The Great Peep Experiment!

Every Easter you’ll find stores packed with Peeps (those cute little marshmallow things) that everyone seems to love to death… except for me. I hate Peeps with a passion. So when a lady at work offered me one this past Easter I told her I’d gladly take one. I wasn’t going to eat it but rather use it for an experiment. What experiment would that be you might ask? It’s rather simple really: how long will it take for a Peep to disintegrate if left in the open to rot!

I got the Peep on Friday, April 13, 2007. At first he just sat on the wall of my cube with a small Post-It note attached below with the words “Do not throw away!!” Over time though other people in the office began to check in on him now and then to see how his decay was progressing. This eventually lead to someone bringing in a little terrarium for him to live in… safe from being thrown away by the cleaning crew. Here’s a couple pics of him in his new home:

As the legend of the Peep grew more and more around the office, more and more people began to stop by to visit him. At some point recently it was decided that he was getting so popular that he needed to be properly displayed. We moved him from outside of my cube to the front reception desk so that everyone that walks by or comes into the office can now marvel at our little Peep! In fact, the pictures above were taken today as he sat there.

The real question remains though: How long will he last just sitting there? So far he’s done nothing but harden into a little chick-shaped lump of sugar but I’m sure that, given enough time, he’ll completely fall apart and revert back to nothing more than a pile of sugar unrecognizable as a Peep any longer. That’s assuming he doesn’t become the main course for an ant colony or something oddball like that. Either way, I’m in the experiment for the long haul so I’ll post updates on the Peep as things change down the road. Wish him luck!

P.S.: For those of you out there who’d like to venture into making your own Peeps, here’s a link to help you out: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Recipes/story?id=2966706. Also, my wife pointed out this site which has some great info on Peep research.