March 31, 2003 - Even though I made it out of my house on 'time' today I was unable to make it to work before Taiese, my new co-op at work started. I had to show her back to the desk because she had never been there before. The morning was kind of crazy because I had to get Taiese enough stuff to do during the afternoon while I was gone, and also we attended a meeting which took up an hour of my already short day. At 10:55 I left work to meet up with Janet at my house before the Reds Parade. When I got there she was waiting for me so we headed straight downtown. The parade starts at noon so it shouldn't have been a problem - we would just drive downtown, find a parking place, and then walk to Fountain Square. Unfortunately there wwere no available spots anywhere near the ballpark. Janet ended up parking on 7th Street near Walnut in a garage that has a valet. At least we were in a spot in time to see the parade. The Reds Parade was way more than I was expecting. Anyone who wants to be in this parade seemed to be in it. There were tons of fire vehicles, police on motorcycles, marching bands, politicians, radio stations, you name it. Heck, there was just a string of 10 Mazda Miata drivers in the parade. I think I'm going to try to get in the parade next year. Who do I contact? Since we were right on the square and both of us were hungry we walked into Fountain Place and had lunch at Pallamino. Lunch was great but a little pricey and not as 'lunchey' as I would have liked, but it was great being there with Janet and a view of Fountain Square. We got the bill paid at 3 PM and walked down to the stadium. The stadium was alive with people standing about, trying to buy tickets, sell tickets, look at the bricks with names surrounding the stadium, and generally just having Reds Fever. After entering the stadium there was mass chaos trying to get the free souvenir ball and ice cream voucher (that each person was entitled too, it wasn't like there was a short supply). We got ours and then made our way to section 411 where we met up with Anna and Chuck who had been there for a while since they went straight from the parade to the stadium without stopping for lunch. The game was not that exciting considering that it was unseasonably cold (49F) and the Pirates were up by 6 after the second inning. Janet had to leave in the 5th inning because she had a class that starts tonight and it only meets 3 times (which necessitates her going to this class). I stayed around until the end of the 8th inning. The Reds were getting beat down so I had Josh meet me at 7th and Walnut with the Jag and got a ride home. At home I grilled some burgers for Josh and Janet (who came over after her class).