Nails

For St. Frances forward Mi-Khida Hankins, the waning seconds of last night's game presented the kind of moments you play for. Her No. 1 Panthers led No. 2 Towson Catholic by two points with nine seconds left, and she was on the free-throw line. Hit both free throws and the Panthers likely would win. Miss them and the Owls would have plenty of time to recover.

Last Saturday I wandered into the world of joinery, and a one-afternoon table-repair project morphed into a two-weekend obligation. Now fixing the old table has a chance of becoming one of my lifetime goals. Joinery is the process of connecting two pieces of wood through the use of various forms of wood joints. There are many forms including dovetail joinery, mortise-and-tenon joinery, biscuit joinery and the lowly dowel joinery. I learned this after the table that I was attempting to fix fell apart, repeatedly.

Four years ago, then-Del. Lisa A. Gladden, fresh off her first term in office, took on one of the state's most daunting political stalwarts in a nail-biter of a campaign. In the end, the novice bested the veteran, who was forced to run in foreign territory after redistricting significantly reshaped the Northwest Baltimore district. Gladden had grabbed the seat of General Assembly power broker Sen. Barbara A. Hoffman. Now Gladden is defending her position - in a race as effortless as the other was grueling.

When fungus invaded her toenails 10 years ago, Ruth Carsch of San Francisco didn't care too much at first. Her nails became "thick and fat and yellow," says the 61-year-old information specialist, but she could always hide that behind colorful nail polish. What she really minded, she says, was how the nail plates grew so thick from the infection that they squashed the toes beneath. "My toes are much fatter than they used to be. My feet are wider," Carsch says. "It seems to have deformed my toes."

Ann Coulter has built a successful career out of giving voice to America's angry right. The author of five New York Times best-sellers since 1998-including Slander (2002), Treason (2003), and her latest whack at the political hornet's nest, Godless: The Church of Liberalism (Crown Forum), currently No. 4 on the New York Times nonfiction best-seller list. Coulter, a Universal Press Syndicate columnist who once practiced law, is well known for producing insults so outrageously offensive that they disturb even some conservatives.

New York-- --Actress Megan Lawrence is wearing a hip pink Indian dress over white cotton pants. Her lips, however, sport retro red lipstick, the same shade as her perfectly manicured nails. Her lips and nails say "Gladys Hotchkiss," the 1950s secretary she portrays in the hit Broadway revival of The Pajama Game. The rest of her getup -- which includes fuzzy animal slippers -- is pure Megan Lawrence. Her husband, also a Broadway actor, describes her as "a college-dropout hippie who made good."

The little kids who once sat in the classrooms at Park Heights Elementary school are long gone, replaced by much older students who attend a privately-run technical school. Five years have passed since Baltimore's school system shut down Park Heights and five other school buildings. Now Magna Baltimore Technical Training Center pays the city $1 a year to lease the old Northwest Baltimore school. Four of the other properties also remain under city control while one other has been sold. In the coming months, city officials will grapple with the problem of what to do with six more buildings.

HOUSTON -- The Chicago White Sox captured their first World Series title since 1917 last night, defeating the Houston Astros, 1-0, to complete a four-game sweep. Astros closer Brad Lidge allowed a two-out, run-scoring single to White Sox outfielder Jermaine Dye in the eighth inning for the game's only run. The White Sox swept the series, but it was not exactly in dominating fashion, as they earned three one-run victories after a two-run win in Game 1. Regardless, they joined the 1999 New York Yankees as the only teams to go through the postseason with one loss since the playoffs expanded in 1995.

Trent Reznor and his Nine Inch Nails have clawed their way into the angst-ridden hearts of millions since the 1989 release of their first album, Down In It. Currently with a hefty 20 compilations under their belt, NIN will perform at MCI Center in Washington on Wednesday night. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., and the show starts at 7, with opening performances from Queens of the Stone Age and Death from Above 1979. MCI Center is at 601 F St. N.W. Tickets are $45 through ticketmaster.com or 410-547-SEAT.

The artificial turf at M&T Bank Stadium has been unkind to a number of Ravens over the past year. Team officials, though, have no plans to return the favor. Even though four key players have had toe problems at home since November, the Ravens are sticking with their Sportexe Momentum turf for the foreseeable future, attributing the injuries more to circumstance and footwear rather than surface. Deion Sanders was the first to go down when he hurt a toe against the Cleveland Browns midway through last season.