Bad switch in the key cylinder. It might be stuck in on position internally.

It was working just fine a week ago when I pulled the head. Haven't used it since then and it's never given me trouble before.
I'm not sure it's the key cylinder. We never even touched the interior or steering column during the fix.

I pulled the battery out to see if I missed any wires running to the battery. No luck.
For the record, there is supposed to be 2 things going to the negative (groung, harness) and 3 things going to the positive side?

I checked the fuses under the hood and under the dash. They all looked fine.
I don't think I could've blown anything because I pulled the MPI fuse, coil pack plug, and removed the battery before I started HG replacement.

Could it be the ECU? If the ECU were fried, would the car run at all... because it does run.

So a new development... I started her up to see if I could diagnos this while running.
Revs and sounds nice, IMO. When I shut the car off it kept idling. Too bad I dont have a turbo timer.

So, assuming it was running off battery I went around and pulled the negative terminal.
Well at least I know the alternator works because it kept running. So then I Pulled the positive terminal. It sputtered for a second and then finally stopped running.

I think I'm going try replacing the generator relay or something. People say alot of weird shit happens when that goes.
Other than that, I really don't wanna have to take this to a dealership.

I checked the coil resistances and all relays appear to operational.

After having it run without the keys in the ignition... I will check the ignition key inside the steering column.
I doubt this is it because it was only parked for about a week and I've NEVER had an ignition key problem before.
nevertheless, a malfunctoin like this could cause my symtoms.

When I put the cables on the positive terminal one by one, the cable that is causing the dash lights to come on is the cable with the little fuse box attached to it. The other two positive cables seem to have no effect. I will remove those 3 fuses, install the battery cables, and then add the 3 fuses one by one to try and single out the circuit that is causing this short.

New development - first post reflected to show this:

I noticed the "short" only happened when I connected the terminal wire with the 3 fuses on it. I pulled each fuse indivually to see which circuit the short was in. When I pulled the MPI fuse the dash lights turned off and the car seemed normal for being "turned off". Just to see what would happen, expecting the motor to simply turn over dry, I inserted the key and hit the starter. The car started and revved just fine with no MPI fuse inserted.
Whishky Tango Foxtrot!?!

HOWEVER... when I pulled the MPI fuse (while doing a compression test before starting the HG replacement) I noticed the MPI fuse had a rattling noise and the little resistor broke free - it was clearly broken and not blown. I figured I had broke it while removing/handling it and replaced it with a new 20A fuse while doing the HG. At this point the only logical logical assumption would be I did not break the original fuse I had noticed and replaced. It must've been already broken and "normal" operation was lacking an MPI fuse (or a functional fuse anyways).

Is this normal? Does the SAFC replace the MPI fuse somehow?
How is it even possible that the car can run with no MPI fuse?