Aunt Martha Says:

Nov 19, 2007 9:19 pm

Glad you made it home safely, Jim. I'm sorry we did not meet. This last video was the best yet. It helps to have great material. I did not meet you at the block party or in the RV, but I did have the great fortune of meeting Carl and many others. What a wonderful bunch you all are. It was right that all of you and the Jay and Christine Zaharko family should come together. So many are changed by the mingling of the Zaharko and 2.0 families.
Carl asked me to get a copy of the poem to you. Let me know the best way to accomplish that. I guess someone at Verizon could write it down from the video.

Aunt Martha Says:

Nov 19, 2007 9:26 pm

Finally, a heartfelt thank you to all of you, from the hundreds of people who love the Zaharkos.

Jim 2.0 Says:

Nov 19, 2007 9:27 pm

Aunt Martha! :)

I'm sorry we weren't formally introduced, too, although I did have the pleasure of meeting your husband, who gave me some great photos from the day before the party to post. (Will try to get those up tomorrow.)

I'm always zipping around like a nutjob at the parties, trying to cover all the angles, and I inevitably end up missing something or another...but I feel like we've met anyway, through all our blog correspondences the last couple weeks.

I'd love to post the text of your family's beautiful poem -- if you have it on hand, you can email it to me: 2pointhome[at]gmail[dot]com.

Thanks, Martha, hope you continue to check in with the blog and give Jay, Christine and the kids encouragement as they adapt to their new lifestyle!

Campfire » Blog Archive » Campfire Finishes Shooting My Home 2.0! Says:

Nov 19, 2007 10:38 pm

[...] 2.0 event at the Zaharko family’s home on Saturday in Pittsburgh, and all 11 of the Z’s performed an ode to our campaign. It was an extraordinary finish to most emotional campaign in which we’ve ever [...]

Beth and Bill Says:

Nov 20, 2007 7:21 pm

Jim,
We read what you wrote after you got home. Wow! We feel the same way about all te people we met. We feel sad too because we don't know if we will ever see you again. I think there should be a big reunion next summer with all the families and everyone who worked on the show!!! I really like the way you write. You have a gift of expressing yourself with words. Do you write other that on a blog. If not you should. This coming from a teacher who is trained to see talent and gifts in people.
Love Beth

Bill Says:

Nov 20, 2007 8:23 pm

Jim,
From a fan of three questions, you have a gift in the prose. I put up the first twitter comments and it is freaky on when or whom will respond. The kids are playing guitar hero and I finished beating the tennis game on the Wii.
Thanks to all and say hello to Oscar from Grace. Rock on.

half a JBJB Says:

Nov 21, 2007 9:22 am

We like that reunion idea from Beth and Bill!

Jim, well said about the technology received being tools . . . and thanks for saying that about the patience needed by the families during the makeovers and filming. But believe me, the fun and pleasure of the whole experience (including meeting and living with all of you for a brief time) far exceeded any patience needed on the Buckley family's part.

For us, although the show produced will be themed around "technology", our experience has really been about "people" - and more exactly, the good people we met who did such a good job of learning about our lives and what they could do to improve them.

Due to the points you bring up here, we almost did not do this whole thing . . . but sometimes life puts a roller coaster in front of you, and you need to make a decision about whether to get on or not. I am so glad that we got on that roller coaster!
Talk soon. The Buckleys

Jim 2.0 Says:

Nov 21, 2007 12:28 pm

Thanks for the feedback, guys...and the compliments on the writing!

I've written all kinds of stuff over the years, from a couple of screenplays, to most of a 3rd-grade social studies textbook, to a ghost-written travel book about Orlando, but the past few years it's mostly been interactive web stuff, similar to this blog. I do find it hard to take the time to write other stuff when I'm working, but I've been getting some inspiration from Cindy Closkey lately, whom I met a couple weeks ago and hung out with at the Zaharko party. As she said to me at Pittsburgh Blogfest, it's all about "getting your butt in the seat" and doing it, which takes a lot of discipline when you've got other things going on.

Bill and Beth, I'm glad to see you dipping your toes into the digital age, and I really hope you enjoy it. I'd never even heard of a blog until a couple years ago, and each new digital tool is always a learning experience for me, since I'm not naturally very tech-oriented myself. The thing to remember is, just have fun with it!

And Jerry -- well said. We're all very glad you decided to get on the roller coaster as well! :)

Mary Hursen Says:

Nov 21, 2007 11:15 pm

Here I am. An almost eleven year old, cousin of the Zaharkos, typing on the internet. I have been waiting to write here for a long time . I think the Zaharkos are one of the kindest and most lighthearted families of the century. 9 kids and 2 parents, jam-packed in a house they bought only two years ago. They manage to get chores done, entertain seven month old David, play on webkinz, and do other fun stuff before the day is done. At the party last Saturday, I found it to be the most exciting moment of my life and my family is really lucky to have this opportunity. The transformations of their basement and family room amazed me. at the party, my mother won an ipod shuffle! she cried when she got it, but it wasn't because she had won it! She was so happy for the Zaharkos, and the moment really overwhelmed her. My sister's friends joke with her, and laugh about it, but everyone knows that my mom didnt love the ipod, she loved the family. thats what this whole thing has been, love for family and friends.

Jim 2.0 Says:

Nov 27, 2007 11:38 am

Are you sure you're only almost-eleven, Mary? Sounds like the Zaharkos really inspire everyone around them, myself included.