Posts Tagged office pool

I had already thrown in the towel on this year’s NCAA pool, when a coworker came around with the standings.  By some miracle, I’m in front by one point!  Here’s the kicker: the worst that I can do is finish second.  The second place guy and I are the only ones with any active teams.  I have Duke, and he has West Virginia.  So I might be a few hundred bucks richer when I wake up on Sunday.  I figure that I’m due: I haven’t won an NCAA pool in 15 years.  Even with all of my lousy picks, I’m in the money.  Coach K, don’t let me down.  GO BLUE DEVILS!

• 5 Things to Know About Social Security Photo by alan(ator) Yahoo! Finance recently published a guide to the five most common questions about Social Security benefits.  You can read the original article by clicking on the following link: What You Need to Know About Social Security Given all of the doubt that the entitlement program will......
• NCAA Office Pool: Second Round Photo by Sonnett Yesterday, I revealed my picks for the first round of the NCAA Tournament.  Today, I'll reveal my projected Second Round winners: Midwest Kansas Maryland Georgetown Ohio State I picked Maryland to beat Michigan State.  That could be trouble. West Syracuse Butler Pittsburgh Kansas State Butler over......
• Corporate Barbarian Links: Boston Massacre Edition Another big Yankees-Red Sox series this weekend, and the Yanks started out in first place this time!  What a difference a couple of months makes (This is where all of the Red Sox fans unsubscribe ;-) ).  Nothing wrong with a little friendly rivalry.  Look, I even included a......

• Create Your Own Pension Using Whole Life Insurance In order to fully understand this post I am going to have to ask you to put down your $19.95 Suze Orman book or shut off your podcast of Dave Ramsey – and give me a chance to describe and illustrate how to create your own Pension Using Whole Life......
• Women's basketball teams of the decade [/caption] By Jeremy Stone Yahoo! Sports' decade in review takes to the hardwood for a series of women's basketball top-fives. Next up we look at the best teams in the college and pro ranks. We'd add international to the mix, but with Team USA winning the 2000, 2004 and 2008......
• About debt reduction blogs Debt reduction blogs are a noticeable subset of personal finance blogs. People put up debt reduction blogs or websites for a number of reasons. Here are a few that I've seen: To give advice. Here, the best ones are by people who have been in debt and know how to......

Well, I had Kansas beating Kentucky in the title game, and now that’s not going to happen, at least for this year.  So that means no points to earn over the next rounds, putting my chances of winning the office pool as slim to none.  There’s always next year.  I can’t wait for baseball season to start.

• Holiday Traditions Photo by *Sally M* We all have our favorite holiday traditions.  I'll be celebrating one of them tonight, as my family will gather for the traditional Italian-American fish-themed Christmas Eve dinner.  But, I've got several hours to kill before I gorge myself on bacalla and lunguine with clam sauce,......
• Some Are More Equal Than Others "All animals are equal.  But some animals are more equal than others." - The revised 7th Commandment from George Orwell's Animal Farm We'd like to think that we're all playing on a level field.  That we all have the same chance at success.  That fairness will triumph over favoritism. Yeah,......
• NCAA Office Pool: Second Round Photo by Sonnett Yesterday, I revealed my picks for the first round of the NCAA Tournament.  Today, I'll reveal my projected Second Round winners: Midwest Kansas Maryland Georgetown Ohio State I picked Maryland to beat Michigan State.  That could be trouble. West Syracuse Butler Pittsburgh Kansas State Butler over......

• Top Travel Places to Go in 2010 reprinted from New York Times 2. Patagonia Wine Country Ten years ago, a group of adventurous winemakers set their sights on an Argentine valley called San Patricio del Chañar, an unusually fertile and eerily beautiful corner of Patagonia. They plowed, planted and waited. The outcome? A blossoming wine country with......
• Things I am Doing Before Selling my House When I was a kid, my parents used to switch houses every year or so. They were basically ancestors of what we call “house flipping” today. 25 years ago, house flipping was not very popular and there were not 10 “flip that house” reality TV shows. They were not......
• Facebook Phone Wins Phone Of The Year 2009 - What Will Win In 2010? As we come to the end of the Mobile World Congress, this year's 'Best Mobile Phone' has been announced: the little Three INQ1, the Facebook phone itself. Let's take a look at how it won, and look forward to what will take its place next year... Three INQ1 - the......

Well, I picked 21 winners out of 32 in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament.  The only losers that will cost me points in Round 2 are Georgetown and Temple, which were two big upsets.  I’ll have to check my standings when I get back to work on Monday.  My Final Four picks are all still alive, which being all Number Ones, they should be.

I’ll post my results for Round 2 on Tuesday.  Wish me luck!

• Sun-Tzu Sunday, August 23, 2009 Photo by nuomi Here's this week's update for Sun-Tzu Sunday.  Sun-Tzu was a military strategist of ancient China.   Every Sunday this summer, I'm presenting an excerpt from his treatise The Art of War.  This week's passage comes from the fifth chapter entitled Potential Energy. Relying on the energy,......
• Barbaric Book Review: Die Broke by Stephen M. Pollan, Part 4 This is Part 4 of my review of Die Broke.  You can read the first three parts of this series by clicking on the following links: Die Broke, Part 1 - Quit Today Die Broke, Part 2 - Pay Cash Die Broke, Part 3 - Don't Retire Step 4: Die......
• Dashing Through the Snow... Photo by jronaldlee ...or should I say, sloshing through the snow.  Another Friday, another snowstorm.  Nothing quite like waking up to a morning of snow shoveling before heading off to work.  I must be getting old; I used to live for days like today, when I picked up extra......

• NCAA basketball: Sweet 16 preview [/caption] The first two rounds of the NCAA basketball championships were filled with the typical dominating performances and shocking upsets of March Madness. The stage is now set for the Sweet 16, which kicks off on Thursday. Here’s a look at the matchups: East Regional Washington (11) vs. West Virginia......
• Here's what we're looking at for the US Open right now: Arthur Ashe Stadium's Men's Singles, during the first round: - Roger Federer managed to defeat Devin Britton, 6-1, 6-3, 7-5. - Andy Roddick managed to defeat Bjorn Phau, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2. Louis Armstrong Stadium's Men's Singles, during the first round: - James Blake managed to defeat Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, 6-1,......
• Slocum Suprises All With Barclays Win Slocum has managed to finally make a name for himself after capturing the win at Barclays, the first PGA tour playoffs for the season. Heath Slocum surprised all, because he barely managed to qualify for the Barclays, and yet he managed to emerge from a crowded pack of players yesterday.......

Photo by Sonnett

Yesterday, I revealed my second round winners in the NCAA Tournament.  Today, I’ll show you my Elite Eight picks.

Midwest

• Kansas
• Ohio State

West

• Syracuse
• Kansas State

East

• Kentucky
• West Virginia

South

• Duke
• Baylor

Who will make it to the Final Four?  I’ll give you my picks tomorrow.

• Are Layoffs Harder for Men? The sting of layoffs can be sharper for men, according to this Yahoo Finance article from the New York Times.  If it sounds like the Times article is a little sexist, you're probably right: While gender roles are malleable, and many people are adjusting the boundaries, the roles that have......
• Are You on "Lombardi Time"? Vince Lombardi, the all-time great football coach of the Green Bay Packers, epitomized preparation and hard work.  He also operated on "Lombardi Time", the principle that you should show up to a meeting, prepared, at least 10-15 minutes early.  His winning record speaks to the success of his time......
• NCAA 1st Round Results Well, I picked 21 winners out of 32 in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament.  The only losers that will cost me points in Round 2 are Georgetown and Temple, which were two big upsets.  I'll have to check my standings when I get back to work on Monday. ......

• College basketball winners and losers [/caption] By Jason King, College basketball’s regular season will end the same way it began – with Kansas on top. The second-ranked Jayhawks will almost certainly catapult back to the top of the Associated Press rankings following Saturday’s 77-56 throttling of Missouri in Columbia. Kansas’ impending ascension, though, wouldn’t be......
• NCAA Men Basketball Tournament Bracket - 2010 [/caption] Kansas, Kentucky, Duke and Syracuse earned top billing and the No. 1 seeds for the NCAA tournament Sunday, with the Jayhawks named the top seed overall for the 2010 version of March Madness. With all the conference tournaments complete, the NCAA selection committee rolled out its 65-team bracket, setting......
• Azinger Rules Out Possibility of Returning as U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Paul Azinger who was responsible for leading the United States Ryder cup team into victory this year has announced that he does not plan on returning as captain for the U.S. Ryder cup team for the 2010 matches, which are to be held in Wales. His victory was a great......

Photo by Sonnett

Yesterday, I revealed my picks for the first round of the NCAA Tournament.  Today, I’ll reveal my projected Second Round winners:

Midwest

• Kansas
• Maryland
• Georgetown
• Ohio State

I picked Maryland to beat Michigan State.  That could be trouble.

West

• Syracuse
• Butler
• Pittsburgh
• Kansas State

Butler over Vanderbilt.  Seems like a safe bet.

East

• Kentucky
• Temple
• New Mexico
• West Virginia

Temple vs. Wisconsin is almost a coin flip.

South

• Duke
• Texas A&M
• Baylor
• Villanova

I never win with Purdue, so this time I wised up and took A&M.  Don’t let me down, Aggies!

Tomorrow: My Elite Eight picks.

• NCAA 1st Round Results Well, I picked 21 winners out of 32 in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament.  The only losers that will cost me points in Round 2 are Georgetown and Temple, which were two big upsets.  I'll have to check my standings when I get back to work on Monday. ......
• A Trip to Greenport Because we blew for a great vacation in the Bahamas last year, my family will be taking day trips as part of our Staycation (God, I hate that word) strategy.  There's plenty to do within driving distance, so Tri-State area, watch out, here come the Barbarians!  Our first target:......
• A First Time for Everything? I was in a meeting, along with a number of my coworkers (including the Comedian), with my boss' boss, Fearless Leader, the VP of Finance for my division.  After his assurance that we, as a company, were on the right track, he went around the room, asking what projects......

• NFL Draft Grades - AFC [/caption] by:Nolan Nawrocki, It is never fair to evaluate drafts before talent is even given a chance to prove itself in the NFL, as the intangibles such as toughness, competitiveness and determination often exceed even the greatest talent. With that being said, there is an art to understanding where players......
• Tennis Preview: The West Virginia Open Final preparations are currently being made for the West Virginia Open, the 48th of its kind, which is slated to begin on July 22 and last until July 26, and will be held at the Oglebay Tennis Center. This event is building a great amount of following, especially when you......
• NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship - Facts [/caption] The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 65 college basketball teams, both conference champions and at-large selections. The tournament, organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), was created in 1939 by the National Association of......

Photo by Sonnett

It’s tournament time again, and I thought I’d share my projected first-round winners:

Midwest

• Kansas
• UNLV
• Michigan State
• Maryland
• Tennessee
• Georgetown
• Georgia Tech
• Ohio State

I picked Georgia Tech over Oklahoma State, otherwise it’s favorites all the way.

West

• Syracuse
• Florida State
• Butler
• Vanderbilt
• Minnesota
• Pittsburgh
• BYU
• Kansas State

Two underdogs here: Florida State and Minnesota.  One of my buddy’s has a son that goes to Florida State, so maybe that swayed me.

East

• Kentucky
• Texas
• Temple
• Wisconsin
• Marquette
• New Mexico
• Missouri
• West Virginia

The only underdog that I picked here was Missouri.

South

• Duke
• Louisville
• Texas A&M
• Purdue
• Notre Dame
• Baylor
• Richmond
• Villanova

Louisville over California is the only underdog pick.

You can check out all of my picks by clicking on the following Excel file: NCAA

Tomorrow: My 2nd round projected winners.  I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

• Roasted to Death Photo by lightmatter A recent Yahoo! News article brought to light the hardships of California's farm workers.  You can read the original article here.  A lawsuit is underway due to the deaths by heatstroke of five farm workers.  The core body temperature of one guy was 108 degrees!  So......
• Are You on "Lombardi Time"? Vince Lombardi, the all-time great football coach of the Green Bay Packers, epitomized preparation and hard work.  He also operated on "Lombardi Time", the principle that you should show up to a meeting, prepared, at least 10-15 minutes early.  His winning record speaks to the success of his time......
• Who Have You Taken for Granted Today? Every office has that generous guy who's got a stash of candy for everyone to enjoy.  At my old company, I worked with a little Italian guy from the Bronx.  Let's call him Cosimo.  Cosimo was that guy.  His cubicle was brimming with Snickers bars, Chips Ahoy cookies, Twizzlers, Animal......

• 500 More Useless Facts [/caption] Most American car horns honk in the key of F. The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan." Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts. Every time you lick a stamp, you consume 1/10 of a calorie. The average person falls asleep in seven minutes. Studies......
• NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament Round 1 Scores [/caption] March 18, 2010 Round 1 Scores (1) Kansas 90 Lehigh 74 (Final) (2) Kentucky 100 East Tennessee St. 71 (Final) (7) Kansas St. 82 North Texas 62 (Final) (8) Butler 77 (25) UTEP 59 (Final) (9) Villanova 73 Robert Morris 70 (Final OT) (10) New Mexico 62 Montana 57......
• Green Paint and VOCs According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the air that we breathe indoors is up to three times more polluted than the air outside.  This impure air is regarded as one of the top hazards to our health.  And, the paints in our homes are among the foremost sources of......