How I counted up to the 1000th pie in the face

While soliciting donations toward the 1000th pie in the face expedition, I was asked whether I had documentation for each of the pied faces I’ve been claiming.

Yes and No.

When I pied the first face on April Fool’s of 2007 I never imagined I would be celebrating the 1000th now.

It took a year for things to get rolling.  On April Fool’s of 2008 I set out to see just how many I could do in a day by bartering and bundling with other visits. [It was eight.]

My birthday is also in April, so I made pies available to guests at the party.  Eleven more faces.

I brought a pie to a family member’s 60th birthday and thought ahead to bring extra whipped topping.  Sure enough, FIVE more people agreed to accept pies.

I (almost) always have people sign a waiver, and I (almost) always take a photo.

Problems with the Waivers

• I haven’t kept all the waivers!
• I don’t usually date the waivers.
• I continue to use waiver sheets when there are blank lines left.
• Sometimes people get in line without signing up.
• Sometimes people sign and never show up for their pie.
• I can’t always read the names because of the GIANT PENCIL and because sometimes the children’s handwriting is illegible anyway.

Problems with the Photos
I have sometimes had technical difficulties with my camera during a pie-ing.

• Sometimes I haven’t brought it.
• Sometimes the batteries run out.
• Sometimes I accidentally leave the SD card in the computer.
• Sometimes the hosts or guests at a party have their own cameras, and I think I don’t need to prove anything.  I think I don’t need to spend my time processing & uploading all those before/ during/ and after shots.
• Sometimes I forget to take the picture.
• Sometimes an assistant is taking pictures, and they miss the shot.

It was the Fremont Solstice Parade of 2008 where the count got a little blurry.  I estimated that I had done 15 pies in 90 minutes for a new personal best.  It brought the total to ABOUT ~45.  I estimated based on the number of dirty pie pans and empty canisters of whipped topping I had at the end of the parade route.

Let me tell you what qualifies and what does not qualify as a pied face for this count.

What Counts

• any sized pie that I personally hand deliver to a face
• any sized pie that I provide to an assistant which is hand delivered to a face (including mine)
• any sized pie that I provide to a willing face, who then hand delivers it to their own face
• each new pie-ing occasion of a face. (i.e. I pied Bill Fleming on different days, each had a separate count)
• any delivery of whipped topping directly to the mouth as long as some spills beyond the lips
• a face that receives whipped topping by accepting or initiating a kiss with a pied face

What Doesn’t Count

• multiple pie-ings of the same face at the same event (i.e. The kid who says ‘Again, again, again!’ is counted only once)
• pie-ing myself once a day just to boost the numbers
• having an assistant pie me on a regular basis to boost the numbers
• pie-ing animals
• pie-ing inanimate faces (statues, paintings, dolls, action figures)

I update the count on Twitter as soon as possible after each delivery.  It feeds to Facebook.  I then switch the count on Jusbytheclown.com.