Hola Amigos,

So here we are, starting the month of our 3^rd Year Anniversary. There are no words to describe how proud and grateful I am for all we have accomplished in 3 years. With the help of all the members, past and present, of the Costa Rica Sims Executive Team, we have been able to provide our residents and friends with a unique SL™ experience only the Costa Rica Sims offers. During this short journey, we have become the most beautiful private estate ever created in SL™ and much more! But all of this would never have been accomplished if it was not for the 300+ proud residents from 49 countries around the world, who call the Costa Rica Sims their Second Life® home. To all of you, the real owners of our beautiful estate, muchas gracias and yay!

As you know, we Executives have been busy for the past months putting together this year’s anniversary celebration. We hope to see you participating in the various events we have created for all of you. Lots of L$ to be won in various fabulous contests, so make sure to read the schedule of events and sign up by contacting the appropriate team leader.

August also brought us the cover of Prim Perfect Magazine. Many times before our estate has been showcased in pretty much every successful in-world publication, but never before have I seen an article written with so much love, passion and dedication for our beautiful estate.

The overall attention to detail in the article is impeccable. Prim Perfect not only gave us the opportunity to be discovered by those who did not know about the Costa Rica Sims, but it also reaffirmed to those who knew about us how far we have come since our first region was born in September 2007. On behalf of everyone in our estate, I would like to thank Saffia Widdershins, Owner and Editor, and her fabulous team: Aisling Sinclair,  Ceejay Writer, Elegia Underwood, Emily Lockhart, GM Nikolaidis, Java Jetcity. Jedburgh30 Dagger, Kaye Robbiani, PJ Trenton, Raven Haalan, Winona Wiefel, Scottie Lyle, Tricia Aferdita & Twisted Lemon.

Just released today is the second advertisement for our “Most Beautiful & Powerful Women” campaign. We profile another four amazing ladies who honor us by calling the Costa Rica Sims their SL™ home.

Now just like every other month, let us recap everything that went around our beautiful estate during the month of August.

Notable news from Linden Lab®

Teen Second Life comes to an end, Philip Linden 2.0, Display Names, & Risks of using Emerald viewer

It was a very busy August for the Lab with lots of buzz coming out of San Francisco. I would like to focus on just four notable news points. Not only did the Lab announce the closing of the Teen Grid next December, and lowering the age requirement to 16 for teens to enter the main grid, but also Philip Linden, CEO and creator of Second Life®, is asking for a total make over, and let me say, Amen it is about time! I never understood why Linden Lab® kept promoting all the beautiful things created inside the grid, persuading new residents to join Second Life® with gorgeous photos on the web page, but yet was allowing their CEO and face of the company to look like something that was created 7 years ago with a bad hangover. It is like showing up at an Apple® convention today only to see Steve Jobs using Mac OS 10 (Cheetah). It just did not make any sense to me. 

The other notable news is that for those daring enough to use viewer 2.0, you will soon be able to change your display name once a week. There is even a cute video by the always-funny Torley Linden that shows you 6 super reasons why would someone change his or her display name.

Since the name change news came out, several residents have asked me if I would be changing the name of my avatar. The answer is no. At this point, I do not see any reason to do so since I feel the name of my avatar is too closely associated with the Costa Rica Sims brand.

Lastly, the Lab posted an official warning to users of the Emerald viewer after malicious activity was discovered that violated 3^rd party viewer policies. You can read more about this by clicking here and I particularly encourage Emerald users to review the Lab’s findings.

Land Sales

August brought us an increase in land sales. We ordered 4 new regions just to keep up with the demand; we also moved and renamed 3 regions in order to make space for the new Puntarenas 2, a full prim region, and to start planning the expansion of the estate to the east. The four regions added are:

Playa Azucar, Playa Potrero, Puntarenas 2 & San Jose East

The above four regions sold in a matter of days, bringing the total landmass of our estate to 4,718,592 sqm. We closed August with an occupancy rate of 99%.

Ryker and I believe the end of summer vacation in the USA and kids going back to school played a role in the increased demand for land, a pattern we saw last year.  Also, the closing of various estates around the grid played a role as well.

Next, I would like to mention the opening of the Land Center region. As previously posted in other Estate Status Reports, some of the biggest private estates in Second Life®, including ours, came together to have a stronger voice when reaching out to Linden Lab®. The first good thing to come out of this partnership is the launching of the Land Center Sim.  The Land Center region is already showcased in the Destination Guide at secondlife.com.

I would like to thank my good friends Frolic Mills and Patch Thibaud for accepting the opportunity to design this magnificent sim. It is an honor for all the estate owners to be showcased in the Land Center region to be under a roof perceived and conceived by such talented people.

Events

Many of you have noticed that we have increased the number of events since our wonderful Event Manager, Miss Samantha Ohrberg, joined the Costa Rica Sims Executive Team. There are no words to describe how we all feel about the magnificent job she is doing. One of the hallmarks of our beautiful estate is to offer a real sense of a community and what better way to accomplish that than providing great events for all our residents.

Since we have so many monthly events now included in our calendar, it would take longer than needed for me to write about them and for you to read about them as well.  Why write about the same things when our estate blogger, Mr. Takeshi Kiama, is just doing that? Keshi is a fabulous blogger and great photographer and I don’t think is necessary to make the Estate Status Report longer than what it is now. Therefore, starting this month, I will post links to the event reviews posted by Keshi, including a monthly recap of all events that happened during the month. There will be times when a specific event will need to be showcased in the Estate Status Report with more detailed information, so I will blog about those special events.

After much consideration, our Event Manager, Samantha Ohberg, has decided to drop the Costa Rica Natural Wonders Photo Contest event. September will be the last month we host this event. Another one will replace this event and she will be blogging about it in the coming days.

Next, I would like to mention a series of magnificent events we had in conjunction with the BOSL, Gardens of Absentia & KMADD, for a wonderful cause, Breast Cancer Awareness (BCA).

The events celebrated survivors and honored those that have made the ultimate sacrifice. This included the BCA Music Festival which brought together top live performers at our Ladies Society Botanical Garden and DJs from around the grid for an 8+hour event.  It also included a “Live” Date Auction and Save the Boobies “Think Pink” After Party. Just here in our estate, we were able to raise over L$725,000, with funds donated to Komen 3-Day for the Cure (www.the3day.org/) organization.

Costa Rica Designers Showcase: Kings & Queens

Costa Rica Sims Productions hosted our monthly Designer Showcase Fashion Show this past month. It was an extravagant showcase spotlighting designs from the all inclusive KINGS and QUEENS shopping experience located in our Commercial Shopping District. Many thanks to the entire Costa Rica Sims Productions Team for a fantastic show.

Building Classes 2010 Grads

Congratulations to our first graduates: Ericaanne Hastlings, Apollo Call, Brieanna Juliesse, Marco2feelgood Masala, Vadimar Takahe, TortugaTom MacBain & Melody Sharpshire.

I am truly happy for all of you! Learning how to build has been one of my biggest dreams in SL™ and I know someday I will find the time to start learning. I would like to encourage residents to contact our Prim Professor, Mr. Clay Ellison, if you want to continue having the building classes as part of our weekly events.

WK Ganesvoort: “The Great Gatsby”

Once again, our largest landowner opened the doors of his magnificent estate for a one-of-a-kind bash. Produced by Costa Rica Sims and Prim Perfect Magazine. A magnificent 3 hour event, The Great Gatsby Ball will definitely be one of the biggest highlights of 2010. Many thanks to our host Mr. WK Ganesvoort, Prim Perfect, the performers and of course to our wonderful Event Manager.

Rezz Day Party

Angels & Demons was the theme for this month’s Rezz Days party in honor of our August babies. The always sexy DJ Syri who is half angel and half demon enchanted the party goers with her wide variety of hot tunes. 

Many more happy rezz days to our August babies: Adonis, Camilla, Corinne, Dashiel, Dia, DroLang02, Elle, Floor, Geryn, Kayden, Kent,  KRISxee, Soul, Suzaine, Tessa, Timmus, Tosha, Trudy, Vivien & Yuli

The Influentials

In August, we paid tribute to Nisa Constantine, as one of our influentials and Miss Costa Rica Sims 2010, as she prepares to pass her crown to the new Miss Costa Rica Sims 2011.

Nisa has been our strongest female ambassador for this past year; she was also the first Miss Costa Rica Sims to get to the Top 10 Finalists at the Miss Virtual World Pageant 2010 and she is the current Chairperson of the Board of the Costa Rica Ladies’ Society group. She has made the estate proud on so many levels and I have nothing but love and gratitude for her. I know I can speak for all of us when I wish her nothing but the best in her future endeavors.

Let me also remind you, since we are talking about the Miss Costa Rica Sims 2011 Pageant, to please vote for the Miss Costa Rica Sims Web Photogenic by clicking here.

If you want to read the August monthly events recap posted by our estate blogger Takeshi Kiama, please click here.

Upcoming Events

Costa Rica Sims 3^rd Year Anniversary

Starting September 17, 2010 at noon SLT through September 19, 2010, we will have our 3^rd year Anniversary Celebration.

Seven events with over L$200,000 in cash and prizes are up for grabs:

A Lady’s Dream Contest, Costa Rica Sims Productions Top Models Of The Year Awards and Fashion Show, Bunneh Hunt, Bunneh Hunt After Party “A Tiny Affair,” Costa Rica Sims Most Beautiful Parcel, Miss Costa Rica Sims Pageant & Costa Rica Sims 3^rd Anniversary Celebration Ball & Awards Show.

Merchant News

Our good friend Jon Haskell, owner and creator of Sculpty Creatures, just released two new animals as part of his Costa Rica fauna collection. For those of you wanting to bring a even more real feel to your parcel including fauna found in RL Costa Rica, please visit his store at our Palo Verde National Park to find the entire collection.

House of Beningborough joins our family by opening her boutique at our Colonial Commercial District. For all ladies looking for elegant dresses make sure to visit the boutique by clicking the logo below.

Updates

Leatherback Turtle Trust

In August, we raised L$ 5,130 I would like to thank all residents and friends of the estate who kindly donated to this worthy cause: Devain Kayna, Mareka Muscari, Gnosis Acanthus, Clive Yardley, Sadie Edelman, En Karu, Spirit Laval, Geryn Sloane,  Minetta Paramour & Rom Heungsung. Special thanks to: Carmichael Caudron, Morgen Bookmite & Rory Serpente  for their multiple donations.

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

Geko Stoop butterflies sales

In August we raised L$1,890 from all sales of Geko’s butterflies. Warm thanks to those who donated: Rory Serpente & Shin Klaar.

Relay For Life is updating their in-world kiosks and we will have ours back again as soon as they become available. For those who want donate, you can do it by visiting their main in-world office at the American Cancer Society region.

Below there is a photo for the transaction made via the Relay For Life kiosk.

And finally, I would like to welcome all the new residents that moved to the estate in the past month and are now part of our growing family: Aedann, Angelik, Anton, April, Alexia, Ariana, Babe, Bobbie, Butch, Brendan, Chiandra, Coco, Crazy, Danial, DarkMatter, Davide, Denice, Dia, Didier, Djfrednice, Eawin, Ed, Ella, Emma, Fallen, Faro, Glo, Isabella, Isadora, Justininho, Kodo,  Laubwald, Liata, Loona, Meagan, Minnetta,Monkey, Nico, Niche, Phantom, Reason, Reign, Rory,  Sacha, Sammit, Sanadee, Siane, Sienna, Skylei, Soul, Sydney, SynsualSyn, Tessa, Timmus, Tod, Troy, Tristan, Tristen, Vartac, Vivien & Yen. Welcome home!

So there you have it my friends, August was so far the best month of 2010 for our beautiful estate, but I do feel September will be even better as we celebrate the 3rd Anniversary of this magnificent estate we all love so much and call home in Second Life®. Please don't forget to vote for the Miss Costa Rica Sims Web Photogenic by clicking here.

Love & Light,

Gian