Javabeans!

According to this article Maryland will again have paperless, unrecountable ballots for this election, but will return to a paper ballot system for 2010.

Better late than never, but paperless should never have happened at all.

Mmmm...pepper sauces....

blueeowyn certainly knows my tastes. A couple years ago, we made it to Scarborough (ren fest in Texas) and there was a pepper dealer there. They had about forty different pepper salsas, ranging from Sissy Sauce (which blueeowyn enjoyed) to Pheonix Fire -- very hot! I got some Dragon's Breath for myself, great in soup and on pizza!

Blueeowyn surprised me this year with a couple boxes of hot pepper products from the same company, including Apricot-pineapple habanero jelly (which I've been having with cream cheese on toast), pineapple-kiwi habanero (I'll open it next!), Hostile Sauce, and a few more! Mmmmm...tingly tongue!

You may recall that several months ago I had a small growth removed from my neck. Yesterday was a check-up to make sure it wasn't growing back. The doctor I saw was a neck surgery specialist, and his office was full of books on neck and spine conditions, surgeries, cancers, etc. But there was another book, one about the colon and rectum. Hmmm..., thought I, must be for those patients with their heads up their butts...

My father was born April 18, 1943, to a poor family in St. Albans, West Virginia. At age 14, he met a girl who would nine years later become my mother. They dated through high school, and married soon after. Dad worked his way through college, determined to provide a better life for his family. As the years passed, I was born, then my brother, and two sisters. Despite his hard work, Dad always found time to support his kids. He was a scout master, a coach of basketball, and baseball, and always an active athletic booster and band supporter. He attended sports games, band concerts, my sister's dance recitals. He passed up promotions if they meant more time away from family. His devotion to us eventually took him away from West Virginia into Maryland, seeking a better life as opportunities in West Virginia became more and more dismal. He made sure all four of his children received college educations, and saw each of us get married. He got to bounce four grandchildren on his knee, and loved spoiling them at Christmas. His final years were beset by obscure physical ailments which the doctors could not pinpoint, though they tried to provide relief for the symptoms. Diabetes, neuropathy, anemia, renal failure, cataracts, and finally cancer were diagnosed, and each could have been treated individually, but the combination was too much, and proved untreatable. Two months ago he went to the hospital with severe dehydration and hyperglycemia, and though he returned home two weeks later, he was not quite the same. Finally, on Thursday, December 20, he re-entered the hospital, where we initially thought he was again dehydrated. But it soon became apparent that he was suffering renal failure and other problems. The end was near, and even if we put him on various machines, we knew he'd not return to us. The decision was surprisingly easy to make, but was exceedingly painful none-the-less. On Friday afternoon, all medication except morphine was halted, and a terrible yet cathartic vigil began. The family gathered to say goodbye, to be there with him until the end. As a couple of hours became a day, then two, Dad's breathing became more labored, his extremities became cold and unresponsive. During this ordeal, Mom sat by his side, holding his hand, talking to him. Though the rest of us took breaks to get food, take showers, or get a couple hours of sleep, Mom never left his side, and only napped when she could keep her eyes open no longer. It was sometime between 3 and 4 am on Monday morning, December 24th, Christmas Eve, that found each of us exhausted, succumbed to sleep, and Dad, perhaps knowing that we weren't watching, passed from this world.

We've spent the time since making arrangements, contacting family and friends, weeping, remembering, sharing. And tomorrow's viewing will be followed by Friday's funeral, as we say goodbye to a great man, a great father.

Well, we went to see this year's Revels...

In short, it was not a good evening. The show was wonderful, however. Almost made the rest of the night worth it.

( Lots of griping. Read at own risk. )

I just saw a video for Still Alive, a song that plays at the end of the computer game Portal, a combination FPS/puzzle game.

Note that the robot in the Still Alive video is not CGI, but real, and wow, what expressiveness.

I've heard of Portal, but I don't normally like FPS games, so I ignored it. However, after seeing the preview video, I'm intrigued.

According to this article, Blob's Park will be closing sometime in the coming year, following the death of its 89-year-old matriarch earlier this year.

I laughed, then I cried, reading this newsweek.com article about prizes for wacky warning labels

There should be a warning label on my office door: sweater and scarf required for entry!

Yep, if you haven't heard yet, Maryland sales tax goes up on January 3, 2008, from 5% to 6% on all taxable goods. Food, medicine, a few other odds and ends are not taxable in Maryland.

What does that mean in real money? For each $10,000 you spend, that's an extra hundred dollars of tax. This includes houses and cars. The price of a $20,000 car will go up $200. The price of a $300,000 home just went up by $3000.

Of course, Delaware retailers near the border are celebrating. Delaware doesn't charge sales tax.