Welcome! Without much pause between Thanksgiving and the beginning of December, Holiday parties have begun and the season of shimmering shirts, sparkly skirts and mistletoe is in full swing. Despite dot-com downturns, the industry is still progressing and intent on keeping a happy face in spite of massive layoffs and war-zone scenarios. Even after another biggie like Scient laid off a significant part of its workforce, there were enough activities to keep a cyber chronicler busy.