Some People Love Walmart A Little Too Much

DES MOINES, Iowa While some students head for the beach on spring break, sophomore Skyler Bartels at Iowa's Drake University went to Wal-Mart.

The 20-year-old writing student from Nebraska thought he'd spend a week at a Wal-Mart Supercenter in suburban Des Moines as a test of endurance and to maybe generate a magazine article.

For 41 hours, Bartels watched shoppers, read magazines, watched DVD movies and played video games. He ate at the in-store Subway sandwich shop, but didn't sleep much, occasionally dozing in a lawn chair. Bartels says he got so tired, he began hallucinating and went home, thinking the project had failed. But a Des Moines Register story that made the Internet changed that, spawning network T-V interviews and discussion of a book deal.

Wal-Mart says it's not overjoyed at the long-term visitor, noting, "We're a retailer, not a hotel." But a spokesman notes that Bartels didn't break any rules.