in September, but we are already working in what promises to be a memorable celebration. If any residents want to help us just send me an IM. We will join forces with our partners to bring you 4 days of celebrations, starting September 10th.

The Costa Rica Ladies’ Society Club will kick off the celebrations with various events that day including the 2nd year anniversary ball.

September 11th we will dedicate to the arts with the help of The Criss Museum of Contemporary Art and it will include an outside concert.

The next day, September the 12th, will be a day of lots of fun provided by Rancho Costa Pacifico Resort and Club E-co and will include a sailing competition.

 Finally, September 13th we will close the celebrations with the Miss Costa Rica Sims Pageant so ladies start getting ready once again to enter the estate pageant, win wonderful prizes, and a place at the Miss Virtual World 2010.

Updates

Save the leatherback turtles campaign!

In the month of June, we raised 4,050L$ for this noble cause. I would like to thank the following people for their donations: Mina Huntress, Sunshine Zhangsun, Zasa Rossini, Isobel Desantis, Stephen Hilra, Indiana Princess Teatime, Maxim Branner, Paula Dix, Geko Stoop, Lizzie Beeswing, Bronzie Verrazzano, Ashleybrook Svenska, Arwen Fairey, Jeff Hermans & Yuli Larnia. As promised, here is a photo of the transaction made via paypal for last month's donation.

Welcome Center

We have been getting great comments about our new welcome center from residents, friends and even some of our friends at Linden Lab about the overall look of this region. As you may have noticed we changed the region’s name to “Costa Rica” by doing so it makes it easier for people to remember the name.

Our table of welcome gifts has been a total success, with many blogs reporting it as the best collection of free gifts around the grid. Having these welcome gift bags gives more exposure to the estate and helps visitors discover the estate and all it offers for the first time. Many thanks to all the wonderful designers that contributed with a welcome gift bag.

Finally, like always, I would like to welcome all our new residents that moved to our community in the month of June to their new SL home: Aely, Arwen1107, Augusta, Arvid, Cameron, Carmichael, Copacetic, David, Delwyb, Desjah, Ensane, Imani, Javier, Jayjay, Jennaa, Jimi, Juli, Juliet, Kallisto, Kandi, Karlie, Kaydon, Krissy, Lyla, Mavericus, Maya, Mia , Millie, Mystique, Nenstres, Niall, Pablo, Rebecca, Solar, Straggler, Tae, Toby, Tralove, Tressa, Trinity, Wildwolf & Zac

So there you have it, another month goes by as we enter the 2nd half of 2009 with more exciting and positive news for the future. Until next time!

Love & Light,

Gian