The photographs show the very best parts of Karen Marks' honeymoon in Ireland last March. But the days leading up to the trip? "Not so wonderful," she says.

Though Karen submitted her application for a passport two months in advance of her trip, new passports requirements for North American travel had caused a backlog of passport requests last winter and spring.

"I couldn't get through on the lines," says Karen, who was becoming increasingly concerned about her absent passport. "I mean I was calling random several times a day."

With no passport in hand, days before her honeymoon, Karen made two frantic trips to the closest passport office - in Chicago. One by car, another by plane. "It was crazy," she says recalling the long lines in Chicago and the anxiety that brought her to tears.

Developer says 80-acre parcel at I-10 and Texas 6 could also include a ...

Commercial developer Opus West Corp. is looking to expand its holdings in the Energy Corridor.

The company hopes to close on the property by the start of summer.

SHAWN DOWD staff photographer

That's almost 135 houses, or 29 percent, more than the town originally envisioned for this 308-acre plot near a busy stretch of Route 332. The development is part of a growth shift in Ontario County from Victor to Farmington.

But some Victor and Canandaigua residents warn that making exceptions to accommodate developers is the wrong way to go. They point to congestion and a loss of rural character that attracted many residents to their towns in the first place.

"Time and again, the site is being made to fit the development rather than the development fitting the site," said Marge Elder, chairwoman of Victor's Conservation Board.

In Victor, an example is the 106 acres of hilly, undeveloped land east of Eastview Mall. Almost all of this plot was supposed to be for housing but the scenic terrain, a kind of buffer between businesses and nearby residential neighborhoods, will be the site of three office buildings.

This Week in Pac-10 Softball

The Conference weathered the storm, both literally and figuratively, in the second week of tournament play and most Conference teams are looking for a rainbow in the third week ... STANFORD looks to continue its undefeated start to the regular season behind the phenomenal play in the circle of P Missy Penna, who has only allowed two runs in 44.1 innings pitched ... ARIZONA STATE, fresh off of hosting the Kajikawa Classic, which was marred with storms throughout, hosts the Littlewood Classic in the middle of a stretch of 27 straight home games. The Sun Devils rebounded from their road loss to UNLV in week one to post an 8-0 record in week two ... UCLA took four-of-five at the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic last week and now faces a very tough slate at the Palm Springs Classic where it will face four Top-25 teams in three days, including a showdown with No.

Well, That's Done

Perhaps his most marketable trait to us as we look to change the culture around our team is his all-or-nothing attitude once he takes the field. When Rowand takes the field, he will be roaming center field at AT&T Park behind one of the top starting rotations in the National League. This winter our assumptions that Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum are two of the top arms in the game today were confirmed by all of the teams which wanted to acquire them. While off-season acquisitions often make headlines, I think our best moves have been the ones we did not make. In holding onto Cain and Lincecum, they combine with Barry Zito and Noah Lowry to be the foundation for a very strong rotation for years to come. While the game starts on the mound, having a solid defense is crucial especially if you have to manufacture runs.