Open Season on Christmas Must-haves

It has begun. The biggest shopping season of the year is here again. During a recent shopping camp-out by customers hoping to get their hands on an Xbox 360, a tense situation turned into a chaotic mob scene. Apparently a bunch of shoppers let loose after a manager at a Wal-Mart Supercenter decided to improvise and conjure up a scheme for doling out the coveted machines. As soon as the details of the manager's first-come first-server policy were known, expectant shoppers (they had been waiting for up to 12 hours) broke into the store in a quickening frenzy to lay claim to their own Xbox unit. Too bad some users of the new units had already reported glitches. One Internet pole has recorded 1 in every 6 users, out of over 700, as reporting problems with their Xbox when asked "Xbox 360 - is yours defected or just fine?" Microsoft is down-playing the reports and is offering to cover the full costs (including shipping) of replacing the units.

On a more festive note, Thanksgiving was great! Eve's Mom delighted us with her wonderful cooking, and visiting relatives ended up being good company, even at the dinner table. In fact, we managed to stay up way past our bed time the day after. But now we're back at our pad, getting ready to pass out again.