Family Soup, take one...

Welcome family! I'm happy to be writing the inaugural post of the official Hoffsis Family Blog. For those of you in need of background, the idea of a family blog came out of a discussion Steve, Linda, Becky, Doug, Julia and I had while sitting around the fireplace at Mom and Dad's a couple of days after Christmas.

We thought it would be convenient -- maybe even fun -- to have a single place to compile photos, stories, recipes, book and movie recommendations, genealogical research, favorite Spoonerisms, etc., and generally keep abreast of what's happening in each other's lives. At a minimum, think of this blog as a suppliment to our standard emails, which are difficult to search and archive, and quickly get lost.

Regarding the mechanics, I think you'll find it pretty easy to use. You can format text, upload photos and videos, and embed links to other sites. I sent most of you email invitations that should give you the basic how-to. I can add up to 100 other "blog authors", so let me know who else I should add. Shout if you have any trouble and I'll do what I can to change permissions, tweak settings, or otherwise be helpful.

One additional feature is the ability to categorize posts with "labels", which make it easier to search. In the right column, there's a list of all the labels used in this blog; clicking on one of those labels will result in a filtered set of posts. For example, if you're interested in entries that deal with food, you would click on the food (or recipe, exact verbiage to be decided), and you'd see a list of only those entries that had been tagged with the key word food. As a rule, we'll want to limit the number of key words and stick to them so that we don't end up with multiple variants on the same theme (i.e., food, recipes, nosh, eats, kitchen, etc.).

Finally, I'm soliciting suggestions for a title of our blog. I liked "Family Soup", partly because we do a lot of cooking, and partly because soup is a thing that can stand up to a big cast of contributors and a melange of ingredients (think Stone Soup). But I'm not in any way married to that title. I'd love to find something that wove together the concepts of family, gathering place, news, and collaboraton.

Consider this an experiment. If it falls flat, so be it. Nothing lost. If it blossoms, then we all have another venue for wasting time.

As a last word, I'll just mention that it's New Year's Eve, the last day of 2008, and a potentially good omen for starting something new and fresh. On that note, Julia and I are going to pop a bottle of relatively cheap champagne and watch a movie. Pleasant blogging, and a happy New Year to all.