Deal... Or No Deal!

Deal or No Deal is back...! This has to be one of the smartest game shows to come along in a long, long time. I won't describe the full game play here, that's why I posted the link to NBC. But I'm quite fascinated by the show as it seems so similar to what I do at work (or, rather, what I enjoy most about my job). I could easily see building an elementary risk model for the game not unlike the ones that we do at work. And the pricing the banker comes up with to buyout the case is so similar to blind portfolio bidding. It's unbelievably fascinating to me...

tennis, anyone?

So, as I mentioned earlier, I managed to get in on the American Express giveaway of two free US Open tickets. We went to the night session on Monday (Labor Day) and had an absolutely fantastic time.

The first match we saw was A. Mauresmo v. S. Williams. We're big fans of the Williams sisters, so it was a little disappointing to see her lose, but Amelie clearly played very very well and was extremely graceful.

At first, I was a little skeptical of the kind of view we would get considering we got seats way up in the lower promenade, but I was pleasantly surprised that even from there, it was a pretty decent view. (well, my wife didn't really think so).

The second match was L. Hewitt v. R. Gasquet. That was an amazing five set match that wasn't over until around 12:30.

I really love the entire venue and atmosphere of the US Open. I don't think there's another Grand Slam quite like it that's just so undeniably New York. The occasional screeching of a plane overhead, cell phones ringing, and the ubiquitous mentally ill character mumbling to himself - the players have to face a different kind of challenge to be able to focus and play their best in the heart of the greatest city on Earth. And it's just absolutely great.

Night sessions are really unbelievable - the energy level of the crowd gets so intense that you can't help but get wrapped up in it. At first I thought Hewitt was favored, especially after seemingly easily taking the first two sets, but after Gasquet fought back hard to grab the next two sets and force a fifth set, everyone just kept cheering for the two players to do their best. There was a palpable feeling that none of us wanted to go home just yet and we all wanted to see more and more awesome tennis that we were being treated to.

We'll definitely be going again next year, but I'll be sure next time to buy my tickets early and get in on all the cool rewards offered to American Express cardmembers at the venue.

Happy Labor Day Weekend

After a few days of disgusting, horrible, wet rainy weather, we had a decent amount of nice sun today - perfect weather for walking around the city, which we did. We had a nice walk over the bridge before doing some shopping, and ending up near Cooper Square for some ramen (at Menkuitei, our favorite Japanese ramen shop). The whole city seemed to be packed with tourists today - and we were quite annoyingly seated next to a jabbering pair of (I would estimate, high school) girls who sounded like they were extremely sheltered suburbanites from Connecticut spending time in the city for the day. Weekend city visitors. Oh well.

Yesterday was dinner with our parents (both sets of parents), and my uncle and aunt in Chinatown. That was nice - dad-in-law was a little disappointed that we ended up going out for dinner and not having a barbecue at my parents' house (as was the original plan). He even special ordered and bought a cake! But, we ended up using that to celebrate my mom's birthday (a little bit early).

We're going to the US Open tomorrow! Unfortunately, there's a Mets game scheduled at Shea tomorrow so getting there (and back) is probably going to be a total disaster, so I think we're actually planning on taking the LIRR.

On another note, we're both very sad for Agassi - it truly is an end of an era...

I'm not sure how much I've mentioned it here but my previous employer (I switched jobs in May of this year) put me through absolute hell for the past year or two. It's seriously left me emotionally and psychologically scarred, but I find that writing about my experiences there has been a cathartic exercise. I guess I'll go on with doing some of that tonight...