The same thing, only better.

Thanks to everybody who voted for Lymabean - we made it to the final round! That means we were one of the top three in the preliminary voting.

This is where it really counts, so if you can find it in the deepest reaches your heart to do so, cast your vote. You can do so once a day, and it's only for 11 days (ends the 14th). Every little bit helps, right?

Here's where you vote:



And, like before, your vote won't go through until you click in the confirmation email.

Thanks!

It's been a long time.

Yeah, it's been a long time since I've put anything here - and now I'm asking for favors. Some friend I am.

But the truth is, Lymabean has been nominated for an Open Web Award, and that's a very cool thing. The site with the most votes moves into the final voting round, and we can use all the help we can get. You can vote once every day, so it would be tremendously cool if you could come back and vote often.

Here's how you vote - just put in your email address and hit "Vote now." Then go check your email... your vote will go through once you've clicked the confirmation email it sends you.

Thanks!

HSP'SD.

Happy St. Patrick's Day. I thought it might be worth taking the time to point out what I was doing this time last year, and mention that I'm wearing the shirt again today. I think I'll wear it every year until it disintegrates.

And for this year, St. Patty's would be nothing without the Notre Dame Lymabean.


More Bean logos/avatars here.

All the news that's fit to listen to.

I was listening to NPR yesterday, and the newsperson casually mentioned that pretty soon NASA will be shooting down an ailing spy satellite.

And I can't express how much that sounds like alien spy satellite.

NASA will be shooting down an alien spy satellite.

This is why I listen to the news.

My next project.

It bothers me that the days of the week don't go in alphabetical order.

Exhibit A:
MTWTFSS

We only have seven days of the week, and yet we double two of the letters already (two T's and two S's). We sometimes compensate by doing a two-letter abbreviation (Th for Thursday) but often we go for three letters (Thu), four (Thur), or everything before the "day" part (Thurs), just to make sure we distinguish the days correctly. Think of how much easier it would be if they were alphabetical.

Exhibit B:
ABCDEFG

Which brings me to another point. I'm tired of pretending Sunday being the first day of the week. Monday is very clearly the first day of the week, and the weekend comes after the work week is over. So, under the new model, instead of saying "We're open M-F 8-5," you would say "We're open A-E, 8-5," which is way more intuitive.

Here are my proposed names for the new days of the week:

I hope we can get this implemented soon.

lymabean = love.

So, I work for Lymabean. And it's awesome.

I knew the name Lymabean long before I knew what it was, so I assume that it's the same way for other people. Fear not - we're going to get that all straight.

While we're still a few weeks away from the beta launch, we finally have something to show. I spent some time this week, making a demo video, which you can find at lymabean.com. Click on the video link at the bottom and check it out. Go!

There's a bonus, too. You get to see what Lymabean's all about, of course, but the best part is that you get to listen to my voice tell you about it.

Blog writer's block.

I haven't been writing in my blog so much lately. Not nearly like I used to.

There are lots of things to blame it on, too. Probably the most pertinent is that I am now happily married, and thus don't spend my evenings alone on my computer. I could also blame it on a job I really enjoy, or living in an awesome place. Today, though, I'm going to blame it on having too many blogs. Sheesh.

With the creation of The Anger Blog, when something new happens I'm not sure where to write about it. So I compromise and don't write on either of them. Because I'm lame, mostly.

Either that, or my brain has stop producing thoughts.

President Hinckley, you will be missed.

New phone number.

I got a new phone number.

I had planned on keeping my 801 phone number forever, because I had discovered that area codes don't matter anymore. While in school it became apparent that the 7-digit phone number had given way to the 10-digit phone number; when everyone has cell phones, long distance is no longer an issue. We'd moved a step closer toward having one phone number that you have for your entire life.

What I hadn't considered is that in the real world, people aren't all from different places like they were at BYU, and many people still use landline phones (which makes long distance an issue again). Our apartment complex has a call box from the front gate that goes to your phone... but not a long distance phone. And when I got here and started telling people my phone number, they thought the 801 was the first three digits instead of the area code.

So I got a new number. I'm not crazy about putting it on the blog, for the whole creepy public to see, so send me an email or something if you need it.

New blog.

We've got a new blog, for the two of us.

angerpimentel.blogspot.com

I kid you not.

The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile was at my house Saturday night. I absolutely kid you not.

I was at my parents’ house, and they were arriving back from the evening session of stake conference. My dad is the branch president of the singles branch, so the branch members were coming over for root beer floats following the session. One of these people was the driver of said Wienermobile — his name was Jeff — and he just happened to be passing through at the right time. So he came to our house. In the Wienermobile.

He didn’t seem to mind showing people the inside, so I got some awesome pictures. Notable are the cool seats, the mustard detailing on the floor, and the sky-themed ceiling (“It’s always blue skies in the Wienermobile,” says Jeff, pictured second to last below). Also awesome is the Delorean-style door to get in.

The only thing that could compare with having the Wienermobile at my house was seeing it tower over the rest of the parking lot at stake conference the next morning. With Elder Richard G. Hinckley, the prophet’s son, in attendance.

Highlights from a fantastic day.

There are a lot more. But these are my favorites.

New rule.

Every time you go to a Mexican restaurant, get carnitas. It's the best.

By request.

More details and pictures from the Office Premiere Party. This will conclude coverage of the party. Keep in mind that every detail is an Office reference – I'm not going to explain them all here, so it's up to you to correctly identify their origins.









Decorations:
Whoreish orange streamers
Paper doves
"Office" sign on the door
Mustache on the bathroom mirror





















Food:
Hot dogs (polish dogs, actually)
Awesome Blossom from Chili's
Potato salad
Bagel Bites
A bowl of jelly beans
Baby Ruth bars
Count Chocula cereal bars (for dessert)
Mexican Lemonade
Grape soda



























































Activities:
People started showing up more than an hour before the episode was to begin, to start eating and to watch a rescreening of The Job, the finale episode from last season. After The Job, and right before the premiere started was the musical number – a performance of "Pam Pong," by Sweet Diss and the Comebacks, performed by myself on the guitar. Following the watching of the episode, we put it back on again (thank you Tivo), and screened t-shirts until people had to leave. It was great fun.

It's Creed! And he's in a band!

Creed is my favorite character on The Office. No one else really comes close. He mentions in a deleted scene in the Booze Cruise episode that he was in a band called the Grass Roots – and I heard that the actor (Creed Bratton) actually was. But I had no idea that the band played songs I actually know.

First of all, the deleted scene is here. So you know what you're watching, it's an actual clip of Creed playing the guitar on the Booze Cruise, plus a clip of him talking about going on tour with Janis Joplin and Cream. Turns out that's true.


But now to the good stuff. The Grass Roots did a song called "Let's Live For Today," which you probably know. To get your socks blown off, watch the video of it on YouTube. Creed is playing lead guitar, he's in the striped sweater – check out the close-up at 1:31 and his solo starting at 1:48. That's Creed, all right. And I know that song! La la la la la la, live for today.

The Grass Roots also did a song called "Midnight Confessions," which is also somewhat well-known. Video here. If you're looking for close-ups of Creed, though, watch "Let's Live For Today."

Turns out Creed did pretty well for himself before The Office. Coming up: more dirt on other Office characters, as I can dig it up.

Times the Post Office is not open.

• Before work
• After work
• Holidays
• Real hours on weekends
• When I need to go
  

My grandma's reaction to Andy, on The Office last night.

"Wish he didn't look so much like Elder Holland."

How to suspend a stapler in Jell-o.

Or, The Office Season 4 Premiere Party Stapler Jell-o Mold.
You've seen when Jim puts Dwight's stapler in Jell-o in The Office pilot. Then he does it to Michael's mug. Then later to Andy's calculator. It's a classic. And if you do it wrong, it's going to fall apart. There are a few tricks—some that we learned from cast member blogs, and some we figured out on our own. Here's how we did it successfully.

1. Find a bowl large enough for the stapler. Our was Pyrex, and that worked great. I can't speak for any other kind of bowl.
   
2. Use thread to suspend the stapler away from the edges of the bowl. As you can see in our previous attempt, we made a little hammock for the stapler to lay in, by taping thread to the sides. It worked perfect. I wish I'd taken pictures this time.
3. Mix up the gelatin. We used standard Knox gelatin. Our first try was with Jell-o and it was unsuccessful—this worked much better. For standard gelatin goo you're supposed to use one pouch for one cup of water. For this we used 16 packets, for about 4-6 cups of water. I'd recommend a really heavy concentration like that.
4. Add food coloring. That way it looks like Jell-o. Yellow is recommended because it's easy to see through (and it's authentic to the show).
5. Pour the liquid mixture into the bowl, that already has the stapler suspended in it. The stapler might float a little because it will be full of air. You can pry off the rubber bottom a tiny bit with a knife if you want... it will let a bunch of bubbles out.
6. Refrigerate. Overnight.
7. If you've used a Pyrex bowl, there's a pretty surefire way to get the mold out. Fill the sink with hot water, and then lower the bowl into it (make sure the water doesn't spill into the bowl, onto the gelatin).
8. Flip the bowl over onto a plate, or whatever you're putting the mold out. If it doesn't slide right out, put it in the water for a little longer.
9. Ta-da! Stapler Jell-o mold.

When you're done with it, it's easy to get rid of: Put the mold under hot running water, and the gelatin will melt away. The stapler will be totally salvageable, so you can use it in another mold later. If you want to hang on to it, it will last for a couple of days unrefrigerated—then it will start to sprout other life forms. Then you'll have real Jell-o... mold (chuckle).