Imported From Livejournal

Shaw’s, among many other retailers, is offering a promotion where one can buy a $330 gift card at a cost of $300, or a multiple of those numbers, any number of times, the theory being that government economic stimulus payments are often in multiples of $300, and they’d rather you spend it at their store.

I suspect that their POS system would allow one to pay for a gift card using another gift card. Gift card is a method of payment, and the cashier likely doesn’t even see what kind of card you’re swiping to make payment. (They just enter in a $330 gift card activation with a $30 store discount.)

A week ago, I would never have thought it possible to be so tired that I could sleep right through a baby screaming right next to me. :)

Jessi and I are proud to announce that Hannah Jane Cooper arrived right on schedule yesterday, May 15, 2008, at 10:01pm.

Statistics about her at birth that people often ask:
Weight: 8 pounds, 2 ounces (or to be specific and metric, 3678 grams)
Length: 20¾ inches (or 52.5 centimeters)
Hair: Lots, brown
Eyes: Dark (blue?)

Hannah, Mommy, and Daddy are doing well, although tired (as one might expect). Mommy and Hannah should be coming home from the hospital Saturday night or Sunday morning.

The Charlton town elections were this past Saturday, with some surprising results.

There were three contested races listed on the ballot. In each of them, the incumbent won. None of that was particularly surprising, although in a couple cases I personally found it disappointing.

In addition, there was a debt exclusion question to spend more money on schools. That was defeated, which was also not surprising.

In addition, there was a race for Water/Sewer Commissioner. There were two available seats, and two people were on the ballot: an incumbent, and a newcomer. Sounds like it’d be an easy win for both of them.

Friday Night: Friday Night Magic at Rising Phoenix Games.

Saturday: Working at the Shadowmoor Prerelease in Hartford with TJ Collectibles. Somewhat to my surprise, rather than judging, I was registering players and collecting money all day, which gave me a useful perspective on the “admin” area. However, it means that I have still not really seen much of the set.

Sunday: Church (both services since I was running Powerpointness, and Jessi was helping in the nursery during the first service), followed by my Grandma’s 85th birthday party, followed by Bible Study, followed by seeing Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.

“( is the untap symbol.)”

“Worldwide, birthrates have been halved in the past 50 years. There are now 59 nations, with 44% of the world’s population, with below-replacement fertility.

Sometime in this century, the world’s population will begin to decline. At a certain point, the decline will become rapid. We may even reach population free-fall in our lifetimes.”

Saw this in a file I stored from a while ago (a year ago? two? more? Time sure does fly), when we were in Nyren‘s tabletop RPG game The Return:

“You are now wielding the bolt of lightning.” — GM (Nyren), to Luna (Jessi)

On Tuesday, the Charlton Board of Selectmen discussed briefly the possibility of an access road going through Charlton (including our land) to the Southbridge Landfill. They seemed generally supportive of the idea, which makes sense because it would significantly increase Charlton’s tax base without significantly increasing its expenses. So, that’s a good sign.

Yesterday (Thursday), there was the first of the restarted public hearings on Casella‘s new site assignment request, to change from taking in construction debris and start taking in municipal solid waste. Apparently, there was quite a crowd protesting the change. I certainly want there to be some regulation and oversight that Casella is doing what they are supposed to be, but conditions at the landfill have improved immensely since they took over from the previous owner, so I’m thinking that they want to be good corporate citizens, if only so that MassDEP isn’t always breathing down their necks. I think I’m hoping that the change happens, with correct oversight, such that Casella builds the access road, and living half a mile from the dump doesn’t become a nightmare. So, let’s hope that we can, in fact, get both.

(Anne was kind enough to send me a paper copy of the issue of the magazine as well.)