What to do during Xbox LIVE maintenance

As Major Nelson posted on his blog, Xbox LIVE will be unavailable for up to 24 hours tomorrow June 16. We thought you might have some questions. Well, at least one.

Q: What the heck am I going to do for 24 hours if I can’t troll the forums, pwn my rivals, download stuff on Marketplace and video chat with my friends?

A: We’re glad you asked. We hereby submit our Top Ten Things to Do on June 16 2009:

1. Beef up your Gamerscore. That’s right; you can still earn achievements when you’re offline. Your achievements will be uploaded to the Xbox LIVE service when it becomes available.

2. Play some of the amazing single-player games in your games library: Fallout 3, Fable 2, Assassin’s Creed, BioShock and Mass Effect are some of the best.

3. Nominate a friend for the Gamer Spotlight. Trixie360’s email will still be working, so drop her a line at xlmail@microsoft.com and tell her who you think needs some attention on Xbox.com.

4. Catch up on your gaming podcast listening: We suggest Xbox 360 Fancast, Sarcastic Gamer Pink, Loading Reality, Unscripted360, GameHounds and The Married Gamers to name just a few.

5. Study up on June 16 history. Here are some examples of momentous events that occurred on 6/16:
      a. 1858 – Abraham Lincoln gave his “House Divided” speech.
      b. 1963 - Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space.
      c. 1980 - The movie "The Blues Brothers" opened in Chicago, IL.

6. June 16 is also the birthday of Geronimo, Joyce Carol Oates, and Stan Laurel. So watch “Geronimo: A Living Legend”, read Oates’ short story “Where are you Going, Where Have you Been?” or screen "Nothing But Trouble."

7. Holidays anyone? Hoist a glass in honor of Bloomsday in Dublin and Youth Day in South Africa.

8. Talk to your significant other. Maybe even your children. How old are they now?

9. Shop for Dad. Father’s Day is next Sunday, June 21! If he’s a gamer, you know exactly what to get him!

10. Check out what some folks from the Xbox LIVE Twitter community will be up to:

  • I'll be finally doing my laundry and food shopping, HAHA, mrfusiononcar
  • Stack controllers and game boxes around my XBOX to build the Eiffel Tower, then knock down as XBOXZilla. UnderTaker
  • Crawl up in the fetal position and scream for mommy while crying in a dark closet! aimzb
  • Create an orbital array of kittens to begin my evil plan of world domination. BahamutZaero
  • Finally enjoy a night off from my 1 vs 100 addiction. wolvie75 VwR
  • Finally organize the 360 game cases that have take over my house. III ULTRA III
  • Maybe remove the inch thick layer of dust off my ps3 and actually use it for once? sc00termcg33
  • Walk outside and realize there is an outside world, and it's not as cool as Gears of War 2! DarqFlare