From what I understand, alternating notes is a sign of maturity. It's a substage in the vegetative phase that signals the twilight of vegg and the impending onset of budding. Or, so I'm told.
In my case, I've had alternating nodes growing for about two months on 21/3, because I am trying to get more size and bushiness.
If you push it to 10/7/2005 or even 10/15/2005, you may still have buds in time for Xmas.