By RICHARD DANIELSON, St. Petersburg Times

If your child's holiday wish list includes a video game, Lisa Hansen has advice as you head for the store.

An assistant professor at the University of South Florida's School of Physical Education and Exercise Science, she recommends buying active video games. Such games, from Dance Dance Revolution to EA Sports' fitness and training regimens, emphasize getting off the couch to play.

Janis Gagner wanted to go to the Super Bowl, not the poorhouse.
As an Arizona Cardinals season ticket holder, she and her daughter Rhonda got tickets for the big game at face value: $800 each.

Mona Lee Durrant couldn't believe it when she opened the envelope from the U.S. Treasury.
Inside was a $238 economic stimulus check issued to her sister, who had died more than a year before.
The real stunner: The government (italics) knew (end italics) Durrant's sister was in no position to spend the money.

Susan Sherer was driving to work in Detroit Monday when she heard on the radio the Tampa Bay Rays made the World Series."That is so cool for them," she said she thought, "because it was such a collective lift for us."