The Fabulous B@ker Blog

This week was the perfect storm of maladies for me. It all started a little over a week ago when a bump on my leg took on an otherworldly appearance in the form of an angry, red, boil-like-ready-to-burst skin volcano. After urging from Mark and Mom Shiao all weekend to go to Urgent Care, I decided to wait it out and see my regular doctor on Monday (by which time the "boil" had begun to drain and was already feeling better). According to Dr. Sorge , my affliction was not a boil but a soft tissue infection in my leg often caused by bacteria or a staph infection; I have no idea what set it off. So, after a course of antibiotics and heat for the last week, my leg is looking decidedly better. The rest of my body, though, is having its own challenges. My loving son was kind enough to pass on his cold, complete with constant sneezing, a non-productive cough, and a low-grade fever thrown in, which I've been battling in earnest since Wednesday. Today is Saturday, and I'm stil...

On Saturday evening we returned from a day of torrential rain, 40 degree temperatures and a hellish day of rowing in Saratoga. The forecast had called for rain and chilly weather all day, but it turned out to be a dangerous rowing day with many of the kids suffering from borderline hypothermia, and even one of the Fairport kids going to the hospital. The coaches do talk a lot about dressing in layers, in spandex, in gortex, yada yada, but the kids were quickly soaked through all their layers from the relentless rain and puddles of mud (with a couple of thunder bolts thrown in for good measure). When Cam came off the water after racing his eight-boat, he could barely walk and he, along with his teammates, were shivering uncontrollably. Luckily the coaches had the good judgement to pull Fairport out of the race by 11:30am, and we were on our way back home by 2pm after a quick lunch. Needless to say, we did not make it to Vermont. Once I saw the problems with the weather situation at the ...

Today we head to Saratoga for yet another regatta. This is a "big one," featuring upwards of 800 boats, and is the second-to-last regatta for the fall racing season (the last one is the "Pull the Plug" regatta in Pittsford). We're keeping our fingers crossed that the kids will come away with a medal, but this one is really competitive so we're just hoping they have fun. As a consellation prize for having to forgo my sanity-restoring yearly trip to Vermont this fall, Mark and I are going to sneak away from the regatta after the kids' morning races are finished and spend some time in Manchester, Vermont, which is about an hour from Saratoga. Even though the day is calling for rain, I'm sure the quick trip and a nice, leisurely lunch will offset the fact that we didn't spend time in the Green Mountain State this fall. Who's with me?!

A couple of articles have creeped up lately under various headings such as 4/10 or 10-4, which refers to the idea that many businesses are considering (and some have transitioned ) to a work week of four 10-hour days. If only my job would or could do something like that (I'd have the added benefit of only having to work a 35 hour week, or four 9-hour days)! This article highlights the example of the switch by government employees for the State of Utah, and outlines the expected savings in electricity and heat for the business, and gas for the employees. My employer would likely never consider this since we are a very service-oriented place (less visits would most likely result in less enrolled students), and we actual have students who live on-campus, so we need to keep things up and running all week long. Our main respite is the week between Christmas and New Years, when we do actually close down for a week or so ( except for my office, where several employees still go in to ha...

Happy Birthday to "MY OLD MAN" on his 48th birthday!! Pretty soon I'll have to turn him in for a newer model! Unfortunately, the kids will both be at a sleepover tonight, so we'll probably have to go out for Indian since they don't like it. Then, who knows? Maybe I'll try to stay up past 9pm. The sky's the limit!! Have a great one, Mark!

Cong rats to Annalisse and Cameron on their great showing at the Head of the Genesee 5K Regatta in Rochester yesterday. Annalissse earned a bronze for her 4-boat, and a GOLD(!) for her 8-boat. In her words, "she almost cri ed!", but I think there were tears (no "almost" about it) for her and her rowers after many regattas of disappointments. Cam earned his second bronze* (in their second regatta this season) for coxing his eight to third place (out of six) after a challenging course during which they "caught two crabs**." Great job, kids!! *This post contains no pictures of Cam with his medal since it is fundamentally uncool to pose for pictures for your mother when you're 16. **Crab - A rowing error where the rower is unable to timely remove or release the oar blade from the water and the oar blade acts as a brake on the boat until it is removed from the water. This results in slowing the boat down. A severe crab can even eject a rower out of the shel...

The other really exciting thing that happened on Monday, besides the never-ending 14th birthday celebration, was that our Turkish (well, techinically it's Iranian) rug arrived by way of Mom/Mark transport from Dave and Mandy's place in Virginia. The renovation project that started in February is coming along nicely. Now that the rug is in place, all we need to do is get new furniture (HA!). There are still a couple of loose ends to be tied up (as reflected by "the list" on the refridgerator). The "list" contains such compelling ($$) items as: shutters for the upstairs bathroom and Cam's room new shower fixture new bathroom cabinet handles drywall repair and paint side entrance and, of course, new furniture (couch and chair) On next year's list you'll find: new sewer pipes in basement remove wallpaper and paint the backroom (Mark's cave) paint Annalisse's room And possibly, next year if we can swing it: remove wallpaper and paint the down...

Happy 14 th birthday today to my "baby," Annalisse !! We've gone from parties at home to parties at Build-a-Bear to birthday sleepovers, and yesterday it was a "dress up dinner out" for A. and her friends at Boccaccini's . After crew today, the celebrations will continue with a family pizza party. Her greatest gift so far? Two snuggies from her friends. She's now a member of the Cult of Snuggie . Be afraid, be very afraid.

Yesterday I returned from a week of travel back-and-forth and back-and-forth across Western and Southwestern New York State as a visited eight graduate fairs recruiting for our programs. While it's tiring to pack and repack, and lug my stuff from one fair to another, it's a lot of fun meeting prospective students from other colleges and reconnecting with colleagues (over dinner is the funnest time of all!). The main thing that kept me entertained during long hours in the car (and the inevitable extra time spent driving around since I get lost A LOT), was listening to NPR, and all the great programming they have on during the day and at night. When I'm going for a long distance, or will be visiting a lot of schools in a short time, I usually rent a car. This time I was "fortunate" enough to score a PT Cruiser. When I heard that was the car I was getting, my first question was, "Do you have anything else?" They are the UGLIEST cars and I hoped no one woul...