This is all gearing up for tomorrow night’s Open House & Spirit Showcase. The Open House is from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. (that’s tomorrow, February 2nd, 2012) right here at The Nerdery: 9555 James Ave S. Suite 245, Bloomington, MN 55431.

“Our site is designed to show off our culture but also our capabilities. We have a casual dress code and free soda, but we’re also advanced in terms of technology, and we hire people who have a passion about that. Our site helps to showcase what we offer.”

Speaking of what we have to offer, you should RSVP for our Open House & Spirit Showcase on February 2nd. This is where you can come and tour The Nerdery, talk to our Nerd Hunters about working here, check out some of our clubs, and, best of all, participate in (or watch) the Talent Show. You can get more details and RSVP on Facebook.

Show notes:
Michael’s recommended site for managing the agile process – http://www.pivotaltracker.com/

As Luke Bucklin said in 2008 when we announced the second comingof our nonprofit nerdathon, “We are committed to this event as long as there are good nonprofits whose websites could be better, powered by nerds.”

That blanket-statement of commitment crossed state lines last summer at Chicago’s inaugural Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge, and March 24-25 will mark our fifth Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge in the Twin Cities. In the first five years of these nerdy deeds done dirt cheap, volunteers from The Nerdery and the interactive community at-large have donated about $2 million worth of professional services to 66 nonprofits. We’ll continue to consider this just a good start. Get started at http://tc2012.overnightwebsitechallenge.com.

For more the nitty-gritty lowdown and more information about this year’s event. Head on over to our News section.

In 2011 we logged over 426,000 project hours on 292 projects, added 120+ nerds and even kicked through the walls of our office to find places to put them. This year, we want to do it again and we need the help of nerds like you. So, whether you’re looking for a job, or just want to say “hi,” head on over to our house on Thursday, February 2nd from 5-9pm and enjoy yourself at The Nerdery’s Open House featuring our Nerd Spirit Showcase and Talent Show. We’ll show off what life is like for our 300 nerds, including what kind of things they work on, their random talents and what they do when they’re not coding.

A collection of our many clubs – including the MakerBot Collective, Binary Knitting Club, and the Footbag Posse – will be running demonstrations throughout the evening for our Spirit Showcase. At 7pm the Talent Show, where everyone is invited to show off their random and obscure talents, will begin in the Nerditorium with confirmed acts such as a traditional bagpipe performance, recital of periodic table of elements and rubik’s cube speed challenge. It’s true our nerds have some pretty remarkable abilities but we’re really looking forward to seeing what you, the public, can bring to the competition. Winner by audience choice will receive some sweet, sweet Nerdery swag. If you’re interested in participating, let us know what you’re planning to do below and come prepared!

For those of you who know you’d like to pursue a career at The Nerdery, our Nerd Hunters will be conducting fast-track interviews throughout the evening. Fast-track interviews include a basic skills assessment and a chat with a Nerd Hunter. Impressive fast-track applicants can go right to the next step of the application process, the code challenge, without having to come in again. If you’re not so sure about working for us but still want to learn more, feel free to come in and ask a few questions with no obligation. We’d love to meet you either way. Sign up for an interview or consultation time-slot on arrival.

RSVP and feel free to invite your friends or anyone else who wants to spend a Thursday night hanging out with nerds. Look forward to seeing you all!

1. WYSIWYG: 2243
2. The Nerderlands: 1958
3. We Are Not Cheaters: 1888
4. Don’t Blink: 1872
5. Teh Awsumbs: 1672
6. Teh Newbs: 1422
7. RAGE!: 1372
8. Nausea: 958
9. QWERTY: 300

The Nerdery’s very own boy reporter Mark Seemann has the scoop on the action:
“Biathalon: Revolutions was based on the concept of “run-and-shoot.” The competitors used nerf guns (their own or one made available for use) to shoot at high-tech paper-plate targets. The course was set up to have two competitors go head-to-head, almost literally. From opposite ends of the same table, competitors shot from “bases” at a series of targets. There were targets for each competitor facing each base. After two (2) shots, the competitor switched to the other base, even if those targets have been knocked down. If a competitor knocks down a target for the other competitor, it still counts as knocked down.

Thus concluded the first event of the Winter 2012 Pentathanerd Games

The winner (with a record time of 19 seconds) is The Nerderlands.
In second place, We Are Not Cheaters, followed by a tie for third between WYSIWYG and Teh Newbs.

Rubik’s with a Twist was a speed-solving competition, but “with a twist” that was revealed in the final round of competition.

The event started off with a massively multi-player (offline) round of speed solving (MMPORoSS) wherein the teams were seeded into a direct elimination table of the top eight. (Team Nausea obliged to make it easy to eliminate the ninth team by not showing up.)

WYSIWYG’s Sean Hickey eliminated QWERTY in the fasted recorded time of the day, solving in 33 seconds. Also making it out of the top 8 were Teh Awsumbs (1:18), [We Are Not] Cheaters (2:30), and D

on’t Blink (1:50).

WYSIWYG blasted Teh Awsumbs out of the games with another fast 49-second speed-solve. Then Don’t Blink’s Sean Kladek struggled against Justin Hendrickson from [We Are Not] Cheaters, who seemed to be taking his time. After an opening piece of hijinx where Justin unsuccessfully locked Sean’s cube in a filing cabinet, Sean never figured out that Justin had also swapped his cube for another cube with 10 red stickers instead of 9. Team [We Are Not] Cheaters was disqualified for the dishonest shenanigans.

WYSIWYG faced Don’t Blink in the final round and the “Twist” was revealed. Instead of unscrambling the competitor’s cubes (following trends from earlier rounds), they instead had to unscramble mirror-block cubes!
These all-silver-faced cubes have different-sized faces instead of colors to tell them apart. The two contestants looked a bit out of their element as they previewed their challenge.

After a back-and-forth, frustrating, nail-biting nine minutes and thirteen seconds, Sean Hickey was able to throw down an unscrambled cube, winning the event for WYSIWYG!”

Aaron Cannon, a software engineer and accessibility consultant at The Nerdery, has been blind since birth. To navigate the Internet, Aaron must use a screen-reading program that interprets a website’s code and audibly reads back basic content and navigation information. As a web developer himself, Aaron has become closely aware of common pitfalls that can confuse his screen-reading program and other issues related to developing for accessibility. In his talk, Aaron explains how his screen reader does and doesn’t work, demonstrates some good development practices when writing code for fully-accessible website and takes a plethora of questions from the audience.

This presentation is the first event organized by the newly formed League of Front-End Developers. The league’s mission is to create a space where fellow front-enders can gather to share and grow their knowledge of coding, design, culture and accessibility. Visit FEDleague.org to learn more about future League of Front-End Developers events and connect with the FED League on Twitter and Facebook to for more links, conversation, and media related to their group.

You can ask the nerds about anything related to working and life at The Nerdery, just make sure you include the #NerdJob hashtag. We’ve got over 200 nerds on Twitter just waiting to answer your questions, so get asking. And, if you like what you’re hearing in those answers, head on over to the Jobs section and apply to work here.