Christmas Day on Webkinz.com

Okay, I'll admit that I was curious as to what kind of Christmas present Santa Kinz had left for my Magic so this morning, after my husband and I exchanged our own presents, I logged on to Webkinz.com only to see this message at the top of the homepage:

Webkinz World is currently experiencing a large volume of traffic. We are working hard to accommodate the load.

Maybe Ganz should've thought about this possible complication before it started to encourage members on the main news page to visit Webkinz.com on Christmas Day to see what Santa Kinz has left each and every pet. In any case, the website has become overloaded.

I decided not to log in this morning due to that warning message. This evening I decided to give Webkinz.com another try and found that the message was still at the top of the homepage. This time I decided to disregard the warning and tried to log in anyway. I waited at least 15 minutes and I didn't get anywhere. Between the large volume of traffic and the fact that I attempted to log in from a dial-up Internet account, it was pretty much impossible to log in.

I can't wait for the laptop to get out of the repair shop so I can go back to the nearby wireless coffeehouse and take a look at that site. In any case, this entry will be my last blog entry until the laptop returns from the repair shop.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Everybody!

This Week on Webkinz.com

There aren't as many graphics for this entry as previous entries for reasons that will soon become clear to you. The end of last week seemed promising. I managed to find a local store that not only sold the Webkinz pets but also the harder to find Webkinz trading cards and even a charm necklace. I wasn't able to find any Webkinz charms but I hoped that using the code that came with the official Webkinz charm necklace would be enough for me to gain access to that Magical Charm Forest.

I even broke down and purchased a second Webkinz pet--a Lil' Kinz Pig. I haven't gotten around to taking this critter's picture yet due to a lack of time.

So just as last week ended on a promising note, this new week began with laptop problems. If you've been reading this blog from the beginning, you would know that I got into Webkinz because I was killing time at a mall waiting for my appointment at the Genius Bar in the Apple Store because our four-year-old Mac laptop had stopped recognizing its internal battery yet it still ran fine if it was hooked up to a power cord that was plugged into a wall outlet. The so-called "genius" at the Genius Bar suggested that the problem wasn't a dead battery but some major problem that he suggested that it would be easier to just buy a new laptop.

My husband and I decided that we would go to an independent repair place for a second opinion. But we had both put off on taking the laptop to that place mainly because we were both so busy with preparations for the upcoming Christmas holiday. So we continued to use the laptop connected to a wall outlet as a temporary stop-gap measure until we could find the time to take it to a repair place.

The only problem is that this week the laptop began to have more problems. The laptop screen would frequently freeze up after using it for several minutes and the freezing was so bad that you had to reboot the entire machine. This happened to my husband when he was using it at a local cafe. The same happened to me at a local cafe while I was logged into Webkinz.com. I became concerned about the freezes because that site frequently posted ads warning users to always log out because not doing so would cause your pet to lose health, food, and happiness points on its meter. I managed to reach the Webkinz.com's FAQ page and I found out that the system will automatically log you out after being inactive for 15 minutes. I felt relieved when I read that.

Since my husband and I had planned to go to New York City to visit his father and step-mother for a few days, we had to quickly get the laptop in the repair shop before the trip. Since I knew that my husband's parents have a high-speed Internet connection, I decided to pack the Lil' Kinz Pig, charm necklace, and the trading cards along with my USB memory stick for the trip to New York City. I managed to spend a lot of time on Webkinz.com inbetween socializing with my in-laws and checking out Fifth Avenue as it was all decked out in fancy Christmas decorations.

The only sad thing was that my in-laws' two computers did not have a free USB port so I had nothing to connect the memory stick to. I decided not to register my new Lil' Kinz Pig yet because I really want to have screenshots of the adoption just like when I took screenshots of Magic's adoption papers. So Magic is going to remain an only pet for a little while longer.

I did manage to enter the codes that came with the trading cards. I won about 2,000 Kinz Cash plus a Dice Kinz, a poster, and some clothes. That was pretty cool.

I entered the code that came with the charm necklace. I had hoped that I would gain entrance to the Magical Charm Forest but, no, that wasn't the case. Having an official Webkinz charm necklace is not enough to gain access to this place, I still needed to purchase the actual charms. I did get this display case for my virtual charms as a reward for entering the charm necklace code but I think it stinks that I still don't have access to the Magical Charm Forest. I've been trying to find those charms but I have yet to find a store in my local area that actually sold them. I tried looking in a few shops in New York City that carried Webkinz and I didn't find charms in those stores. I even looked in the two giftshops in Rockefeller Center that carried Webkinz and neither one of them had the charms. I don't know what's taking Ganz so long in shipping those charms to the stores because it seems frustrating that I can't even check out this place if I can't buy the needed charms because I haven't found a store that actually stocked them.

I managed to earn more Kinz Cash using a tip that I got from perusing the forums at Webkinz Insider. I've been doing the daily calendar questions for the past several months. I've managed to get most of 2007 finished (with the exception of the December questions because December isn't over yet) and I got at least half of 2006 finished.

I also played some more arcade games. I tend to focus on whatever game Webkinz.com has designated as "Game of the Day" because the payout tends to be slightly higher than the other games. While many of the arcade games are fun to play, the pay is pretty low.

I also did a few jobs this week. I focused mainly on the hamburger job when it came up (mainly because it's about the only job that I've been able to successfully finish) and I did so well that I got a notice saying that I'll get a raise the next time I do the hamburger job. Awesome!!!

I kept on seeing ads for the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie but I haven't gotten any more offers for free waffles. It seems like now that the film is actually in movie theaters, the offer for free waffles is now gone. I think the Goo-Goo Berry Festival is also over because I haven't seen any more goo goo berries float across the screen at random intervals. So I ended up having to purchase all of Magic's food this week. I really miss the freebies (sigh!).

At times the Webkinz.com system was so overloaded that I would get this dialogue box saying that I was being logged out due to a system overload. I was forcibly logged out at least five or six times during my stay in New York City.

It's too bad that I couldn't take screenshots because I managed to add wallpaper and flooring to the bathroom along with a toilet and sink. (I already had the bathtub installed there.) I added a lot of new stuff to the large room, which serves as a den/playroom/living room/kitchen. I purchased a treadmill, a skateboard, a countertop, a sink, and a refrigerator. I even managed to add something new for the outdoors--a pool. It's pretty neat seeing Magic exercise on her treadmill, skating around on the skateboard, and go swimming outside (despite the fact that there is currently snow on the ground).

While I was poking about Webkinz.com, there was a notice encouraging people to log in on December 25 to see what present Santa Kinz has left for your pet. The only problem is that my home desktop is on dial-up, the laptop is still in the repair shop, and my husband and I will be visiting my mother on Christmas Day and she doesn't even own a computer. Oh well.

I've been away from Webkinz.com since Friday morning (just before my husband and I left for home). I noticed that the front page of Webkinz.com has been changed to something that's Christmas-themed. (I took the screenshot on my own desktop after the New York City trip.)

It's pretty cute, isn't it? In any case, between the laptop being in the repair shop and the upcoming Christmas holidays, this will be my last entry to this blog for the time being.

This Week on Webkinz.com

This week I was focusing on building up Magic's living area and her array of stuff. I managed to snag another free plate of waffles for Magic when the Alvin & the Chipmunks movie ad came up again on my screen but that only happened to me one more time this week. (Since the movie opens this Friday, I have no idea how much longer this free waffles promotion will last on Webkinz.com.) For the past few days I have been getting free goo-goo berries for Magic because this week happens to be the Goo-Goo Berry Festival where a giant goo-goo berry floats across the screen at random. If you click on that berry, you get a free berry added to the Dock. I got at least four free berries that way, which Magic loved.

I kept on trying to get a new job with the employment agency only to frequently strike. I tried a variety of jobs with miserable results. At one point the burger job that I had mastered before was available and I flunked that one. The next day I went back to the employment agency where I picked the burger job and I managed to succeed this time while I earned 100 Kinz Cash. I don't know what's wrong with me regarding being able to finish a job. What's really frustrating is that I have to wait at least eight hours before I can try for a new job and I can't even re-try the jobs that I had failed.

I've been playing various arcade games but the payout isn't too great. Even on the Game of the Day, when you can get more Kinz cash than usual, the pay is pretty dismal. The only time I make a substantial amount of Kinz cash is when I play one of Quizzy's quiz games, where I have been known to get as much as a thousand Kinz cash. The only drawback to doing the quiz is that it can get pretty time-consuming, especially if you're trying to amass as much money as possible.

At first the main reason why I wanted a lot of Kinz cash is because I wanted to buy some more major appliances for Magic. I purchased a lovely television set that resembles Cinderella's coach. I'm serious--the cabinet of the TV set looks like a horse-drawn carriage complete with wheels on the bottom. It matches the overall fantasy theme that I have in mind for the home. This TV set also works. If you click on it, you this remote with a button menu where you can select television shows and actually watch them.

I also added a decorated Christmas tree for the home and I even purchased my first article of clothing for Magic--a green Santa hat. She looks incredibly cute in it and the tree is lovely as well. I even purchased a new toy for her, a jack-in-the-box.

Magic even expressed her opinion while I was shopping.

The only problem with my recent purchases is that Magic's room quickly became very crowded.

Well, I clicked on the Map button on the top left side of the screen and found a map of Magic's room along with room for expansion. I discovered that adding extra rooms requires extra Kinz cash. I decided to go with adding two rooms--a large room that would function as a playroom/living room/den/dining room/kitchen and a small room that would be the bathroom. Given the lousy luck I had with getting jobs and the low pay I got playing arcade games, I focused on spending much of my time answering Quizzy the Bear's quizes. I did very well at that, although it did get tedious answering trivia questions for long periods of time. Ultimately I managed to earn enough Kinz cash to add both rooms. I also managed to scrape enough money to add wall paper and flooring to the larger room.

Here is the playroom/living room/den/dining room/kitchen combination room:

I know it looks large and empty at the moment but I will gradually fill it with all kinds of stuff. Here is the new bathroom:

So far I managed to relocate the bathtub to the new bathroom. I ran out of both time and money before I was able to finish decorating it.

I also added an outdoor area. It's weird that when I first started my membership on Webkinz.com, Magic only came with one room and no outside at all. I found it pretty outrageous that I had to spend 1,000 Kinz cash just so I can install an outdoor area. At least there's snow on the ground so Magic can actually have a white Christmas instead of just dreaming about having one. I also bought two garden plots (a tomato plot and a carrot plot) for outside mainly because they were relatively cheap and I'm hoping that the garden will produce healthy food that I can feed Magic with for free so I won't have to pay so much for her food. It looks pretty weird to have tomatoes and carrots growing while the rest of the ground is covered with snow but if my idea of growing food works in the long run, I'm willing to put up with a certain amount of weirdness.

This is the current size of Magic's home:

I would like to buy more things for both indoors and outdoors, especially kitchen appliances. Recently I've learned that the reason why fellow Webkinz.com members have been trading recipies is that one can use them to create meals for a Webkinz pet using kitchen appliances. So I guess that means I'll have to buy kitchen appliances eventually and learn how to cook in a virtual world.

My ambitions will require lots of Kinz cash. I've been reading posts on Webkinz Insider about how to earn money and one answer is to adopt another Webkinz pet and enter that code. Apparently there is a big payout everytime you adopt a subsequent pet and, if you happened to adopt a certain pet while that critter is Pet of the Month, you'll get even more Kinz cash and other free goodies. One can save money by having two or more Webkinz share the same bedroom. The only thing they won't share is the same bed so you'll have to buy a separate bed for each Webkinz pet. Right now I'm still so busy trying to get a handle on Webkinz.com that I don't even want to consider adopting a second or even third pet until I learn more about this unique virtual world.

But, at the same time, I really don't want to spend all of my free time at Webkinz.com. It's just that whenver I spend lots of time playing videogames or hanging around one forum for hours at a stretch, I end up feeling tired and cranky. Last night, when I spent two hours trying to play Quizzy's quiz games just so I can earn lots of Kinz cash, I really felt like I was at the end of my rope. I really don't want to burn out on this too soon after purchasing my Lil' Kinz Unicorn. Now that I got the major stuff purchased (outdoor area, two rooms, bathtub, TV set, Christmas tree), I want to slowly earn Kinz Cash and accumulate stuff. I want to explore the features where you can chat online with other Webkinz owners. I hope that one day I'll find a store that sells the Webkinz Charms so I'll see what that Charms Forest looks like. But I also want to balance this with other things in my life. I don't want to be one of those super-obsessed people who spend long hours online at the expense of relationships and other things in the real world.

I'm Finished With Tweaking This Blog For Now

For the past week I've been doing some tweaking of this blog as well as trying to publicize this blog among my friends and other Webkinz sites. I've managed to get this template set up so it'll accept ads (I'm using Google's Ad Sense and it's doing a good job at putting up Webkinz-related ads so far). I now have the following Webkinz sites among the Links list (located on the side margins of this blog):

Official Webkinz Site

Webkinz Insider

Play Webkinz World

Kinz-Land

The first link is for Ganz's official Webkins site. The other links are to unofficial Webkinz sites that I was personally impressed with.

If there is anyone who also has an unofficial Webkinz site, forum, or blog and wants to trade links with this blog, please either make a comment after any of the entries in this blog (I'll be more likely to actually find your comment if you make it after a recent entry instead of an earlier entry) or send an e-mail to kstark at erols dot com. (Just remember to replace the word "at" with an "@" and replace the word "dot" with a "." and write it all as one word or else I won't get your e-mail.)

There are two criteria for your link to be included on this blog:

1. Your site/blog/forum must be related to Webkinz.

2. Your site must be free of hard-core pornography, racist/sexist/homophobic/anti-Semetic remarks, and unrelated spam.

If your suggested link fails either or both criteria, it won't be listed in this blog. It's just that simple.

Day 4 on Webkinz.com

Yesterday morning I was helping out with doing some volunteer work at this local non-profit cooperative coffeehouse that has free wireless. When my shift ended, I decided to briefly check out Webkinz.com. Magic was still doing fine. I decided to go back to the employment agency for a job. I re-tried that fence-painting job that I flunked at the other day. I was doing much better but then me and several other people were being ushered out the coffeehouse because the morning shift was closed and it wouldn't re-open for the evening shift until 5 p.m. I got so distracted that I flunked that job again and I wouldn't be allowed to work another job for eight hours. (Man, I hate that eight-hour time lag.)

On top of that, my husband totally hogged the wireless laptop the rest of the day as well as today and my home Internet account is dial-up only so I had to take some more enforced time away from Webkinz.com. If it weren't for the fact that the weather is rainy outside and many places tend to close early on Sundays, I would head out somewhere to catch up on my Magic.

Tomorrow will be the one-week anniversary of my purchase of my Lil' Kinz Unicorn. On that note, I think that instead of writing new blog entries every time I log into Webkinz.com, I'm just going to do a weekly update of the highlights of my time on that site. I find that writing a new blog entry every time I spend anytime on Webkinz.com can get time-consuming.

My Brand-New Unicorn is Already Retired?!? YIKES!!!

Four days ago I made my first Webkinz purchase--a Lil' Kinz Unicorn. I've been checking out the various unofficial Webkinz fan sites and Webkinz Insider is now saying that Ganz has retired the Lil' Kinz Unicorn. Oh, man, I'm really glad I made that impulsive buy when I did, especially since that unicorn was the only one I saw for sale at Wockenfuss.

I hope this doesn't affect my online status at Webkinz.com since that unicorn is the only Webkinz creature that I own so far. Right now I'm working on the second day since I've been online at Webkinz.com since my husband has the laptop. I'm going to try to nick it from him sometime this weekend so I can go to a local high-speed wireless place and check out that site.

Day 3 on Webkinz.com

I spent an hour on that site yesterday while sipping a mug of hot chocolate at a local coffeehouse (it was snowing outside) and I learned one major thing--it is so hard to earn Webkinz money. The first thing I did was try the Employment Agency. I had hoped to be able to get that burger assembly job again but I found out that that position was not available. So I picked one where I had to paint virtual fences in certain color scheme. On the surface it seemed easy but the controls were so wonky that I got no fences painted in the limited amount of time that I had to get the job done. I attempted a retry of the job but I wasn't allowed to try again. I attempted to get another job but I discovered one thing about the employment agency--I am only allowed to work a new job every eight hours. Once my job ends, I have to wait eight hours before I can get another one, which is pretty frustrating.

So I attempted to use the arcade games and quiz contests to earn money and I found that, for the most part, the pay is miniscule. There was one arcade game where I only got one Webkinz bill for every 15 points I got in the game and this game tended to be a low-scoring one. The good news is that I can retry an arcade game over and over again to my heart's content. As for the quiz contests, there are some quizzes that I can only participate in once a day.

But I did manage to snag a freebie for Magic. I saw this ad that was promoting the upcoming computer animation re-make of Alvin and the Chipmunks by offering free waffles.

So I clicked on the ad and I got this pop-up screen:

I kind of groaned when I saw that it was an ad for the official website of the movie. I decided to check it out briefly so I opened a new browser window, typed in the URL, and took a look at the front page where I was so unimpressed by what I saw that I closed that window. When I took a look at the "My Stuff" dock, I saw that a plate of waffles had suddenly appeared.

So I fed the waffles to Magic, who seemed very pleased.

I finally did something about the code that came with that An Air of Mystery bookmark that I purchased at the same time as my Little Webkinz Unicorn. I figured out that I had to go to the Code Shop in order to input any codes that I get with any Webkinz product.

Here is what I got after I entered the bookmark code:

So I went back to Magic's room and dragged the Bookmark Bag from the "My Stuff" doc to the room and I found out that I won a book. All I had to do was to choose which book I wanted. I picked "An Air of Mystery" since that was the bookmark I used to unlock that code.

I began to thumb through my new book and I realized that it's basically a storybook. I didn't read it all the way through because I wasn't in the mood to read a virtual book at the moment so I briefly browsed the pages.

I also got around to installing the new bathtub in Magic's room. It seems strange to have a bathtub and a bed in the same room but, then again, this is an unusual virtual world. I also managed to give Magic her first bath, which was really cute.

Today I managed to buy a table and two cute chairs for Magic's room. This is what Magic's room looked like after being online at Webkinz.com for the third day in a row.

Magic's room is now starting to get that nice homey feel to it.

I decided to skip going to Webkinz.com today mainly because my husband took the laptop for his own use and I have dial-up at home, which is way too slow for that site. It's just as well because I can use a break from that site. I briefly stopped by the local mall because I wanted to see if the latest issue of the free alternative weekly The Washington City Paper had arrived at FYE yet (it hadn't) and I saw a display full of Webkinz. I even saw a chihuahua among the pile of Webkinz, which happens to be the Pet of the Month for December. I briefly thought about purchasing that dog to see what would happen if I did register it during its reign as Pet of the Month until I realized one thing: I've never been into chihuahuas at all. They tend to make annoying high-pitched yappy sounds when barking, they are totally scrawny, and they tend to tremble alot. Once December ends, I would be stuck with something that I would have never bothered with purchasing otherwise. So I put the dog back on the pile and walked out of the store.

There was a major snowstorm yesterday which resulted in a winter wonderland. I took a few brief pictures of Magic's real-life counterpart in the snow early this morning.

I also placed a tiny five-inch doll on the unicorn's back.

In case you're wondering about the doll in the photos, this was one that I purchased from a South Korean-based site called The Orient Doll. This particular doll is known as Ji. The doll came nude with the white wig that you can see in the photos. I painted her face, fingernails, and toenails myself and I also added eyelashes. She originally came with navy blue eyes but I didn't like them too much so I purchased a pair of brown eyes from a different site (I forgot which one). I made the dress by taking a Barbie dress pattern and reducing it by 50 percent. I made the fairy wings out of polymer clay then glued them to the back of her dress. I think this doll would look really cool if I could somehow fashion a necklace that I can strap her into and she would turn into funky jewelry but I haven't gotten around to figuring that one out yet. But this doll does look really cute with the unicorn.

Day Two on Webkinz.com

Yesterday I went to another local coffeehouse for high-speed wireless. I had less time than the day before so, while I managed to remember to bring that Webkinz bookmark with me this time, I wasn't able to find where I could input that included code where I could get some more goodies for Magic. So I guess that bookmark will have to wait a little while longer.

I saw on the News screen that the new Webkinz Pet of the Month is a chihuahua. Apparently if you purchase a Webkinz chihuahua during the month of December and register that pet online, you'll have even more Webkinz cash. In addition, I went to the arcade where I saw that a game featuring the chihuahua, "Candy Bash 2", was noted as "Game of the Day". If I play that game, I would earn 25% more cash. I decided to go for it.

It was basically a shooting game where you play a chihuahua shooting tacos at piñatas falling down from the sky. If you hit a piñata, a treat pops out and you have to catch the treat for points. The more points you get, the more Webkinz cash you earn. It was a pretty cute game that got kind of repetitious after a while. But I managed to earn some money.

I also played another round of "Stack'Em Solitaire" for even more Webkinz cash. Once I was done, I did some shopping. I purchased this really cute fantasy wallpaper and flooring for Magic's room because I thought it would be appropriate for a unicorn. When I got to Magic's room, I found that her room already had a new look that was far better than the plain room she had before.

I saw a wrapped gift in the "My Stuff" list and I realized that I had forgotten to open it. So I clicked and slowly dragged the wrapped gift to Magic's room where it popped open and I got this screen:

The only problem was that I had already purchased a bed for Magic. This Magical Meadow Bed looked far nicer than the plain yet colorful bed that I had already purchased. I poked around the shopping mall and I found that I could always put things up for sale so I sold the bed that I purchased yesterday (I got my Webkinz money back, yay!) and replaced it with the Magical Meadow Bed.

I also purchased a bathtub for my pet mainly because the online Webkinz instruction book said that Webkinz love to take baths. I ran out of time before I was able to install the bathtub in Magic's room so that is going to have to wait for another day.

I noticed that the site has ads but they are either ads for Webkinz products that you can buy in the real world (such as Webkinz backpacks) or are ads for other parts of the Webkinz.com site. I became intrigued by an ad for the Magical Charm Forest. So I clicked on it only to encounter the entrance screen with this warning:

I don't have any Webkinz Charms so I was out of luck. I did notice this subliminal hint regarding these Webkinz Charms at the bottom of the screen:

I was starting to have my misgivings about the whole Webkinz.com experience because I really didn't like having to go back to the store to purchase Webkinz stuff just so I can see another part of Webkinz.com.

I went back to Magic's room, where I decided to try talking to my pet. Speaking to your pet is done by clicking on the "Speak" button at the top of the screen and selecting one of the available questions. I selected "How are you doing?"

Here's Magic's reply:

I felt my misgivings regarding Webkinz.com melt away when Magic said that. She is really such an adorable pet. Before I logged off for the day, I selected the "Walk" button, and clicked on the bed. Magic went to sleep immediately.

Magic's room is a definite improvement over yesterday but it still needs more furniture. And I have to get around to installing that bathtub.