The Final Four and Ping Pong

Ohio State have made it to the "Final Four". This is a big deal. They play Kansas on Saturday night in the Superdome, a 75,000 capacity indoor stadium in New Orleans. The final four is the culmination of the NCAA tournament and what every college basketball team in the country will have hoped to reach when the season started back in October.

I was never particularly bothered by basketball before coming here to the US, but this tournament has converted me to college basketball. What is especially appealing, and seems pretty unique in pro or collegiate sport here in the US is the potential for huge upsets with no comeback, and in this respect the closest thing to the FA Cup over here.

Pictured above is CJ McCollumn on the way to two of his 30 points against Duke. He plays for Lehigh, which has a student population of about 7000 students and were seeded 15 in their region, ie the second to worst; Duke were seeded two and had the winningest (that is a real word) college basketball coach on the sidelines for them. Lehigh came out on top 75-70 to make it only the sixth time a 15 seed has beaten a number two seed. That was it, Duke were out, as were Missouri (2) courtesy of tiny Norfolk State (15).

Still on sport (kind of) I have remembered how much I enjoy table tennis. Except here it is called Ping Pong and you play with a paddle and not a bat. Bar Ping Pong seems to be gathering popularity so much so that at the bar where I've been playing for the last few weeks, the paddles have Pabst Blue Ribbon (not very tasty, popular lager) written all over them. My Friday evenings in the Chard Baptist church hall seem to have stood me in good stead and I seem to be able to beat a good few opponents, even if it is happy hour at the bar.

Super Lemonheads Tuesday

A couple of days ago it was SUPER TUESDAY here in Ohio and the US. Ohio was one of ten states that were going to the polls to try and decide which of the four republican candidates they wanted to run for president. It was said that should Mitt Romney win the nomination here in Ohio that'd be it. We wouldn't have to listen to Newt, Rick or Ron anymore and Mitt would be the Republican nominee. Turns out he didn't win by quite a big enough margin, so the battle goes on. Probably time for another debate.

More interestingly we were off out to see the Lemonheads at a new venue for us, the Basement. Before we got to the Basement we had a quick stop off at Barley's Brew Pub. I decided against one of their own brews and went for "The Reverend" an effort from Avery Brewing from Colorado. At 10% I went slowly, but did thoroughly enjoy the dark, caramel-y taste.

Arriving at the Basement it was pretty clear that there were lots of pillars and the stage was lower than most of the rest of the venue. After we had waited out the openers, we maneuvered (without being obnoxious) and got a decent spot. They arrived on stage and in pretty much no time at all played "It's a shame about Ray" start to finish. Evan Dando seemed pretty together, though he seemed to keep getting his hair in his mouth and carrying on as though it was no big deal. He came back and did a few by himself, including "The Outdoor Type" and then the rest of the band came back. Kristen was holding out for "Into your Arms" but what she got was set closer "Style". She wasn't impressed, songs about drugs and getting high don't really do it for her, and it was a bit of a disappointment to finish what was a pretty fun, relatively tight set.

Seeking temporary Employment

It has been a long time since I last tried looking for a job with the help of a temporary employment agency. It might be America, it might be the fact that I was only ever looking for a job in a microwave meal factory, but here it all just seems a bit desperate.

After a recommendation, I signed up with my second agency. I didn't hear anything for a week and then an email out of the blue asking me to come along as a major company was setting up in Columbus and they were in need of 200 people to start in customer service right away. I made my way over and after filling out my first batch of paperwork and handing over two forms of ID I met with Allison. We came to the conclusion that I wasn't really made for the 3-11pm shift call center work that they had on offer. We talked about some other exciting data entry opportunities and she said she'd forward on my computer tests to determine whether I was any good at data entry.

After a load of tax paper work I didn't particularly understand, the differences being you could either claim jointly and they take less and give less back, or individually and they take more, but give more back, I went for the former. Then it was time for the drug test, oh yes. I signed something and then a chap appeared and escorted me to the men's room. I peed in the cup and after an awkward moment of us both waiting there in the bathroom, it was determined by the magic testing cup that I was drug free, what a relief.

Nearly there now, just my video CV to get through. I think this worked out OK; I answered a couple of questions into the webcam and tried my best to seem like someone that would do a really good job entering data for someone. I'm still waiting for the call.