Archive for July, 2010

What a busy summer! Can’t believe it is almost August. Definitely a busy time for IT – considering we have over 100 new computers on their way to campus, and we need to set them ALL up before class starts.

With such a busy summer, it’s nice to look back a month ago at my favorite part of summer – VACATION! This year I went on my second annual MLB baseball tour! One of my high school friends and I have started a new tradition where we travel to major league baseball games for an entire week, and also hit some tourist attractions along the way. This year we stopped at Milwaukee, Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City and Minneapolis.

We had fantastic weather all week – no rain, comfortable temperatures – couldn’t beat it!

At our first stop in Milwaukee – we were very happy to arrive on BOBBLE HEAD DAY! So, we walked in with our super cool bobble heads and sat along the first base line. Pretty solid seats I would say. Then, our trip started with a BANG. First pitch, first swing – HOMERUN BREWERS! Not a bad way to start, huh?

While we were in Milwaukee, we also toured the Miller Brewery. I always find brewery tours to be pretty interesting, because they each add their own twist to their brews.

From Milwaukee, we traveled south to Chicago. It was time to check out our favorite team, the Cubs. Of course, they lost. They don’t call them the loveable losers for nothing!

Our next day would be a day of MASS TRAVEL. We would go from Chicago to St Louis to watch the Cardinals play… THEN go all the way to Kansas City after the game. Who came up with this brutal schedule? (That would be me, BTW) But, it was a lot of fun, and our seats were absolutely AMAZING. We were 5 rows behind the Cardinals dugout in the Diamond Club. It’s a great feeling to sit down in a padded seat, and get asked if we wanted anything to eat or drink. Then we were handed a menu. Vacation is so tough!

Kansas City was our next stop, and probably my favorite spot on our tour this year. Traffic is never an issue there, and you can do quite a few fun things. We checked out the College Basketball Experience, which is basicly a fully interactive museum. It was seriously one of the coolest things I’ve ever gone to, and deserves a blog to itself. Here’s me throwing one down on a 9 foot hoop. That’s what’s up!

We also were lucky to run into a sound test for Saving Abel while walking the streets of KC. Then we toured the Boulevard Brewery. Much smaller operation than Miller, but much nicer! (The beverages are better too) Then it was off to the game. Kansas City won, so home teams were now 3-1 on the trip (for those of you that were curious)

Finally we checked out the Twins in Minneapolis. Such a nice new stadium. Got to meet up with another of our friends that lives up there, and also my uncle Tom.

Exhausted, our trip had concluded after that. I didn’t even cover a quarter of what we did, but that’s a good start. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Now, back in Iowa, I am focused on this Friday… when I will be joining Team Peacock on RAGBRAI. A very special thank you to all of the people that donated money to me! I was able to DOUBLE my fundraising goal due to your generosity. Also, a HUGE thank you to my parents, who hooked me up with some new road slick tires for my bike. I’ll be riding on air! And of course, thank you to the fine people at UIU, for letting me squeeze into the route for a day as I ride from Waterloo to Manchester!

Stay cool, and dry. Which seems hard to do lately…

Finally back to blogging after a week of vacation, and a very busy work week last week! It’s time for the July tech tip! I have plenty to type about in the coming weeks: my vacation, Office 2010 impressions, RAGBRAI, and technology in the new buildings here on campus.

So, let’s start with July’s tech tip! Today is for the new students and also faculty members. I will provide some links to great deals for new software and equipment!

First, if you’ve been on an Upper Iowa campus, you know that we predominantly use Dell computers. If you are a student, faculty or staff member of UIU, you can check out www.dell.com/uiu for discounted prices on new computers!

For the Mac lovers, check out Apple’s education store at www.apple.com . For a limited time, you get a FREE iPod Touch with the order of an Apple computer. Again, this is for faculty, staff, and students. I did this two years ago, and it’s a great deal!

How about some software for your new computer? Check out www.theultimatesteal.com if you are a student and purchase the new Office 2010 suite for only $80. There are other deals on that site for upgrades to Windows 7 as well. Keep in mind that this software is only for the Windows operating system. Faculty and staff should contact me directly if you would like to purchase Office for a discounted rate.

And finally, if you are looking for great prices on pretty much ANY electronic, check out my favorite place to shop online: www.newegg.com

Hope that points you in the right direction. Now… go spend some money! Have a great weekend!