To anyone worried that staking isn't working on 1.9.6, here's my wallet: http://i61.tinypic.com/28c389h.png

As you can see, a few of the transactions are grayed-out (everything from 7/12). This seems to be the problem a bunch of people have been facing. This happens when you are able to mine coins but aren't connected long enough afterward to complete the 4 confirmations that are required.

Additonally: Help with Syncing
If you've read any of my past posts, I had problems syncing my wallet for a while. I was able to fix this by going to these two files (blk0001.dat, blkindex.dat), deleting them, and then restarting my wallet. (Note: I also had to execute the 'repairwallet' command in the console to get my balance to update)

http://i60.tinypic.com/vsmflx.png

I just wanted to clear up any of my contributions to FUD and help anyone facing the same problems I did.