Personally, after some last minute shopping, we're planning a quiet night at home on Christmas Eve.  After that, my family is going to go on a similar cross-state trek to what we did over Thanksgiving, but that's okay - we'll travel just about any distance for turkey, dressing, and homemade eggnog.  

Guru Brian plans on gathering his Guru clan and spending Christmas Eve together at home as well.  He's looking forward to waking up and seeing what Santa brings good little Gurus and plans to play with his toys all day long.  Then all the Guru cousins show up and they have a white elephant gift exchange.  Sounds like fun!

Guru Lloyd says, "This year I will be home with family in Texas spending time with friends and loved ones.  Being that I am a work-holic, the break will be short lived, and I will be back to work saving the world!"  I know I, for one, feel safer with him out there Guru-ing away.

Whether you're staying home or traveling far, stay warm and safe and have a peaceful and happy holiday.  We'd love to hear all about what your family has planned for the next couple of weeks - chime in below in the comments!

Finally My version of Christmas Present!!!  A nordic Viking that has an accent halfway between Arnold and the Swedish Chef from the muppets.  I am holding in my cage Ignorance and Want, in case you were wondering the skeletons I did not make... but everything else I made from scratch.  There eyes light up red like little terminators and the mouths are electronically puppeted via hidden switches.  I love this character he my favorite! Each year I try to improve the costume this year it was Ignorance and Want.  This is what I do for the entire month of December all the way up until Christmas.  We just finished our run for the year and now I'm looking for a little me time and some well diserved time off.

Merry Christmas to all and as Tiny Tim would say, "God Bless US Everyone"

• Jane's Wall Collection Christmas Tree. This is an amazing Christmas tree wall collage that's a year-round decoration. I could even imagine putting a digital picture frame (or two) scattered around in there and hook it up to Flickr via FiOS. Get your friends and family to add to the photo pool, and you'll have your own mini memory wall.
• Alternative Uses for Christmas Lights. Some awesome ideas in here, like decorating your chandelier or the underside of kitchen cabinets, filling a big vase with lights and using it as a centerpiece, or tacking a tree in lights up on a wall if you don't have room for a real one.
• Downloadable Holiday Decor. Don't have time to do all the decorating? Download it, then let the kids cut it out and string it together into bunting. These are wonderful calligraphy pieces for your home and tree.
• Do some last minute crafts. Make foam gingerbread men and beaded candy cane ornaments for the tree, plus do some sprucing up with ribbons and picture frames, and you will be halfway on the road to Martha Stewart!
• Doily Snowflakes. Speaking of Martha, this how-to for doily snowflakes has two steps - that's it, two - and they look beautiful. I'd have hung them on all my windows if I found this page last week!
• Holiday Card Wall. I knew I wasn't the only one who saves all those holiday cards I get every year! Who's Your Mama is sticking them up on the wall until she puts them into a photo album, but I have also seen people who string cards dating back for years onto ribbons and hang them from from ceiling to floor all over the house.

1. Rubik's Cube. It's retro. It's still hip. And it still makes your brain hurt. Remember the hours you spent twisting the cube, sure that the solution was just around the corner only to have it slip out of your grasp and all the colors get jumbled up again as you started babbling incoherently about edge pieces matching the center? Now you can share the love - and the pain - with the kiddos in your life. $4.99. Amazon.com.
2. The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Show me a kid who doesn't know about Harry Potter and I'll show you a kid who's not from our planet. Beedle is a collection of fairy tales set in the Harry Potter universe for those Muggles who just can't get enough wizard lore. $7.14, Amazon.com.
3. Verizon Games on Demand. Okay, quick – would you rather go to the big box store, pay a bunch of money to buy a game and fight crowds to check out, then fight traffic to get home, or would you like to download games on demand from the comfort of your own home? I thought so. This subscription service lets you choose whether you want family games, puzzle games, or unlimited games and includes titles from Rayman Raving Rabbids to Fable to Mafia. Think you'll be able to give up the controller long enough to let the kids play for a while? $4.99-$14.99/month, Verizon.
4. Electric Toothbrush. It might not be the most glamorous present, but this little toothbrush here is what made dentist visits with my kids go from "Ugh!" to "Yay!" The ones with the smaller heads are just right for kid mouths, and they help scrub in places that are hard to reach with regular brushes. Your dentist will thank you, and so will your kids when they hear the magic words, "No cavities." $19.99, Walgreens.
5. Eyeclops Bionic Eye. There's a whole new macro world out there, and as long as you don't look too closely at the carpet (ahhh-choo!) this is an amazing toy. Kids spent hours examining objects with the microscope, which connects to the television and gives an up close view of everything from a dollar bill to Uncle Claude's forehead. $34.99, Amazon.com.
6. Butterfly Canopy. There's something that appeals to boys and girls alike about having bugs in the house. This butterfly canopy is a really neat, educational project, starting out with caterpillars, which become chrysalises, then emerge into painted lady butterflies - sometimes they even lay eggs and the cycle begins anew! One word of advice: keep the butterfly canopy in a room away from cats. $17.47, Discovery Store.
7. Electronic 20 Questions Game. Over Thanksgiving I sat and watched a 9 year old spend hours trying to stump one of these. Hours. Several days in a row! Need I say more? $19.95, Amazon.com.
8. Illuminated Ant Gel Habitat. That's a fancy way of saying "Ant Farm," but it's a fancy-looking ant farm, too. This modern version has a clear, nutrient-based goo that ants can both tunnel through and eat, so that you can see right through it. $20.97, Discovery Store.
9. Bakugan Starter Pack. The latest in incomprehensible kid toy fads - if your favorite kid hasn't heard of this one yet, odds are they will soon. And girls are getting into them, too! I don't quite understand them, but my excitable children assure me that they are "way cool" and "you roll them and they open up and it's cool." So there's that. If you're just as bewildered by this as I am, you could always set your FiOS DVR to record the Bakugan Battle Brawlers cartoon and catch up on all the action. $15.91, Amazon.com
10. Sour Candy Factory. A whole kit dedicated to the art and science of making different kinds of sour candy. How cool is that? This has everything from gummy to hard candy in it, and you can control the sour. I can just see the contests now, the puckered, wincing faces. Sounds like fun! $19.99, ThinkGeek

And that's a wrap for this year's holiday gift guide! From all of us at the My Home 2.0 family to all of your families, we wish you a very happy holiday.

If you have been living under a rock (or in a tomb with a rock in front of it), You may not have heard about Guru Alison's new book Switchcraft! If you have time to kill this season, purchase a copy of her book from the link below, and try your hand out at some of the many neat projects in the book. Who knows, you may get inspired to grow up and become a Guru like us!

Games With a Purpose

Even after getting your copy of Alison's book you still find yourself looking for stuff to do, then I suggest you play a game with a purupse. http://www.gwap.com

Games with a purpose are games like MoodSwings that are fun to play, but actually help "teach" computers something that computer's can not compute on their own. Try it out and enjoy!

Google TechTalks

If after playing moodswings, gwaps, and building all the projects in Alison's book, you still find yourself looking for something to do, check out Google TechTalks! Google TechTalks are presentations given at the Google headquaters. There are some great presentations there on topics ranging from copyright 101 to website development 101. Check the presentations out at http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=A44D476C50BAB197 and dont forget your notebook and your pencil!

1. Retro Phone. There is nothing dainty, sleek, or modern about these phones. They command a presence on the desk. I can only imagine their loud jangly ring and the heft of the handset. This is a dude's phone, something straight out of a detective film noir. A guy with a phone like this probably carries a handkerchief in his pocket and solves mysteries in his spare time. $59-79, Pottery Barn.
2. Gift Certificates to Threadless. Have you ever seen an incomprehensible, adorable, vaguely political, moving, or breathtaking t-shirt design and wondered to yourself where it came from? Chances are good that it came from Threadless, which allows users to submit designs to be voted on by the community, and the best ones get turned into shirts. There's something there for just about any taste. $10 and up, Threadless.
3. Bacon Strips Bandages. Dads love bacon. It's a proven fact. So when the dad in your life gets a booboo, the best way to make him feel better is to let him cover up that gash with a strip of delicious, delicious bacon. The only problem will be keeping an eye on him to make sure he's not secretly nibbling on the bandage when he thinks nobody is looking. $4.95, Archie McPhee.
4. Bacon Salt Combo Pack. If the bacon strips bandages just made the dad in your life turn into a bacon cravemonster, this ought to do the trick. Three types of bacon salt (because what's salt without bacon?) plus a bonus jar of bacon mayonnaise. Because what's mayonnaise without bacon? And why is it that weird orange color? I don't know, but I'm sure any dad would love it. $17.99, J&D's Bacon Salt.
5. Interchangeable Steak Brand. Few are the men these days who brand their own cattle, but we can change that! Sort of. This steak brand comes with a three letter monogram and can be used to sear a brand right into a steak - or a block of tofu, if you prefer. $29.95, GrillingGifts.com.
6. Kill A Watt EZ. Know a dad who's trying to lower his energy use? Remember Lloyd's excellent video about the Kill A Watt during Energy Awareness Month? Now's your chance to pick one up. It's amazing to see how much (waffle irons) and how little (modern refrigerators) energy certain appliances draw. $34.99, Amazon.com.
7. Paracord survival bracelet. For the weekend warrior in your life, this bracelet is attractive and useful. It's made from 15 feet of paracord, which can be unraveled and used to replace boot laces, snare animals, make a sling, catch fish, and many other uses in a survival situation in case it turns into Dad vs. Wild. Besides, they look cool. $17.95-24.50, Survival Straps.
8. Deadliest Catch: Season 1 DVD Set. Is this on your FiOS DVR record list yet? There is something hypnotizing about this show - maybe it's watching the ship going up and down and side to side and backwards and forwards and up and down. Need a Dramamine yet? Dads love it because they can live vicariously through the crusty deckhands whose lives are on the line daily as they haul in crab pots. In the Bering Sea. In the ice. Where the water temperature is in the 30s. Brrrrr. $39.95, Discovery Store
9. FURminator. Does your favorite dad have a four legged friend? Then he will love this comb. I was skeptical of what was basically a dog rake for this price, but after I took my Lab outside and Furminated her, it seemed like there was more fur on the ground than on her, and she was a sleek, shiny, beautiful canine again! It was magic. $27.32, Amazon.com.
10. Curiously Strong Magnets. These magnets are so strong, they come with a warning. There is a whole page of ideas on how to use them, but just give them to your favorite dad, and I bet he figures something out in no time. $19.99-29.99, ThinkGeek.

Ten items any mom would love to have: these ten gift ideas have been lovingly hand-picked by a mom for moms as stuff that is cool, heartwarming, overwhelmingly useful, or otherwise an awesome holiday gift.  

1. Blokus. You're probably wondering if I've already gone off the deep end, because the first item on the mom list is a board game, but seriously - this thing is fun. It can be played with grownups or kids, requires very little in the way of rules or explanations, and is a nice dive-right-in-and-play game. I highly recommend it. $19.99, Amazon.com.
2. Grocery Bag Handbag. At first glance this looks like a smart pocketbook. On closer inspection, it's completely made from recycled grocery bags. I saw these in person at Maker Faire in October and was really blown away by how nice they look. An eco conscious mom would surely be appreciative of such a beautifully handmade gift. $65, Etsy.com.
3. Solar Backpack. I bet the mom in your life has about a skrillion rechargeable electronic devices she's juggling at any given moment. Cell phones, cameras, Game Boys, video, you name it. This backpack can plug in up to eleven items and give four watts of power. That's like Brian's cell phone charger times, er, well, a lot. Drawback? The price is times a lot, too. $249, Voltaic.
4. Silpat. You're baking cookies, you go to slide them off the sheet, and... glup, glup, glup - they all come off in chunks, half on the plate and half stuck to the cookie sheet. Used to happen to me all the time until I discovered Silpat, which is a magic sheet that is infused with leprechaun skin and unicorn hair (well actually it might be something like silicone and fiberglass) and keeps anything from sticking to it. If the mom in your life bakes anything on a sheet pan, she will love this. $20.72, Amazon.com.
5. Plush Throw. Take it from a mom - there's nothing like that five minutes you can carve out for yourself where the cup of tea is still hot, the book is right next to you, and there's a warm snuggly blanket to curl up under. The moments don't happen often, but when they do, they're blissful. Here's one of the ingredients. The new batch of microfiber throws are incredibly soft and squooshy. This one doesn't necessarily have to be the one, but it certainly is nice. $37.99, Macys.com.
6. Hobo Sign. From the late 1800s until World War II, hobos used to ride the rails and move from place to place to find work and food. They had an elaborate system of glyphs used to communicate with other hobos about what to expect in various areas. A cat meant that a kind-hearted woman lived there. Now, this sign isn't asking for a hobo to come live in your favorite mom's house, but it is letting her know that you think she's a kind-hearted woman, someone who is giving of herself when others are in need. Know any moms like that? $22.95, Signals.
7. Good Eats Vol. 1. There are a ton of shows on the Food Network, but most of the people I know watch Alton Brown's Good Eats because he explains in simple terms the scientific reason for why food behaves the way it does. If you don't have FiOS and haven't already DVRed season one of Good Eats, this is a great foundation of food knowledge and makes recipe tweaking, or even recipe creation, something that seems possible rather than a crazy daredevil stunt. Besides, he's darned entertaining. $29.95, Food Network Store.
8. Miracle Fruit Tablets. The latest internet buzz has been all about miracle fruit, which turns sour into sweet and gross into yum. Until recently, it was really hard to find for sale, relegated mostly to dodgy looking eBay sellers. Now it's popping up on far more reputable places. You're supposed to take the tablet, then snack on things like lemons, balsamic vinegar, dill pickles, and black coffee. Sounds fun! $14.99, ThinkGeek.
9. Onion Goggles. I admit it. I am an onion wuss. I make my husband chop onions for me because I don't just cry when I cut them; I bawl like a baby, eyes streaming, and I usually end up running outslde with a wet paper towel for relief. But they're worth it! It sure would be nice if I didn't have to take such drastic measures, and I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. Onion goggles, the sporty kitchen accessory, help to seal out those horrid oniony fumes when chopping onions. Perfect for spaghetti night! $24.99, ThinkGeek.
10. Egglings. These sweet little plants look like eggs, but when you crack them open and water them, you've got a garden, not breakfast. Varieties range in everything from herbs to cacti to hot red peppers, so you can match the mood of your favorite mama! When your Eggling plant gets too big for its britches, it can be transplanted into a larger vessel. Cute! $9.50, Elsewheres.
11. Anything from Zingerman's. Hey, I thought you said you only had 10 gift ideas! Well, yeah, I did, but just in case nothing struck your fancy, take a look around Zingerman's. They have some incredible goods, from artisanal breads and cheeses to olive oils to chocolates and candies and sugar plums. Yum. Prices vary. Zingerman's.

Okay, that's it for the mom list - stay tuned this week for dad and kid ideas.  As always, chime in to the comments if you have any additions, gripes, praise, requests, or other stuff.  See you soon!

Every new announcement of the latest and greatest gizmo - on top of what PCMag.com calls "the fastest and most satisfying Internet service in the country" - has me frothing at the mouth for the release date in my area. We have so many doodads in the living room that the glowing "Standby" lights illuminate the whole room at night. We have two DVRs, multiple gaming systems, and even a computer hooked up to our television. But nothing has made me more jealous of the areas that get FiOS as the announcements of their new features and widgets I've seen in the last couple of months!

DVR features: First of all, do you know what a DVR is? It's short for "Digital Video Recorder," and while it might not sound like all that in description, in practice it's one of those things (like a microwave) that you wonder how you ever lived without. A DVR allows you to automatically record shows off the television and play them back at your leisure. Kinda like that old VHS did, but you can set it up for multiple shows, multiple times, and multiple channels, and it can record dozens or even hundreds of hours of programs. FiOS is taking it one step further by allowing you to record shows on one DVR and send them to multiple televisions across the house. That means if you're in the middle of watching your favorite medical drama, you can stream the presidential debate to your husband's lair and also send Spongebob to the kids' playroom. No more fighting over the remote? Heaven. And if the kids come in to ask you for a snack? Just hit Pause, and your live television show will wait for you to come back.

Widgets: Okay, I'm a bit of a weather obsessive. I find myself checking the weather via computer several times a day. It helps me plan what the kids are going to wear to school and lets me know if I can look forward to one of our spectacular Texas winter switcheroos - on Tuesday afternoon we wore shorts in the 81 degree weather; by bedtime it was snowing! FiOS TV lets you check weather with the touch of a button. It also has traffic, national and local news, horoscopes, and What's Hot, which lets you know what your community is into seeing these days.

Games: There are some theories that exercising your brainpower will help keep you young and sharp for years to come. Which is the excuse I always use when I've been playing Sudoku for 3 hours straight. If I had FiOS, I could be playing Sudoku, chess, solitaire, and other games on the television set, allowing my family to make helpful comments. By the way, I'm sure you've heard the old joke that if you ever get stranded on a desert island, all you need to get rescued is a pack of cards. What you do is lay down a game of solitaire, and presently someone will be along to tap you on the shoulder and say, "Play the black jack on the red queen."

Not only are there casual games, but there is access to ESPN's Fantasy Football via FiOS widget, so you can check your scores, stats, and player information on TV.

Coming Soon: Did you just record an adorable video of your six year old daughter belting out Black Sabbath on Rock Band? Because I know I have a video like that, and it's even better watching it on the television than it is on the computer. "My Videos" will allow you to stream videos from your computer to the television without having to wrestle with extra wires and hookups.

Remember how I told you that a DVR allows you to record different shows coming up on TV? What happens if you're on vacation and you realize that you forgot to set it up to record Lost? No panic necessary; all you'll need to do is log into your account on the FiOS TV Central website and tell it what you want to record. Setting it up to record when you're thousands of miles away... pretty spiffy.

Coming a little later: Facebook and YouTube on your television.

So in short - you guys with FiOS are lucky ducks!  Having all those features available in one place sure saves space and time.  If you happen to run into Santa Claus, won't you please whisper into his ear to sprinkle a little magic FiOS dust in my direction?  

1. Make a holiday card. Share it with the world.
2. Show your kids your photo albums and home movies from when you were young. Look through their old pictures and movies, too. Heck, you might even get inspired to put theirs in photo albums and make some DVDs.
3. Make like the Wurtzes and bake cookies or other goodies. Let the kids help, like they did over onLet the Dog In. Kids can do a lot more than you think! This year I have my 7 year old rolling tamales, and she's a pro.
4. Completely clear your schedule one night and have a family game night. Play Monopoly, play Wii Sports, play Spades - doesn't matter, just play together. Badbadivy and her daughter from Love Shak, Baby have been playing Winterbells online a lot - it's a sweet little game.
5. Donate your time as a family to a local charity. Try calling around to community kitchens or similar locations to see if they need help.
6. Do something outside. Is it cold? Go have a snowball fight. Is it warm? Go play tag. It's easy to get the blues in the winter because we don't get enough exposure to the sun.
7. Start a tradition (if you don't have one already) by making a decoration for the house every year. Make sure to put the date on it. Crunchy Domestic Goddess has an awesome roundup of crafts to look at and fuel your creative fires (eco-friendly, too).
8. Take a drive or a stroll around to look at the pretty Christmas lights and decorations in your community.
9. Find a friend without family in the area and invite them over to be part of your family for a day.
10. Do something nice for a stranger. You can formally adopt a local family via a charity, or informally do things like buy a meal for a stranger at a restaurant, feed the parking meters on a block, or pay tolls for some of the cars behind you.

Okay, here's my pledge: I will try to do at least half the things on this list by the end of 2008. Anyone else want to promise along? Or have your own family traditions you would like to share? Post away in the comments!

Before I explain and setup the lyric search, I want to briefly explain the monetization portion of the site. For those of you who have played around with the mood player, you notice that you only get to hear 30 seconds of the song. Well, If I had created the 7000 songs that we have so far, I would be able to play the full song. I didn't so I can't. But all is not lost! Thats where our friends over at Amazon come in to play!

Amazon.com has a really great affiliate program setup for bloggers and web developers to integrate their products on to other websites. The program is free, and only requires you to fill out a web form and have a bank account. Once you are approved you recieve an Associates ID that allows you to link any product in the Amazon catalog to on your blog or site. When people visit your site and click and purchase an item, you will recieve commision (or a percentage of the sales price). The more people buy from you the better the commision!

For my purposes, I am interested in Amazon's extensive Music Library. If you buy your music online, you no doubt have probably purchased a song or two from Amazon. Its usually 1 buck for a single song and 5 to 15 bucks for a whole album.

Linking the Searches to the right item.

Now I could go in and manually input a link to Amazon for each of the 7000+ songs we have, but that would take forever and be just plain silly. (Not to mention the millions of other links that will be available via the lyric search.) Instead, Amazon provides a Search API (or Aplication Programming Interface) that allows me to dynamically create the links to the proper item in the Amazon Catelog. I actually found their API to be attractive and easy to implement. Visit http://aws.amazon.com/associates/ for more info on the API.

Why Just Amazon.com?

I am using Amazon for the first version because of its ease of use, and extensive catelog. My plan for future versions is to setup a custom system for independent artists, song writers, and producers to quickly and easily share (or sell) their music. One of the biggest questions I get from indpendent artist is how they can effectively market and sell their music, without the need for a large record comapany deal. Well, the goal of musicinstantly.com is to be inclusive to all music, and we've made it a goal to ensure independent artist are included as well.

So while development is under way, Play around with the mood player!

When it comes to options, you've got a veritable plethora ranging from the "press and click" to the much more advanced.  Don't worry about your skill level, because you are sure to find something that will fit your abilities, or challenge them if you are up for it.

• Elf Yourself (Difficulty: easy) This JibJab Elf Yourself page is guaranteed to be a hit with your children. All you need is some pictures of the people you want to be featured in your Elf Dance, then you click a couple of buttons and make them dance! Then it gives you the link to share it with others or save to your own computer. It honestly doesn't get much easier than this.
  

• Video Montages: (Difficulty: medium) Many video editing suites, such as iMovie, will allow you to take a picture slideshow and set it to music. The result can come out just as fabulous (if not fabulouser) as your paper holiday card:
• Family Video Greetings: (Difficulty: medium) The newer video editing software takes a little while to get used to, but for the most part you just plug in the video camera, import video, and go! Try sending a family holiday greeting, like this one from the President-elect:
  
• DVDs of Your Videos (Difficulty: medium) Once you've collected a few great videos of your kids, turn them into a DVD collection. A couple of years ago I took Christmas morning stumble-down-the-stairs-and-into-the-living-room videos for each year the girls had been able to walk, edited them with iMovie, and put them all together on a DVD along with a slideshow of Christmas pictures. They were a big hit with long-distance family members!
• Videos of Kids and/or Pets (Difficulty: medium to hard) You can create videos of your kids just as simple or as creative and advanced as you would like. Look around your video editing suite and discover the transition tools, captioning, audio effects, and other items that will make your project go from good to WOW! Here's an adorable video of some "kids" all dressed up for Christmas.
• Animated Video Card (Difficulty: medium to hard) Now here's a family project that builds bonds near and far. This father-daughter team built a stop motion animation project, did the voices and picked music, and put it online for family. I'm inspired to try it with my own girls!

Hope you have fun creating your holiday wishes and that, if you have family far away, this helps to bring you all a little closer.  

We'd love to see your holiday cards once you're finished with then, so please post them here if you would like to.  Have your own high tech holiday ideas?  Let's hear 'em!

Day 3 of the Development of www.musicinstantly.com and things are progressing well. I completed the first version of the Mood Search, so now you can use the mood graph to generate a playlist of songs of the selected mood.

Try it out!

Next up is to complete the lyric search then....

Monetize!

Monetize!

Monetize!