College Basketball

During March every year there is a basketball tournament between a bunch of US colleges. This year I decided to join in the fun by participating in the 'fantasy basketball' tournament. Basically you just pick the teams you think will win and then get points for each win, with points increasing as the rounds of the tournament go on.

Not being a great basketball fan, and not really knowing anything about the teams I decided on a somewhat unorthodox method of picking my winners. First off if I had been to the city the team was from I picked that team to win, unless I didn't really like the town. Next, if I had been to the state that the team was from I would pick the team, with the exception of teams from California for no real reason other than that my time in LA was probably my least favourite time in my trip to the US a few years ago. Seeing as I have not really visited many places in the US yet there were a lot of games that these first 2 methods did not cover, so for those games I went for the team with the better name.

Surprisingly these selection techniques did not work out so well for me, and I am now totally eliminated from the tournament only half way through the 3rd round. I was looking pretty good after the first round, on 19 points but then only managed another 6 points in the second round and none in the third. The next closest contestant in the group I am playing in has 59 points, so I am hoping to finish with more than half of that person's total, all I need is for Oregon to beat Florida and I achieve this lofty goal I have set myself.

In other news, nothing much has been happening here. A new coffee shop opened last week half a block from work. It is actually more of a chocolate shop but also have a pretty nice espresso setup. They were giving out free coffee and hot chocolate all week so I had 3, 2 lattes and a hot chocolate. The lattes were not too bad, but I think the barista needs a bit of practice, still not bad for his first week. The hot chocolate was pretty good, not too sweet and not too milky. They sell coffee beans roasted by some decent local roasters so I may try them out some time in the next few weeks. Oh that reminds me, I bought some Bolivian beans from the Elysian Room this afternoon and my first impression was pretty favourable. Quite tasty indeed.