For the 45 viewings with no reply, I thought I'd share what I just got from the MP service center. Wanted to try here first, but went ahead and called.

They said that last year a promotion for carry-over EQMs was enacted, but not until mid December. The promo wasn't targeted and was called "2003-2004 Carry-over" as best the rep could recall.

Just wanted to see if that rang any bells with anyone.

Also wanted to clarify a point in original post, as I'm not a frequent poster.
I didn't mean SLOP as in the post were sloppy, but "slop" as in what I had seen carry-over referred to in some other posts - sorry, didn't mean to sound crass.

Thanks !