Table

Greg Cantori plans to downsize when he retires. Really, really downsize. His retirement home is 238 square feet — one-tenth the size of the average new American house — and sits in his Anne Arundel County yard. He and wife Renee can hitch it to a truck and take it with them wherever they go. "It's so cheap — that's what's so cool about this," said Cantori, 52, who envisions a surf-and-turf future, alternating between the house and a sailboat. "We bought the house for $19,000.

Now that Johns Hopkins has opened the door for conferences to woo the illustrious program, the most pressing question centers on if there is one league that best suits the Blue Jays - and vice versa. If coach Dave Pietramala and athletic director Tom Calder are steadfast in retaining traditional rivalries, the Atlantic Coast Conference would appear to be the best fit. Joining that league would allow Johns Hopkins to maintain traditional series with North Carolina, Syracuse and Virginia, and the team would simply have to carve out space for Duke and Notre Dame.

C Q: I really enjoy rooms that look different. I mean rooms that don't have the usual kinds of furniture used in the same old ways.For instance, my living room "sofa" is actually an old iron daybed with cushions on three sides, and my bed head once was a Gothic church pew I had cut to fit the mattress. Of course, I've had everything from a wicker Victorian wagon to tree stumps under glass for a cocktail table. Now I'm about out of ideas. Got any to spare?A: A bunch, from the sophisticated to the surprising.

Saturday's Maryland Voices page laid out a clear example of Baltimore governmental failure and the typical attempt to talk it under the table ("Laying blame," May 11). The Baltimore City Detention Center issue has made the city the laughingstock of the country. Del. Pat McDonough lays it out on the table clearly. It's time for action. Cut the head off of the snake and get rid of corrections chief Gary Maynard, who's has been in a deep sleep for six years, ignoring the incredibly dire circumstances of the public infrastructure which he has been appointed to manage.

Sometimes when restaurants close for an extended period of time, they never quite recover when they reopen. This is not the case with Shin Chon. Since it reopened after major renovations, it's on its way to becoming the Korean equivalent of the Cheesecake Factory - at least as far as a lengthy wait for a table goes. OK, a slight exaggeration, but you know what I mean. True, Howard County has a sizable Korean population and Shin Chon is, as far as I know, the only restaurant in the county that offers Korean barbecue cooked at the table.

Solo dining is a skill anyone can acquire. Just like baking bread, practice helps. The more you dine out alone, the more your comfort level will rise.* When you dine out with friends, note restaurants that allow singles to feel at ease. Highlight those restaurants on your list of places to try when you dine alone. Hotel concierges are a good resource for solo-friendly restaurants. Coffee shops and casual restaurants with counters are good choices for beginners.* Start with the meal most comfortable for you, which for many people is breakfast or lunch.

More than any other celebrations, the rich holidays of fall and winter demand that your table be properly dressed.The big question is what to put at the center of the holiday table. Most of us love flowers but tire of using the same bowl year after year, filling it with the standard blooms of the season.There's plenty of room for creativity. Don't shy away from mixing disperate elements.An innovative centerpiece is something you'll find so special during the holidays that you'll probably be tempted to bring some of those touches of folksiness, romance and elegance to the table all year.

My friends often wonder how I can write a column every week on the same topic. Where do the ideas come from?I tell them, first of all, that I don't write on the same topic. One week the column is about color; the next week it focuses on furniture; then it will be lighting, window coverings, bathroom fixtures and so on.Occasionally, too, I will be inspired in unexpected ways. Here's an interesting example.This photo from the Baker furniture company recently arrived in my mail. At first glance, it seemed as if it might provide the basis for a story about how to use step tables.

Greg Merson is eight players away from a win at poker's biggest event and a prize of more than $8.5 million. The 24-year-old originally from Maryland reached the World Series of Poker main event's nine-player final table. He's in third place with 28,725,000 chips, trailing leader Jesse Sylvia by 15,150,000. The players will break until Oct. 28, when they will play the remainder of the tournament. Merson took home more than $1 million dollars after winning Event 57 of the World Series two weeks ago and is the only bracelet-winner at the final table.

Q: We want to add a contemporary-style Parsons table to a long wall in our entrance hall. At 78 inches in length and 20 inches in depth, the light-colored table fits well in the available space but looks a bit spindly. How can we give it more weight and importance? Should we change its color?A: That's one possibility, though it's difficult to beef up a table of this kind simply by redoing its color and texture. Another option is to add a lower shelf as a means of giving the table a bit more bulk.

Once again, Gov. Martin O'Malley, House Speaker Michael E. Busch and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller pull the wool over the eyes of Marylanders ("The state busts," May 8). What a great deal tables games are for the casino operators, while the Education Trust Fund receives the "table scraps. " How many Democrats does it take to screw Marylanders? Three. Earl Walter Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

In November, voters approved a major expansion of Maryland's gambling program on the promise that allowing table games and eventually building a sixth casino would ensure that the gambling dollars state residents spend would go toward funding education here and not in states like West Virginia, Delaware and Pennsylvania. This week, we got the first preliminary snapshot of how that bargain is working out, and it should give us some pause. The Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission reported its first set of figures since the Maryland Live Casino in Anne Arundel County added table games.

Table games at Maryland Live Casino generated $8.4 million in revenue in their first month at the Anne Arundel County facility, on top of $38.2 million from its slot machines, the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency reported Monday. While overall revenue at Maryland Live was up $1.95 million in April from March, revenue from slots fell about $6.45 million in April from the month before. By far the largest of Maryland's casinos, Maryland Live operates 4,217 slot machines and 122 table games.

It took almost 56 years, but I've finally mastered my table manners, and in the process learned something about the curious and controversial history of the fork. And all it took was two hours of bearing up under Carol Haislip's patrician gaze as she waved the silver instrument of torture with the twisted prong known as a "butter pick" through the air, perilously close to my throat. Possibly, the danger was all in my mind. It's true that I lack the higher, lower and intermediate social graces - I am a child of the lawless '70s, after all. And it's equally true that I had never fully grasped silverware's potential for inflicting bodily harm until I attended "Fish Forks and Finger Bowls," a seminar that teaches table manners to adults.

Cards started turning and dice began rolling early Thursday morning at Maryland Live, already the largest slots casino in the Mid-Atlantic. Opened just 10 months ago, the casino next to an Anne Arundel County outlet mall rakes in more money from slot machines than any other casino from New Jersey to West Virginia, including those in Atlantic City. And now it has added table games such as blackjack, roulette and baccarat, taking a big step toward becoming the Mid-Atlantic's dominant full-scale casino.

The state's largest casino plans to open 122 table games to the public at 12:01 a.m. Thursday. Maryland Live, in Hanover, will become the second of the state's three operating casinos to take advantage of expanded gambling laws passed by voters in November. Hollywood Casino in Perryville began operating 20 table games March 6 and brought in nearly $1.5 million from them last month. Officials from the state's lottery and gaming agency watched a controlled demonstration of the table game operations Friday, and were scheduled to spend more time at the facility through Tuesday night.

Let's just say Tuesday night's Bloomberg-Washington Post debate was one of those times when TV got in the way of the story instead of bringing it to us. I am talking about the producers of the debate deciding to have the candidates sit around a big table instead of standing at lecturns to debate. The TV table onstage at Dartmouth College was intended to be an enlarged version of the table debate moderator Charlie Rose has become known for employing on his talk show. Memo to the folks responsible for making this decision: You don't shape presidential debates to the talents of your moderator.

Q: A dining table that I recently inherited has a beautiful mahogany veneer but a rather undistinguished design. Its pedestal base supports a top with rounded ends. Do you have some suggestions for how I might enhance the table's appearance?My home's overall design consists of a mixture of styles.A: Since you describe the wood grain as beautiful and since the piece's proportions seem pleasing enough, your most sensible option may be to leave the table as is and focus on enhancing the look of its surroundings.

As we watch the plans unfold for our new downtown and see the new thinking about Symphony Woods, many of us in Oakland Mills are frustrated that we are currently cut off from that exciting conversation. It's time Oakland Mills had a Columbia Council Representative who is committed to joining our voice with the rest of Columbia as we work together to reinterpret, and reinvigorate the promise of Columbia for the next generation. When we started the work of revitalizing Oakland Mills, we decided on the slogan for our Village: "We value Connections.

Shin Chon Garden is popular to the point of overflowing. Even on a drizzly weeknight, the tables at this Ellicott City restaurant are full of diners. A friend, arriving a few minutes before I did, texted: "place smells AMAZING. " When Andrew Zimmern, the host of the long-running Travel Channel show "Bizarre Foods," came to Shin Chon Garden last summer, he told the world, via Twitter, that Shin Chon "is one of top ten Korean BBQ experiences in America. A must for anyone who loves food.