UPDATE: FudgieThon 2010

P&S have decided to run a give-a-thon alongside this gluttonous cake-eating, so they've set up a PayPal donation mechanism that'll go straight to Arlington Food Assistance Center! And every dollar you donate will enter you to win 1 of 2 $100 gift certificates we're pitching in to the cause. Just click this here button to donate by Sunday, April 11th at 11:59 pm:

Storm of the fabled Paul and Storm has one thing on his agenda for Thursday, April 1st--and that's to eat an entire Carvel Fudgie the Whale in one sitting. (Here's the whole story.)

And we wanna watch heckle cheer him on.

So we're hosting the Battle Fudgie tweetup at ThinkGeek HQ at 7pm on 4/1! You're all invited, except that you're not, because we just don't have enough awesome to accommodate you all. That's why you have to enter to win tickets through the magic of random. If you want to come, enter your information below by 6pm Eastern on 3/31! UPDATE: Ticket entry is closed and we're getting in touch with the winners.

If you can't make it, don't worry--we're going to livestream the terrifying event through UStream starting at 8pm Eastern, and there will plenty of tweeted photos, and some prizes both at the event and given away online. Stand by your computer terminals for Fudgie destruction!

Attendees will just need to bring themselves. We'll supply the snacks (Carvel and non-Carvel), soda, and video games. Donations of barf bags are not necessary, though we're sure Storm appreciates the sentiment.

The time of judgment is upon ye, o gods of Brick and Rock.

Below are our finalists in our Brick Construction Shirt and Electronic Rock Guitar Shirt contests. (We let them know via email already.) We still don't know who won--Nathan Sawaya and Neversoft are judging them as we type. We'll post the winners as soon as it's final.

Gaze upon yon entries with awe 'til then:

We talk about Twitter a lot, but our Facebook wall is frakkin' hilarious sometimes. And since you can't link directly to a post on a page's wall, we're gonna rock the screengrab.

We <3 you, Facebook chuckleheads!

The link in question. You should probably click it.

Little SDO is the first mission to be launched for NASA's Living With a Star (LWS) Program and this comment is referring to Timmy's FB pic from the SDO tweetup.

We forced Timmy to leave the comfy confines of the ThinkGeek server closet twice this month to visit New York and Puerto Rico.

The latter wasn't for work (as you may have gathered from the photographs), but New York was a special occasion.

We were voted into the top spot for a customer service Shorty Award by the twittering zombie horde, and we decided we should attend the official awards ceremony in case we won. Timmy even wore a tie.

Turns out we didn't win, and not that we're competitive--except for God of War and D&D--but we did pause to think what losing meant.

We took a look at our publicly viewable tweets and @ replies and realized that the judges wouldn't have necessarily seen us fixing orders, replacing items, and answering technical questions. A lot of the nitty-gritty stuff happens in direct messages so our customers don't have to share order or account information with the rest of the interwebz. (That's why we autofollow everyone--so we can DM easily and take care of issues faster.)

And then there are the tweets about quantum superposition and griping about Caprica (what a soap opera!) and how we'd like IE6 to die in a fire. Oh--and bacon. Lots of bacon.

So it isn't surprising that we don't appear to be doing all that much customer service via Twitter.

But that's only if you consider customer service to be just about fixing borked things. What if our followers want to talk about pie recipes and swap Princess Bride quotes? "I do not think customer service means what you think it means."

Here's the deal: to us, customer service on Twitter is about being awesome to our followers.

You want bizarre links during the day when you'd rather not be working? Done. Have a t-shirt that shipped in the wrong size? We're on it. Can't bear to go another moment without seeing the latest in geeky cupcake technology? Us either.

That's what you'll find in our tweets--and on our Facebook page, for that matter--because that's what you'd get if you hung out and played co-op Mario with us. (But you'd have to expect getting flung down holes, too, 'cause that's the best part.)

So if you ever need us to fix a problem order, or put the screws on UPS 'cause you're pretty sure your package was lost, you can call us at 1-888-GEEKSTUFF, email us, or start a live chat--but we're there on Twitter and Facebook, too.

Just be ready for some bacon.

Fig 1. Pi

Fig 2. Einstein

Pi is a magical irrational number that starts out 3.14159. Einstein was this crazy guy with wacky hair and, less importantly, a knack for theoretical physics, who happened to be born on March 14. So every year we celebrate March 14 (aka 3/14 aka 3.14) as Pi-nstein Day with the logical dessert choice of ice cream floats bundt cake pie.

We also enjoy a good competition, so we took advantage of the season with a Pi(e) Day Iron Chef here at the ThinkGeek MegaPlex.

Entrants varied from Elvis pie, coconut cream pie, do-see-domo pie, breakfast pie, ricotto and spinach pie (quiche, fancy!), chocolate pie, and more. When the Chairman swung his arm down and said "Allons-y!" we threw ourselves upon the task of eating and then voted for our favorites.

And lo, there was a pie tie!

We'll let you be the judge of the merits of our two winning pies. One is savory (read: bacon) and the other sweet. Feel free to try them in your kitchen stadium and let us know how it goes!

SAVORY WINNER

Breakfast Pie with Bacon by E

Ingredients:
1 pound bacon, chopped
1 onion, chopped
8 large eggs, beaten to blend
1 pound russet potatoes, peeled and grated
2 3/4 cups grated sharp cheddar
1/2 teaspoon pepper
extra bacon strips to weave as the pie crust

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line 9-inch pie dish with a woven bacon piecrust.
2. Bake bacon crust until bacon is mostly cooked, then drain (or leave drippings in pan for extra yummy).
3. Cook bacon and onion in heavy large skillet over medium heat until bacon is crisp and onion is translucent, stirring frequently, about 8 minutes.
4. Transfer to paper towel using slotted spoon and drain well.
5. Combine eggs with next 3 ingredients, then mix in bacon mixture.
6. Pour into prepared baking dish, spreading mixture evenly.
7. Bake until center is set, about 45 minutes. Cut into squares and serve.

SWEET WINNER

Sugar Cream Pie by Heather

Ingredients:
1 (9") pie crust, baked
4 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 cup white sugar
4 tablespoons butter, melted
2 1/4 cups half and half cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Mix cornstarch and sugar. Add 4 tablespoons butter and half and half. Cook, stirring constantly, until thick and creamy. Add vanilla.
2. Preheat oven broiler to high.
3. Pour mixture into pie crust. Drizzle 2 tablespoons butter over top and sprinkle with cinnamon. Put under broiler until butter bubbles--watch it carefully as it doesn't take long.
4. Add strawberries and blueberries to the top and refrigerate.