The First Weekend Of The Pick ’em Is Over!

Yesterday “The Dren Said So” (mike) and “The Madness of March” (HeatherH) held the top two spots in the pick ’em, and they still do — just the other way around. HeatherH is now in first, with mike now in second with monkeyinabox moving up to third. “Jen’s a Loser” (Jen F) and “Oregon but not forgotten” (c trejbal) are tied for fourth with three more folks tied for fifth (include Josh at COA). I continue my awesomeness by going from 39th place to 37th.

The full spreadsheet is here. Next weekend’s Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games are worth three and five points (respectively) so we should see things seperate a bit more next weekend.

What A Difference A Day Makes

So yesterday, “Sans Logic” was leading the pick ’em. Not so much today, as he’s now in 20th place with “The Dren Said So” (mike) now taking the lead with “The Madness of March” (HeatherH) right on his tail a single point behind. Two more folks are tied for third, just two points behind the leader. Josh from COA and three other folks (including everybody’s favorite monkey boy) are making a good showing, tied for fourth.

And then there’s me, tied for 39th. I’m awesome. But probably the quote of the day was from “mommydearest”, posted to the group’s message board: “I think I’m doing better than usual. Don’t understand how this all works but all the red on my bracket looks pretty!”

We’re Down To 32 Teams, And David Is In The Lead

Yesterday’s leaders in the 2011 Pick ’em have moved down a notch or two, and “Sans Logic” (David) is now in the lead by a single point, correctly picking 28 out of the 32 games over the last two days. He has a single-point lead over four folks, and two point lead over four more. With the next two days’ games worth two points each, things could change quite a bit before Monday.

The bottom two prizes have already been wrapped up (as far as I can tell). Go Hogs! (Kyle — last year’s loser) is still guaranteed still has the potential for two more points tomorrow because of him picking both Richmond and Morehead State, who will be playing each other tomorrow, which will give him eight points. Bobby Knight’s Folding Chair (Scott) has wrapped up second-to-last with nine, and will possibly have 11 points after tomorrow for the same reason as Kyle. mommydearest is the next one up from the bottom with 14 points, but still a potential for 76, so she’s not going to get caught. Congrats to both of you, and I’ll be in-contact early next week.

The scoring spreadsheet has been updated. Good luck tomorrow, everybody.

Update: Fixed my inability count.

That’s No Ordinary Bach

That’s a sweet Toccata on ukulele:

Day One Of The Tournament Is Over, and Two Folks Were Nearly Perfect

Twice has Dren tried hard to lose this tournament and succeeded. This year, he’s right in the middle of the pack the pick ’em and a few folks are still fighting for the bottom prizes (Dren probably won’t win, but he won’t get dead last this year). “The Dren Said So” (mike) and “Rammer Jammer” (billbell7800) are our leaders after the first day’s action, correctly picking 15 of the 16 games, including two of the three upsets (seems nobody foresaw Morehead State winning). Having two people with a nearly perfect day is fairly impressive.

The two folks at the bottom of the list actually picked up points today because of the upsets, so that race is still open as well.

As usual, I’m right in the middle of the pack, tied for 29 out of 48. I’m just happy all my Final Four teams are still alive, which hasn’t been the case in the past.

The scoring spreadsheet has been updated. Good luck tomorrow, as these first two days really will decide the tournament for a lot of people.

Japan Won’t Stop Shaking

While I knew that there were a lot of after-shocks after the Japan quake, I didn’t realize that it’s been pretty much non-stop with 549 quakes total (according to that site). The addition of the mapping data makes it that much more frightening.

On a related note, it’s good to know that Apple is taking care of its employees and their families. And this map is handy for emergencies all over the world.

The Tournament Has Started

The 2011 Pick ’em has tipped off. You can watch the games online and suck up your company’s bandwidth, or you can plant yourself in front of a TV or an iPhone and get your fix.

Scoring will be posted later tonight in a new blog post (there are already a couple games that have finished and I’m 1-1). The scoring spreadsheet (edit with correct link) will be updated as well. Good luck every one!

Looking To Save Money On Turbotax.com?

It’s that time of year again, and if you need to save a few bucks on Turbotax’s online services, this Slickdeals thread will help. Between the links there, you should be able to get 35% off your Federal and 25% off your State filing. If you have to file more than one Federal return, Costco is probably a better deal as the boxed products will apparently allow three federal filings (which I wish I would’ve known before hand as I’m doing the taxes for a couple family members as well).

Chatroulette Sucks

Mostly — until you see things like this, which are really entertaining:

Last Chance To Sign Up For The NCAA Pick ’em (It’s Free, and You Could Win Stuff!)

The NCAA tournament starts tomorrow, so this is your last chance to sign up for the pick ’em. It’s free to sign up, you could win some fun prizes (with more to come), and it will give you an excuse to avoid work the next four days.

Tip off of the main tournament is tomorrow, so you have to sign up and fill out your brackets before the first game tips-off at 9:15 tomorrow morning. Yahoo! usually shuts down editing on the brackets just before that, so just shoot for 9:00 and you should be fine.

If you don’t have a TV handy, you can watch the games online or they have an iPhone app (no Android love, it appears).

Good luck!