Hola Amigos,

60 more days before 2009 is over. Time really does fly when you are having fun, and what better way that to turn the page to the year that is coming to an end, than to start with a new and more sophisticated website.

Our website has been the official way for the estate to communicate with its residents and friends, kind of like the estate bible. Here you find the laws of the land (Covenant), FAQ, the status of the estate, land for sale, other important news, reviews of the magnificent events we all share, the latest Second Life® trends and about the hottest tunes around the world.

Our website has also ranked higher than most websites belonging to other estates or in-world magazines for quite sometime now. You can take a look at alexa.com, and compare www.costaricasims with others.

The new website has pretty much everything the old one had, only better, and we added a few more options. The most noticeable are:

"Just For Residents," located under the "About Us" tab. Every week I get asked by residents if they can use community land the estate has for their private events. My answer is always the same: "Course you can, it belongs to you as well." So now under this new section you will find all detailed information about all the venues available to you.

"Let's Talk About Lag". located under the "Resources" tab. Here you can find all the information about why your avatar or the region you are in it are lagging.

You can also RSS Feed not only the estate blog but also the Latest Properties. We are still working on little things here and there, but so far all input from residents and friends has been very positive.

I cannot thank enough our web mistress, Miss DzinWiz Babii, for the countless days she spent creating our new site, but foremost for her patience towards me, since I'm known to be a perfectionist so ummm, well you get the point...

Now, I would like to talk about something we have been cooking for the past six months, and Linden Lab® announced a month ago, "The Community Partnership Program."

Little less than a year ago, Linden Lab® launched a pilot program teaming up with one private estate in order to create a working relationship between the mainland continents and private estates. Right after we learned about this partnership, we presented our own proposal, but since there were no guidelines to this pilot program, things were pretty much in the air for the past six months.

Last month, when Linden Lab® finally came out with the guidelines for this program, they asked us if we wanted to go ahead with our old proposal or present a new one now that then rules have been set. Our response to them was we would present a new one. Right away, Ryker Infinity, our CFO, and myself started working on a new proposal that we strongly believe will work better for both parties.

The Community Partnership Program is intended to create closer working relationships between well-established, active, sizable and growing community groups that have a clear theme and purpose, with regular and inclusive events and regions accessible to the entire SL™ community.

Now, we all know there are bigger estates thank ours yes, but we also know there is no estate as beautiful as ours.

We also know there are estates that focus in just one thing or activity, but we all know there is no other estate that offers as many activities and amenities as ours.

And finally, yes there are some other estates with some kind of a community, but hey there is no other estate with a community as proud, vibrant and involved as the Costa Rica Sims.

Most people join SL™ for the same reason: to socialize. If you are going to invest in monthly tiers, shouldn't that place offer you more than just a piece of virtual land, where you can rezz prims, change clothes and log for the day? Because honestly, all those 3 things can be done on a sand box and guess what? For free!

When the proposal is ready, we will share with you the key points, and we promise you that if everything goes according to plan, it will take the estate to a higher level of excellency. As always, we will work closely helping the Linden Team since they have been here for us since day one.

So now, let's move on and recap everything that went on around our estate this past month.

New Executive Team Members

As the estate keeps growing, the more Executives we need in order to keep providing the unparalleled service we are known for. In the coming months, we will be adding new Executives to the group, but for now I would like to present you the two new additions to our team.

Jarrod Beck
Estate Manager

Jarrod has been one of my oldest and dearest friends in Second Life®. He has been a resident for over six months, and I must say he is one of the sweetest and most patient guys I know. He is bilingual and speaks German and English. He is located in Central Europe and will take care of the estate when my little avie is counting some zzzzz so anything you may need just contact him as well.

Alexia Speizer
Estate Photographer

Alexia is one of those people that right away after meeting her, she puts a smile on your face. She is a Manager at Best Of Second Life & Company; she is also a writer and a blogger. For those residents that don't have their photos for our tier machine and social networks Flickr® and Facebook® yet, please contact Alexia for an appointment.

Residents from two new countries

We added to more countries to our growing list, this past month residents from Chile and Panama moved to our estate. With these two countries added, the Costa Rica Sims Estate is now home to residents from 48 countries in 6 continents around the world.

Land Sales

This past month we saw a small decrease in land sales, same pattern we saw last year in October. Even so, the Estate remains at 98.2 % Occupancy.

Region Added

We added a homestead region, Bahia Tamarindo, and its already sold out. Don't forget to tell your friends about our estate and start making some L$ with our referral program now that the holidays are just around the corner.

Events

Costa Rica Sims Designer Showcase: Nardcotix

For the month of October the Costa Rica Sims Designers Showcase brought us the beautiful and elegant designs of Miss Nardya Rousselot, owner and designer of Nardcotix.

Nardya has been one of my favorite female designers so it was really exciting to see she was expanding her brand to include men's clothing as well. We wish her continue succcess.

Thanks to the Costa Rica Sims Productions Team, our Director Mr. Clyde Saunders and our models; Donald Feld, Florentine Rau, Hollee Zhora, TraLove Pinazzo & Wipster Baxter for yet another great show. You can also check Phantom's Republic blog for a great review of the show.

Costa Rica Ladies' Society Halloween Ball and Rez days party.

Who doesn’t love a masquerade ball? Gorgeous event by Ladies’ Society with the help of the one and only Phantom Republic and what more appropriate theme than the Phantom Of The Opera. Ball started with the beautiful voice of Clairede Dirval. Then in was time for the hottest tunes provided by our very own DJ/heartthrob Azu Catteneo that brought the house down, chandelier included literally.

We also celebrated the October rez days of our residents at this ball. Many more happy rez days to Ariadna, Bagsy, Ben, Daniel, Emalee, Gahum, Hollee, JC10016, Komyc, Krissy, Lil, Logen, Marc, Phoebe & Sixes.

Many thanks to the Ladies Society COB Miss Shelby Robianni and to our Executive Mr. Phantom Republic for all their hard work and dedication to what it will be now a yearly event. For a more detailed review of the biggest event of the year so far, check out Phantom's Republic.

Amenities

The Costa Rica Sims Learning Center

Ever wanted to learn how to build in SL™? Well then mark you calendars, because starting Saturday November 7, 2009 at 10:00 am SLT, and for 5 more weeks, we will begin with our "From A Cube To A House" building classes. Punisher Skall, member of the Costa Rica Sims Executive Team and talented builder will be sharing his skills with those who want to learn.

In order to create a better learning environment, we will have limited space, so if you want to register or need more information about this program. Please contact Punisher in-world or click here to read a previous blog.

Later on, we will be adding more learning classes, such as scripting and texturing. If you have any knowledge in these areas and would like to volunteer and share them with the community, please contact me.

Merchant News

This past month three amazing designers opened their stores at our commercial district, make sure to stop by to find the latest trends in SL™ fashion.

Updates

Leatherback Turtle Campaign

What a great month October was for this noble cause as we raised L$11,490. Even thought this past month we had less people donating, thanks to Mr. Rory Serpente, Ms. Lile Bikcin & Mr. Carmichael Caurdon, big donations we were able to raise more money than last month. I would like to thank all others that kindly donated to this worthy cause as well: Grega Markstein, Casanova Serevi, Butch Pinion, Astrokris Messmer, Hunny Larimore, Kizmet Kidd, RyeN Cliassi, Maia Avedon & Tredi Felisimo.

As always, here is a photo of the transaction made via Paypal for last month's donation.

Finally like every month I want to welcome the new residents that now are calling the Costa Rica Sims their SL™ home: Allie, Astrokis, Axem, Bacchus, Beck, Breeze, Chase, Celeste, Colby, Coughran, Dante, Datura, Dayanna, Deb, Deriand, Diacentra, Dragonsheart, Dro, Ed, Electric, Emalee, Essie, Fesama, Gabriella, Gaetano, Ganthan, GatoBHZ, Gionn, Hugo, Jacob, Jenniferlove, Kath, Lybsey, Masala, Nicole, Norma, Odry, Oz, Pano, Reliquia, Steven2, Valeri, Vendy, Yanneck & Yummy.

So my friends there you have it; as we come to the final days of 2009, we foresee great things coming our way in the not too distant future, and as always we will keep you posted. Until next month, be well and have fun!

Love & Light,

Gian