In one case, Boxer bought between $15,000 and $50,000 worth of shares in Palm Inc., the handheld computer company, at $38 apiece on March 1, 2000 – the day before the company was made public. On the first day of trading, shares soared to $140 before closing at $95. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley managed the offering.

Days earlier, she bought between $1,000 and $15,000 in stock from an online advertising and marketing company called Avenue A at its opening price of $24. Boxer sold it the next day when the share price tripled to $72.

In an interview, Boxer spokesman Matt Kagan said the senator received no special treatment and had no knowledge of the trades, which were handled by a financial adviser. Boxer’s family investment adviser at the time, Gail Seneca, told the Wall Street Journal that her firm distributed IPOs equitably among its clients and that she gave Boxer no special treatment.

Kagan emphasized that the senator has kept her assets in a blind trust since 2001, meaning she has not had knowledge of how her portfolio was composed or traded for nearly a decade.

Alice in Wonderland is a huge hit this year. The industry seems to have gone really heavy on Avatar, Jersey Shore, and Lady Gaga, but our store has shied away from that trend, because the market will be saturated with those products. If you can find a costume at Target or Walgreens, you are unlikely to find it here.

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For years, pirates were dominating classic character costumes because of the Pirates of the Carribean movies. This year, we can expect vampires and werewolves, due to the success of True Blood, Twilight, the Vampire Chronicles, and so on.

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We have a suit of armor that rents for $250. Darth Vader, Boba Fett, and the Minotaur all rent for $200.