puzzle update 1: in what could be the most industrious 2 hours of my life, i did some great puzzle work...after sorting through all of the 1026-piece bag, i have linked 13 pieces of homer's beard together, as well as found 3 2-piece random matches, separated all the edge pieces into the bag on the right, located all four corners, and gathered a SHITLOAD of random pieces in the box (most of which appear to be upside down), as seen in the picture.

in doing so i was reminded of such classic simpsons episodes as bart kissing ms. krabappal after passing 3rd grade and episode #1: bart the genius...the shot of the scrabble board comes up a lot...this also made for a great trivia question last night:
q: what is a big, fat, bafoon with a short temper
hint: the word bart makes up to cheat at scrabble when his parents think he is a genius

-coach