Cubs tickets central

… There’s no better sign of spring coming than the day Cubs tickets go on sale.

Happy sigh.

Today was my day, and I gotta admit -- I think I’m getting pretty good at this virtual ticketing thing.

As I’d done last year, and the year before that, and for the last several years actually, I took a day off from work for the occasion …And then this morning, as usual, I set up my private ticket headquarters, placing my laptop and Kates' computer side by side. Schedule, calendar, credit card and cell phone spread out on the floor in front of me …

The virtual waiting room opened at 9:30 a.m. and tickets went on sale at 10. But I’ve learned there’s no advantage to getting in the virtual waiting room early, because potential buyers are picked at random ...

I had a brief freakout when my Internet windows weren’t properly displaying on either screen. But a little tweaking of our Internet settings fixed the problem, and I was logged in just a couple minutes before 10 …

And then I waited.

But not for long!

At 10:07, my first window popped up and I was in! … I promptly snagged two infield tickets for the Aug. 9 afternoon game against St. Louis … Talk about a prime game. It was the top game on my priority list, and I got it! That’s the first time that’s ever happened for me … and the game was sold out by 10:30 a.m.

So with one game under my belt, I was kicked back to the virtual waiting room to wait again, knowing that any other games I got were bonuses …

And, lo and behold, I was in again at about 10:40 a.m., although it took me a couple more minutes to get another pair of tickets -- I kept getting pop-ups saying that my order couldn’t be processed because the transaction volume was so high … I got bumped out of a chance to get tickets to the Sept. 20 game against St. Louis in the Cubs’ final homestand, and the June 21 White Sox game had sold out, so I went with my third choice -- Aug. 30 against Philadelphia, and snagged two tickets in the infield level to that game …

I couldn’t have asked for an easier process this morning, and now I’m having to restrain myself and keep the “B” words in mind (That’s baby and budget.) …

I could keep going and try to make some buku bucks on eBay, but I’m not that desperate …

So my Cubs ticket operation is shutting down for another year …

And I have to decide how I’m going to spend the rest of my day …

Brewers tickets go on sale tomorrow …

And yes, I’m really listening to Toto. On vinyl. It’s a good record.