Tools for getting better

I've gotten back into chess recently, and after reading/browing here for a while, have decided to buy a bunch of books and also some tactics trainers.  

The tactics trainer (those 1200 chess puzzle jobbies) have really helped my game:  I can attack better and am able to think through options a little better - I play at around 1350-1400 rating against a computer (maybe a little better against humans, as I find the rapid speed of a computer's moves also makes me rush).

However, what I am still missing out on is a more fundamental understanding of some general principles:  I dont know what the names of openings are,  I am not always able to get the maximum benefit from a passed pawn. etc. etc.

I've got a whole bunch of books - some of them were helpful, some of them are taking me a while to understand, but I am soldiering through them.   

The next step is to start analyzing games.   know how the analysis works, what I am not sure is WHAT games to analyze.  

I am pretty certain that analyzing the games of a bunch of grandmasters is not going to be that useful to me at this point.    So how should I get started here?    Any tips?

TIA,

Vandit

Forgot to add - how do I also get the most out of chess databases?

---->>>

use the search forums button and put with improve,book,puzzle bla bla bla keywords.:)