As I mentioned before, they’ve done a terrific job on the new stadium.  I’ve placed the pictures I took in my photo gallery, feel free to check them out.

When we first arrived at the stadium, and drove past it on our way to park the car, the first impression was how sharp it looked.  All of the corners are sharp and crisp, the walkway support beams on the inside peak through the beautiful brick and create a pleasant contrast.  Speaking of the brick, it really made it stand out in a landscape of construction and parking lots.  You can’t help looking at it, even if it just caught the corner of your eye.  The old Busch just didn’t pop like that.

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Tonight was our first game at the new Busch Stadium, and a good one it was.  I was able to purchase the three tickets about a month ago when the Cardinals said they were further along in construction than planned and released a decent chunk of tickets.

So I was able to hop online on a designated day and make a purchase.  The seats were in left field, in what’s called the Casino Queen Party Porch.  They weren’t cheap seats, but they also weren’t terribly expensive either.  I bought 3, for myself, Ana, and my dad.

We arrived at the new park over an hour before the game so we could walk around and check some of it out beforehand.  The place is amazing (I’ll save that for another post) to say the least.  Very well done.

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When I ordered my new server, I added Backup Exec 10d QuickStart Edition (or something like that).  Dell didn’t have much information on their website about what this software was comprised of, and Veritas/Symantec didn’t list that edition as a product, so I was a little concerned about what I was going to be receiving.  Granted, my needs aren’t complex; I was even planning on not backing up to tape anymore and just dumping to a RAID array and then across the wlan to Jay’s RAID array.

After installing and some configuration, I’m very pleased with the software.   It’s capable of way more than I need, but allows some things I wasn’t planning on and definitely makes my backups a lot cleaner.  One of these is the ability to use the remote agents to backup stuff on Ana’s desktop since she doesn’t get data onto the fileserver often.  Because of its media append/expirations times, I’m probably going to reattach the tape drive (with a usb2->ide adapter) and use it to continue periodic tape backups.

Today was my first ever trip to Wrigley Field, and I’m very glad I was able to go.  I’ve heard many people in the past tell me that it’s a must-see and they were dead-on.  It’s no-frills.  Just baseball.  The simplicity was great.

We (Ana, my dad, my uncle, and I) left Springfield at around 7:15am and arrived at the stadium before 11.  We had heard the parking situation was terrible so we decided to do the park and ride thing that the Cubs put on.  We parked at DeVry and hopped on a bus that dropped us off 10 minutes later right infront of the park.  Leaving took a little longer, but was just as easy – and only cost $6 total (to park, with free shuttle service).  Sweet!

After a long winter absence, baseball is back.  I’m listening to the Cardinals wallop the Phillies as I type.  Ahh spring.

At 10am today, the Cardinals released another 45,000 tickets at the new stadium since they are ahead of schedule.  I was lucky enough to be selected to purchase tickets and I bought 3 for a game in May for Ana, my dad and I to go to.  Can’t wait to see the new ballpark.

And finally, this annoys me every year.  We wait all winter long for some baseball, then opening day comes and goes.  Then the Cardinals get a day off.  Quit teasing us – let them play the first few days of the new season!

More bad weather tonight in Springfield.  My parents and I had just arrived on the west end of town when we heard the tornado sirens and the radio announcers explaining that a tornado was seen on the ground in Loami and was heading toward Springfield – putting it just a few minutes away from us.   So instead of eating, we rushed back onto the interstate and stayed in my basement until everything passed.

That’s 3 tornadoes in the area in under a month – WTF?

I think I’ll leave work after 8hrs today.  It’s 72 degrees outside with a beautiful blue sky, not the kind of weather that’s conducive to productivity.

This marks the beginning of week 3 of exercising and slightly changing how I eat.  At work there’s a decent (free) gym, but after working there for several years I’ve learned that once I’m home I’m just too lazy to drive 20 minutes to get back there for a workout.  So I purchased the cage system shown below, an olympic weight set, and some dumbells.  Jay has pitched in a tricep bar and a pair of dumbells too, so I now have a pretty decent setup in my basement.  It’s much easier to stay on track when all I have to do is walk downstairs to use it.  Also helps to have someone to work out with.

I’ve started feeling much better already, and I’ve already lost a few pounds and gained a notch back on my belts.  Taking cues from a couple of coworkers, I’ve started eating every couple hours at work (tuna sandwiches, peanut butter sandwiches, oranges, etc.).  It seemed odd at first, but with the weight lifting I’ve been VERY hungry most of the time.

On another positive note, I purchased a blood pressure checker.  Some of you may recall that about 8 months ago my bp was dangerously high, forcing me to alter what I eat.  Well it’s now in the “low” category!  Woo!