It's October 12 and Milwaukee had its first snowfall of the season today. Personally, I like seeing the snow fly early. No, I don't enjoy the cold or look forward to firing up the snow blower.

I'm happy because now the Christmas ads don't seem so out of place in 70s and sun. And now that I'm starting to get into the holiday season, it's time to start thinking about what I want for Christmas.

Thanks to Microsoft and the delays with Windows Vista, one thing that I can put right at the top of my list is a shining new PC. Yes, you read that right. I'm happy that Windows Vista is delayed until January. Actually, I'm thrilled with the timing of this delay.

No, I don't wish Uncle Bill or Microsoft any ill will. In fact, this year I'd like to send them a great big thank you card. So should you.

This holiday season computer prices for new systems will drop drastically as retailers try to get rid of their stock of XP systems in order to make room for new Vista laden machines in January. This means that we should all be able to get some fantastic deals on a new computer system this year. I, for one, can't wait!

So, as we make our list and check it twice, here are the things that we should ask Santa and the elves to install in the new computer that's under the tree on Christmas morning.

• A lightning fast 3 GHz processor
• At least 1 GB of RAM
• A DirectX 9 video adapter that supports WDDM, has at least 128 MB of RAM, pixel shader 2.0 and 32 bits per pixel

Happy computing!