US Open 2011 Photos

I haven't been here in so long because of going to the US Open, being sick for a week afterwards and my brother's computer giving him problems. I'm going to have so much catching up to do with all my blog friends. I have started my picture project of this event and just wanted to share some of the better ones with you all. It seems like I am a bit obsessive with the picture taking when I'm at these matches but for every 10 photos I take only a couple come out good. The first 3 are of my favourite player, Austria's Jurgen Melzer. I kind of semi stalked him after the match and got the one of him with a couple of other people having their photo taken with him. The Juan Carlos Ferrero ones didn't come out that great because it was night time. You aren't really supposed to use a flash while they are playing. The bottom photo is of the guy who first got me into tennis 5 years ago - Tommy Haas. I missed part of his match because I was watching all of the Petzschner 5 set one - should've left after the 4th.

Because of Hurricane Irene our power was out for 4 days and we were unable to recharge our batteries until Wednesday night. If I had been more conservative with the picture taking on Monday my 2 batteries probably would have lasted all of the first 2 days but they were dead by Tuesday afternoon. I had a regular 35mm camera and film with me just in case this happened but unfortunately wasn't even able to use it because I forgot that it takes a special battery and had waited until we got to the tennis center to put batteries in it - it takes 1 lithium, not AA. If I had grabbed our 80's camera too, I could have at least used this even though there isn't any zoom on it, not that the zoom on the 90s one is that good.

At first in the bus terminal - we couldn't take the train because service of New Jersey transit was suspended- I bought 2 of those disposable digital cameras at one store. They were kind of expensive- 45.oo for 2. I went into another store, saw the 4 pack of film which I bought then returned the disposable ones which I totally regret now. I obviously was not thinking clearly during this whole day. It turns out that it would have been cheaper to get like 6 of those disposable ones than it was the way that I did things. I had all the film put on a discs so I'd be able to send the best shots to the computer than to Walgreens photo to have printed out. I had put off looking at them because I feared that there would be alot of crappy shots which turned out to be right. Very disappointing.

This whole camera incident feels like I was in an episode of the Twilight Zone as does the fact that we were the only block in our small town to actually lose power during that Hurricane. We had to throw out like 80.00 worth of meats and dairy products. I'm just glad that I was smart enough to think to charge all our batteries on Saturday so at least we were able to take digital photos on Monday and part of Tuesday. It's been like 6 years since I've last used a regular camera. I didn't go digital until the end 0f 2008. I can't believe that I resisted the technology for so long. And I also looked into the bus schedule on Saturday because I was afraid that the trains might not be running. We had to walk 15 minutes to the bus stop which we wound up doing for the 5 days. We weren't even sure when the trains starting running again. The money that I saved on parking in the train lot wound up going towards the film but that was only a small portion of what I wound up throwing away because of the power outage. Things could have been much worse so I shouldn't even complain. We didn't get the flooding like many towns in Jersey did. And thank goodness that New York had their subway system up and running in time for us to get out to Queens to attend this event.

I hope that everyone has been well lately. I will have much more on our US Open experience in the future. It's nice to be back here. I'm looking forward to reading and commenting on your posts.

Just a Quick Post About the US Open - For Now

I have so much that I'd like to write about my 2011 US Open experience only I feel too darn sick to even be on the computer now so I will just make this a brief post. This is a picture taken at one of the booths at the tennis center. My brother and I entered a contest to win a Citizen watch and the chance to meet Kim Clijsters. The weather was wonderful all week, thank goodness. I should just be greatful that it was and that we even got to be there but I can't help but be upset about the fact that we lost power in just our 2 blocks in my small town for 4 days because of Hurricane Irene so we couldn't recharge our camera batteries until Wednesday night. I took alot of pictures on Monday and by the time of my main guy Melzer's match on Tuesday afternoon the battery was getting weaker so I wasn't able to take that many of him. Oh how I wish that I had been more conservative with the picture taking at other matches. More about this topic next time. I was so close to going myself for a 6th day on Saturday. The guy at the ticket booth said that there weren't any tickets available when I asked on Thursday night but to come back on 8:30 that morning. If I hadn't gotten this awful cold I definitely would've been there. I got sick after this event last year too which sucks but it was worth all the suffering that I'm going through now.

I did read some of my emails and comments on my posts and would like to thank Chelly, Pam, Darrin and all my other blog friends for their kind words and I certainly will respond to you all as soon as I'm feeling better. I'm looking forward to reading your posts too. I've missed everyone here. Hope that you all have been well these days.

Hurricane Irene Might Spoil Our US Open Plans

Here are some photos of the grounds of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, N.Y. from last year when the weather was very hot but no rain except for a little showers for about 25 minutes or so one day out of the 6 that we were there. Well, it looks like things might not go so smoothly for us this year because of the Hurricane that is due to hit this area Saturday into Sunday. Sure, the rain will end by Sunday night, but there's always the worries of floods, power outages, delays or cancellations of trains and other factors that could spoil things for Monday especially. It might be okay by Tuesday but I'm hearing some doom and gloom reports on the news. We have to take the train and subway to get out there, no way could I do any city driving. Very scary and stressful, esp in those areas that we'd have to take to get there. I'm just praying that things work out alright but I'm not very hopeful.

I feel bad that I have not responded to comments on my posts lately. I've had very limited computer time and I've also been catching up on tasks, projects and other chores. I promise that I will do so and also read and comment on posts of my friends here in the blog world as soon as I can. Next week is going to be a very busy one with us being away most of the day for the tennis event so it won't be for another 10 days. I'll miss being in touch with you all and I'll send out my thanks for everyone who has been reading my posts.

Tennis- US Open 2011

Two weeks ago I ordered the US Open tickets which came in the mail this past Saturday. We hopefully will be going to this event for the first 3 days. I always worry that something bad might happen that will prevent us from going to concerts and other events. Luckily last year things worked out well, only a tiny bit of a rain delay on Day 5. I actually got myself a ticket for Thursday too but I don't want to tell my brother this because I'm afraid that he will just criticize me for doing so and be mad that I won't be here to take him to his first day of college classes. There are 2 buses that can get him there so he will just have to get there that way.

I had debated whether or not to go by myself on Friday. I really wanted to and was going to order that ticket right after getting our 3 days of tickets but an illogical voice inside of me was saying that it would be too scary to go there alone plus I had my brother's voice putting me down for even wanting to go without him. I finally was able to convince myself that it wouldn't be scary to go alone and why should I even care what my brother thinks so I went to the TicketMaster site at about 2:45 pm only to discover that they were already sold out for that day so I checked for Thursday and they still had some available so I got one for that day. I would have rather had Friday though.

I couldn't believe that those tickets were gone already especially because last year Mark and I didn't decide until the day after they first went on sale to get tickets for Saturday. I'm suspecting that those ticket scam artists had a part to play in this which is so annoying and unfair. I did click onto the link for ticket resales just out of curiosity. I knew that the prices would be more there but I did not imagine that the lowest one was going for 25.00 more than the TicketMaster price would've been. The message at the TM site said try again closer to the event and maybe more would be available - that's doubtful. I am so mad at myself for not just going with my smart voice and getting that ticket right away.

A tiny part of me is hopeful that more tickets will be available. It would be so nice if I can be there for all the days of men's 2nd round matches. With my luck the main guys that I really want to see will be playing them on Friday. I already have a list of primary and secondary players to see. Two more months until this event. It seems kind of far away even though it really isn't. I should be watching the tennis now but I need to squeeze some computer time in today because my brother will be around more than usual this week.