This episode we discuss:

• Viv receives first college degree!!
• M’s bday
• Crazy storms
• Cheesecake domination
• Viv got a tattoo!
• M school performance
• LT graduated from elementary school
• Dad’s birthday party
• Getting the boys ready to go away for the summer
• Nephews stay a couple nights with us
• Update on RDs health

In the episode we mention meeting and interacting with the following awesome people, in quasi alphabetical order. No offense if I left somebody off of the list- please let me know so I can fix it!

• Brand Gamblin and Allie and Elf Princess
• Chris Lester
• Christiana Ellis
• Command Line and Andrea
• Dan The Fan
• David Kanter
• David Moldawer
• Doug Rapson
• Earl Newton
• Fantastic Foe
• Grailwolf
• Greg Wright
• Heather Welliver
• Indiana Jim
• Jack Jaffee
• JC Hutchins
• Jared Axelrod
• Jason Adams
• Jett
• John Cmarr
• JR Blackwell
• Laura Burns
• MAinPA
• Martha Holloway
• Martyn Casserly
• Matt Wallace
• Max
• Nobilis
• Jim Van Verth
• Mur Lafferty
• Nathan Lowell
• Paul Fischer
• PG Holyfield
• Paulette Jaxton
• Podcasting’s Rich Sigfrit and Carissa
• Philippa Ballantine
• Scott & Mae Breakall
• Scott Phillips
• Susan Z and Biscuit of Kulture Kast
• Tee Morris

This time we talk about:

• A Kid free weekend
• We went to watch the movie “21″
• We also went to see Baby Mama on the same day (I know, we’re rebels)
• DFH Meetup Part 2
• Gaming w/friends
• M and girlfriend back together
• Race for the Cure
  • Raised crazy money for the Susan G. Komen Fund
  • Mostly thanks to Tee Morris
  • Give Us A Minute Podcast
  • Paulette Jaxton did the race with us
  • Mae and Scott Breakall were there to cheer us on
  • Kory Mohr went out to lunch with us afterwards
• Mother’s Day
• Went with the kids to see Iron Man
• Trying to schedule summer for Viv’s boys, new dynamic of M not going for the same amount of time as LT
• Promo: Christiana’s Shallow Thoughts

In this episode we discuss:

• Getting over being sick
• Gut Check Cast
• Prepping for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure
• We got to play some Rock Band for the first time. Thanks, MA and Dan!
• RavenCon - Great Con, Great Peeps
  • Heaven Series by Mur Lafferty
  • Kulture Kast
  • MA in PA visited with Dan and Quicksilver Kid!
  • Rich Sigfrit
• M heads to his first prom.. and immediately he and his girlfriend break up again
• LT goes to see Jimmy Eat World and Parmore with coolest aunt evah!
• Promo: 7th Son Obsidian

In this episode we discuss:

• Health update - plague outbreak and (continued) E.R. adventures
• Comments from;
  • Chris Lester
  • Tabs from Buffy Between the Lines
• Voicemail from Doug at Geek Acres
• T-shirts we love;
  • Geeklabel
  • Thinkgeek
  • Metamorcity.com t-shirts - thru May 3rd -
• Props to Zack from Geek Survival Guide
• Music by The Shillas available for purchase !
• Request for feedback;
  • What is your biggest challenge living in a blended family?
  • Blended could mean as a step son/daughter; step parent; mixed religions; mixed race; mixed sexual orientation - blendings of all kinds welcome!
• Promo: JC Hutchins for Liz Strauss and SOBcon

This episode we discuss:

• The teens relationship
• of doctors and emergency rooms
• Much (more) home improvement (some a surprise to us)
• Metamor City
• DFH Meetup
• Scott and Mae Breakall
• Tribal Fit Club
• Marc Bailey
• Heather Welliver
• Dr. John Cmar and Laura Burns
• Paul Fischer and Martha Holloway
• The Balticon Podcast
• Brand Gamblin and Allison
• Calls for Cthulu
• Paulette Jaxton
• Richmond Race for the Cure
• Playing for Keeps
• Heaven
• Jim Van Verth
• The Pink Tornado
• Tee, Nat, and Sonic Boom Morris
• Morevi Remastered
• Chooch’s Mom’s Birthday
• Scott Siglers INFECTED launch
• Buffy Between the Lines
• Chasing the Bard
• Mur’s lessons learned from WASTELAND
• The Shillas
• Promo: The Metamor City Podcast

Jinkies! I think that’s the most links I’ve ever put in show notes

The second group were past guests of ADDCast including Tee Morris, Marc Bailey, Heather Welliver, Brand Gamblin and Allison. I’m not quite sure what they discussed, but there was a lot of laughter and Tee’s daughter, Sonic Boom, was bouncing between us in the living room and crashing the recording session.

Enjoy!

The Tribe is made up of writers, musicians, painters, photographers, hackers, and many other disciplines. For most of us, our creative side is not applied as part of our “day jobs”. And perhaps we’ve lapsed in our art, have never created something tangible, or don’t consider ourselves “artists” however we all have a creative spirit, similar sensibilities, and similar tastes.

Whenever possible portions of the Tribe try to come together in meat-space, which usually occurs at sci-fi/fantasy/literary/media/tech conventions. I’ve never been able to attend such a gathering, but I have met a few members of the Tribe over the past 9 months.

This last weekend Mur Lafferty, her husband Jim Van Verth, and their daughter The Pink Tornado were coming to the DC area and I was able to attend a gathering at the Dogfish Head brewery and restaurant. I’ll have a complete listing of those in attendance with links and some pictures below.

This was my first time to a DFH, though I’ve enjoyed some of their beers purchased at a Total Wine near our home. As expected, the beers were excellent drawn from a keg. The food was quite good as well, however it was rather expensive. My burger, fries, and two beers came to almost $40 after tax and tip.

Don’t get me wrong - the food and drink were well worth the quality - however what made the afternoon was the company! I started the festivities off when Scott and Mae Breakall came to my house to carpool to the restaurant. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, Viv couldn’t accompany us We headed up to the restaurant and met everybody else, having laid claim to an entire section of the second floor.

Meeting these people that I’ve spent so much time corresponding with through Twitter, chatting, voicemail, and recordings was such a treat! Everybody welcomed me with open arms and a huge smile. I felt immediately at home, and fell easily into conversation. My only regret is that I ended up spending most of the time at one table and didn’t get to spend as much time with many at the other table. This isn’t so bad because the people that I ate and laughed with were such a pleasure to be with and I know that I’ll have more time with everybody as con season progresses and we have more meet-ups.

Attendees included:

• Marc Bailey; host of Grailwolf’s Geek Life
• Heather Welliver; Marc’s wife and an amazing singer
• Scott Breakall, hacker and musician
• Mae Breakall, Scott’s wife; singer; and Executive Personal Assistant to Scott Sigler (go buy Infected - on shelves at your favorite bookstore)
• Dr. John Cmar, infectious disease Director person
• “Sci-Fi” Laura Burns, a bona-fide rocket scientist who works for NASA.
• Paul Fischer; host of the ADDCast and the Balticon Podcast
• Martha Holloway, Paul’s wife and producer for Dancing Cat Studios
• Brand Gamblin, host of the Calls For Cthulu Vidcast
• Allison (unfortunately we didn’t have a chance to get acquainted and I’m not sure what projects she’s associated with)
• Paulette Jaxton, writer; and fellow Tribal Fit Club member
• Mur Lafferty, author of Playing for Keeps, the Heaven series; Secrets of the Podcast Masters; as well as many published short stories and RPGs; host of many podcasts including Geek Fu and I Should Be Writing
• Jim Van Verth, Mur’s husband and host of The Vintage Gamer podcast
• The Pink Tornado, their daughter.
• Tee Morris, author of Podcasting for Dummies; Expert Podcasting Practices for Dummies; Morevi; and the Billibub Baddings series (among other podcasts).
• Nat, Tee’s wife (unfortunately we didn’t have a chance to get acquainted and I’m not sure what projects she’s associated with)
• Sonic Boom, their daughter.

You can find some more pictures on my Flickr feed.

After lunch many of us headed to Paul and Martha’s to visit some more and do some ADDCast recordings, which will be detailed in another post.

Such a wonderful afternoon and a wonderful group of people. I can’t wait for RavenCon !!

This week we discuss:

• Continued work in the basement
• We’ve moved the studio
• Still losing weight
• The new Nine Inch Nail Album
• Tween gets a good school report
• Teen breakup
• Teen driving
• We’ll be attending RavenCon and Balticon !!
• Feedback / Main topic from MAinPA (kids reaction to new boyfriend)
• Oppositional Defiance Disorder
• Geek Acres
• Geek Survival Guide
• Better Late Than Never
• Promo: Wasteland

Topics include:

• Exercise checkups
• Marathon training
• National Race for the Cure
• Cool Running
• Couch to 5k Podcast
• Chooch was sick last week
• M took a trip to Disneyworld
• Clearing through boxes in the basement
• Chooch’s brother and nephew
• Viv and Chooch ask for basement flooring ideas
• Promo: Chasing The Bard

Then we are proud to bring an interview with MAinPA in which we discuss how to make your kids birthday special when it is so close to Christmas, as well as other challenges with January birthdays.

Links:

• Birthday Express (actually part of Celebrate Express)
• Frets on Fire — I didn’t mention on the show, but this is a completely free/open source program that runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux! It includes the ability to play with a Guitar controller.
• Flash Hero (aka Keytar Hero)
  
• Promo: Better Late Than Never

• Family health history
• Health screenings
• Diets
• Selenium
• Viactive
• Green tea extract
• Promo: Mur / JC Hutchins / Podiobooks.com

We discuss;
Chooch’s New Schedule
Chooch on business trip
2nd anniversary of Viv’s mother passing
Chooch’s goals for 2008
Viv’s goals for 2008
I Should Be Writing
Mike Stackpole’s The Secrets
Geek Acres

Links:

• 7th Son
• Nocturnal
• Earthcore
• Ancestor
• The Rookie
• Playing For Keeps
  
• Space Casey
• Murder at Avedon Hill
• Morevi Remastered
• Metamor City
• Promo: Murder at Avedon Hill

If you play it in a podcast of your own, please let us know and we’ll return the favor with some linkage and promo love.

Special thanks to Biscuit of Kulture Kast for sharing his sitcom announcer voice

This episode includes:

• Our Holiday traditions
• A call from MAinPA
• A call from Doug Rapson
• M’s Holiday concert at school
• ‘Hey Wanna Watch A Movie’ podcast

Links:

• Better Late Than Never
• Geek Acres
• Hey, Wanna Watch A Movie

• Bug Eyed Monster
• In The 80s
• Chooch on Twitter
• Viv on Twitter
• Kulture Kast

Don’t forget - we are still looking for Holiday traditions to share. Please leave a voicemail, e-mail, or comment here on the site and share yours! 413-669-4720

We haven’t discussed Religion on the show yet, but I’m sure it will happen sooner or later. The concept of blending families could clearly refer to bringing children from previous marriages together (which is our case) or bringing diverse religions, races, ethnicities and cultures together. All of which is appropriate to the show, and are all certainly welcome.

So - with that in mind - please call with ANY of your traditions, be it holiday specific or not. I am fascinated by all of the above, and I’m sure your fellow listeners are as well.

The number to call is: 413-669-4720
Or, you can send an e-mail to intotheblender -at- gmail.com
Or - leave a comment here on the site - whichever is most comfortable for you, we’d love to hear from you!

We didn’t discuss This Film Is Not Yet Rated in the episode, but we watched it recently, and highly recommend it- especially as a parent. It will greatly open your eyes to the shortcomings of the MPAA film ratings process!!

Items Covered include:

• An intro from T
• Our early family Christmas party
• Gamer Dad
• Common Sense Media
• Kids in Mind
• Feedback from Doug Rapson of Geek Acres
• Our new voicemail line: 413-669-4720
• Amazon Wishlists (linked here solely as an example.. you know, as a service to YOU our loyal listeners.. really!)
• Line Rider
• Promo for Better Late Than Never

Notes:

• A meltdown of sorts last week
• National Pie Day (well, perhaps premature, but hey - PIE! nom..nom..nom)
• Some good family news
• Martian Child
• Accelerated Holiday planning
• Promo for a great new serial fiction podcast: Space Casey

For the Americans out there, we hope you and your family had a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving. For everybody else, we hope that you and your family had a warm and wonderful almost-the-last-week of November!

We go in depth about our courtship and meeting the kids for the first time. It was a very tumultuous time that included two near death illnesses and a fast forward button on our relationship.

No news this week since the main topic goes so long, but we do play a piece of audio feedback from Doug at Geek Acres.

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This week we discuss:

• How Halloween went
• T’s Gir costume
• City of Heroes
• Chooch’s cross country trip to visit his son for his birthday
• and mixing into the blender with their extended family

Promo this week is for the Crescent Station finale event on in Second Life.

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It was a big hit in the neighborhood and T was very proud to wear it. Unfortunately its hard to see the ears in these pictures, and I forgot to get one of the tail.

Topics this episode include:

• Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D
• Bionic Woman
• Chuck
• Journeyman
• Reaper
• Battlestar Galactica
• Lost
• The Office
• My Name is Earl ( Chooch went to High School with Jason Lee)
• Survivor
• Teen goes to the homecoming dance

Enjoy!

As a true tribute to the rigors and time constraints of a blended family (well ok, any family) this release is later than we wanted, but now we are on the map and ready to roll!

This episode is a quick introduction of ourselves, and some of the things we hope to explore with this podcast as a whole.

As stated in the episode, you can comment on each episode right here and send feedback, topic ideas, or comments to feedback@intotheblender.com

This was a rough weekend with lots to do. Perhaps we can squeeze in some time one night this week to record. In my head I figured we would release new episodes Wednesday or Thursday so Ep 0 still has a chance to live this week