Andrew with Aleasa Word, pre-block party, before her family's makeover reveal

I always knew our show co-creator and producer Andrew Kessler would be going places...but who knew it would end up being outer space?

Today is Andrew's last official day on My Home 2.0, as he is leaving for Arizona this weekend to start working on and writing about the Phoenix Mars Mission.

Andrew is one of the smartest, funniest and coolest people I've ever had the pleasure of working with (and I think our crew and 2.0 Families would agree) and while we hate to see him go, it's hard to imagine a more worthwhile project for him to be (sniffle) leaving us for.

Andrew is one of those rare, enviable people who is equally adept at left- and right-brained activities. He has a degree in mathematics (he emailed me a "math joke" one time, which I chuckled at and pretended to get, but was actually waaay over my head) and is great at all the "organizing chaos" skills necessary to managing a huge production, but he's also got a fantastically creative side, and is always ready with a hilarious one-liner. He always got my sometimes-obscure jokes and pop-culture references, and I loved riffing with him on set. The Mars project is very lucky to have him.

Our crew's affectionate nickname for Andrew is "Grandma," which came from (a) his penchant for wearing comfy, old-timey sweaters during the winter shoots, and (b) his penchant for being somewhat of a worrywart.

Above: Zaharko basement, in full-on Grandma Mode, as the Car Couch is being finished.

But his sometimes-worrywartiness stems from that other, most grandmotherly of traits -- unconditional love. My Home 2.0 has been Andrew's baby (grandbaby?) from the get-go, and his care and concern for the program and all the people involved in it really show.

During the episode shoots, when most of the crew were wrapped and ready to hit the sack, Andrew was likely to still be up, "worrying" about tomorrow's shots, whether the family was doing okay in the RV, and how to make this makeover reveal even better than the last.

Andrew, I'm gonna miss you, buddy -- the Wurtz makeover and block party just won't be the same without you. Good luck, and keep us posted!

-Jim

Here are a few more of my favorite behind-the-scenes photos of "Grandma" Andrew, taken over the last eight months of production:

Rocking the "Director Pose" in the Jesserer basement -- through that door behind him is the Bat Cave.

"Who gave that guy a power tool?" Working on the Irving family's FiOS-networked gym/dance studio.

4 Grandmas: Shooting with Red Hat Ladies. (In addition to the Jaeger family's home makeover, their community center got a tech boost as well.)

This was taken by 6-year-old Julia Buckley (one-half of music duo The JBJBs) during her family's tech makeover.

This pic always cracked me up - Andrew taking a giant whiff of the delicious cookies the Zaharkos baked for us on the first day of shooting in their home.

Looking on proudly as the Word family gives thanks (in musical form, no less!), just after their makeover reveal.

Posted by Jim 2.0 | tagged: Word, Jaeger, show, behind the scenes, Irving, photos, Jesserer, Buckley, Zaharko