GOOBER'S LAB ANONYMOUS
By Dan Miller
May 30, 2007
My name is Dan.... and I am a Goober's Lab-oholic.
Sometimes, in the wee small hours of the morning, my wife will glance over at me in bed, as I cradle the laptop computer, and she can only shake her head as she realizes I'm at it again.... on the internet visiting Goober's Lab.
And here's what makes it even worse.
My wife is struggling with an addition to Tile Towers.
Many times, morning and night, I've quietly walked into our computer room at home, and there sits my wife, sheepishly confessing that, yes, she's -- needlessly -- spending her time playing Tile Towers.
It's tough, but we're doing the best we can.
For those of you "not in the know" (in other words, those who don't have young daughters) Goober's Lab and Tile Towers are part of the arcade of games on the Webkinz World website.
Perhaps the quickest way to educate yourself about Webkinz is to ask any young girl (and I suppose some young boys as well).
When our 8-year old was given a Webkinz stuffed animal, she used a special code provided on the label to access the Webkinz World website.
There she was able to adopt a "virtual version" of her own stuffed animal, which she can interact with online.
I'm told more than a million kids are now members.
It's a truly magical place for youngsters and their stuffed "virtual" pets.
Each pet has various degrees of health, hunger and happiness that the adoptive kids have to take care of.
They can purchase new rooms, furniture, food, clothes, recreation equipment and many other things using "virtual currency" known as Kinzcash.
The Kinzcash is earned through the various games and activities offered on the website.
And that's where Goober's Lab, Tile Towers, my wife and I come in.
Being caring and helpful parents, we assisted McKensie in choosing her website "user name" and password.
Then we figured -- what a nice gift it would be for us to help her earn Kinzcash by occasionally playing the games.
So we've done that..... occasionally..... alright, every day!
I worry that maybe we're helping too much.
But my greater worry is that McKensie will change her password without telling us.
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