Our producers have seen a whole bunch of amazing-but-tech-challenged Hoosiers so far -- thank you to ALL the families who took the time to audition, by the way -- but they're still on the lookout! If you live in the Fort Wayne area and would like to receive the custom home technology makeover of a lifetime, you've got two days left to audition.

The official last day of our open casting call is this Friday, August 1.

If you and your family are interested in starring in an episode of My Home 2.0, take a few minutes and fill out this online audition form. Our producers will then contact you if they wish to follow up with your family.

Our new 2.0 Families will be announced in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

FORT WAYNE, Indiana -- the Techno-Gurus are looking for a few good families to star in episodes of My Home 2.0 and receive the technology makeover of a lifetime. Could one of these families be yours?

There's only one way to find out: AUDITION!

Right now there are three (3) ways for Fort Wayneites (Wayners? Waynians? Set the record straight for me in the comments!) to try out for a spot on My Home 2.0:

• The Three Rivers Festival (Website)
  Every day of this annual Fort Wayne bash, until Sunday, July 20, our casting team will be rockin' out -- literally, as they're set up right across from the main concert stage in the pavilion. Just look for the Verizon FiOS booth right on the left as you walk into the front entrance. Tell 'em Jim 2.0 sent you, and he thinks you've got the zing, zazz, and zowie they're looking for.
• Ft. Wayne Verizon Plus Stores
  Bring the family to either the Verizon Plus North (Map) or Verizon Plus South (Map) retail stores and tell 'em why you need a technology makeover. Just don't do it on a Sunday, because they'll be closed and nobody will hear you. (Store info)
• Right here, on 2pointhome.com
  Still looking for your lucky auditioning hat? Well, you can still get the ball rolling while you search -- just fill out this handy casting form, and if our producers like what they see, they'll get in contact with you.

So, what kind of family are we looking for? YOUR kind! Be honest about your family's habits and needs, and most of all...be yourself!

(Image: Fort Wayne Newspapers Three Rivers Festival)

I was pretty happy with how my Wurtz party snapshots turned out, but seeing a whole new set from another perspective -- especially one as gifted and artistic as Michele's -- is a real treat.

Michele took some beautiful photos of the Buckley block party last fall, and I think she's gotten even better since then. Michele was featured in a Today Show segment two years ago, in which she got some tips for young women starting their own businesses, and even more importantly, the validation she needed at the time, to realize she had the talent to chase her dream:

Michele has been a fan of our show since the very beginning, and it's been really gratifying to see her fledgling photography business grow these past few months, just as My Home 2.0 has. Thanks for sharing, Michele -- keep up the great work!

Mary and Joe Wurtz got the high-tech kitchen of their dreams -- a FiOS-powered, networked, all-in-one workspace where they can cook and run their home catering business with up-to-the-second accuracy. The kids got their own networked study area (no more sluggish, "haunted" computer!), and the whole family will enjoy their elegantly redesigned basement home theater.

A few other block party highlights:

The Wurtz Family Head Count -- Man, the Wurtzes weren't kidding about having oodles of cousins! The Techno-Gurus issued a challenge to the Wurtz kids, J.P., Dan and Genevieve: if they could get at least 50 cousins to attend the block party, they'd each get an MP3 player. Joe the FiOS Guy, our party MC, led the count, with row after row of fun-loving Wurtz family members lining the stage. Thanks to their homemade invitation video, the kids nailed the challenge...but kindly gave their MP3 players to their cousins, since they already got a few goodies of their own that day.

Bob & Ron's Worldwide Stereo brought their award-winning Porsche 911 Targa S, which was judged to have the 4th best-sounding stereo system in the entire world. After seeing these guys hook up several of our 2.0 Families with the best home electronics on the market, it was great to finally meet Ron in person, too. (I'd met his partner Bob last fall at the Irving family reveal.) Really nice guys!

Guru Lloyd's Family Reunion -- It was a pleasure to finally meet Lloyd's Mom Shari, Grandmother Momma D, little brother Kilroy, Uncle Sunny, Aunt Cheryl, and little cousin Devon in person, and to see them beaming proudly as he took the stage. What a warm and wonderful family...now I see where Lloyd gets it from!

The JBJBs! It was great to see the Buckley family from nearby Doylestown, PA, again, and hear a couple of tunes Jerry and Julia have been crafting in their Digital Home Studio 2.0.

The Kaczors! It almost wouldn't seem like a 2.0 Block Party without these stars of My Home 2.0's premiere episode in attendance.

MHA Photography -- Longtime friend of the show Michele Alvaro brought her camera and wonderful eye for detail. (UPDATE: click here to see her photos.)

t3h badg3r -- It was great hanging out with this teenaged computer wiz and friend of the show again. We met in person at the Words' block party...keep your eye out for this young man, I think we may have a future Techno-Guru in the works!

Brian's "PB&J Mechanical Munchie Machine" -- I had the extreme privilege of watching our resident "Mad Scientist" work on this delightfully Rube Goldberg-esque contraption last week in The Lair, and it was amazing seeing it in action in the Wurtzes' kitchen. Children crowded around it, laughing and clapping as bread went down a conveyor belt and was automatically slathered with gobs of peanut butter and jelly. A true, one-of-a-kind work of art, in the tradition of the Word family's Musical Bellows Chair.  (More on both of these inventions coming soon to our DIY page!)

Just because the guys from Bob & Ron's Worldwide Stereo got to go home a little early last night doesn't mean our Techno-Gurus did. It's always a challenge to build amazing, one-of-a-kind inventions in just 72 short hours, but all that hard work is worth it when the family sees their home, version 2.0...

Come to the block party from noon to 4pm today and see what Alison, Lloyd, and Brian were up late creating for the Wurtzes!

Block Party this Saturday at Abbington PA in Roychester Park! Come out and have fun!

Check out our invitation video after the break!

I know I keep saying each new block party just gets better and better, but that's not to say the ones before weren't fantastic, too. It's just that each time, I find myself thinking, "Whoa, that was amazing, how are the Gurus and crew going to top that next time?" And yet somehow, they do.

Here are just a few of the highlights and moments that really stood out to me at the Word family's party:

• Seeing son Lewis positively tearing it up on stage, just before the reveal, as he performed "Success," one of his own hip hop songs, live. After getting to know this soft-spoken, polite, almost-shy-seeming young gentleman a little bit over the previous three days, I was taken aback -- both by his presence and his lyrical skills -- when he burst onto the stage like a firestorm. It was almost like getting to know a certain mild-mannered, bespectacled newspaper reporter, then seeing his superhero alter-ego bust out before your eyes. Mark my words, this kid is going places.
• The tingle I got up my spine as I watched, via Jumbotron cam, Guru Lloyd hitting the button on the remote, making Mom and Dad's new plasma TV slowly rise out of its hiding place in the entertainment center, and heard the crowd's intoxicating whoops, hollers and screams of approval. It reminded me of the start of a huge arena concert, just as the house lights go down.
• Seeing the kids' reactions when the Gurus showed them their new Musical Playroom (more on that soon) -- especially seeing Lewis' eyes light up when he says, "Look, Mom," while pointing out his new professional mixing board setup -- and knowing that all the crew's hard work really is going to make an incredible difference in their lives and futures.
• Getting to meet "t3h badg3r" in person -- this 14-year-old computer wiz posted a very helpful comment for the Words a couple weeks ago, and came to the party with his parents. It was cool seeing the sparkle in his eyes as he met the Gurus and was presented with an honorary My Home 2.0 crew t-shirt. Could he be our first Junior Techno-Guru? (Either way, I think you'll be hearing more from this young man.)

My only complaint about the whole affair (and it's a silly one, indeed): Where's Jim 2.0's hot dog?

I was craving a dog with sauerkraut in the worst way all during the block party, but I had to do my usual running around, trying to get as many cool pics and videos as possible. During a break, I jumped on the fast-moving hot dog line, but just as my turn came up, the reveal was starting so I had to skip it. I came back after the reveal, and they were all done...NNNNOOOOO! Sure, I could have gotten a dog somewhere else later, but it's just not the same as one pulled from a steaming cart, piled high with sauerkraut and carried around a happy, sunshiny, early-summer block party.

This makes two dog-less parties in a row for yours truly. At the Wurtz family party, I'm a man on a mission: grab one at 9am and set aside for later! See you there...