Was blending this morning and all the sudden the blade stopped spinning. all of the lights work, and I've tried putting it on "pulse" mode, but nothing can get it spinning again. any ideas?

Pretty much that is what happened to me. I found that the motor has 2 "thermal cut-offs" (SEFUSE 113oC). If the motor heats up even a little, these babies kill your blender. They are thermal fuses. Once they blow, it is over until they are replaced. To fix this, the motor must be removed. The spline gismo on top of the blender unscrews with reversed threads. I suggest unsoldering the lead wires from the power supply board, and replacing when done. The cut-offs are inside the taped on white cloth insulation on the top of the field magnets near the brush assemblies on both sides. I replaced them (both were blown) with 2 of NTE8242 ($1.60 each, 240oC 15A). These are way too hot, but that is what I had on hand. I thought that the electronics were defective at first, and I replaced the entire board assembly with a small/cheap ceiling fan wall switch /speed controller from the hardware store (600W 5A) for $10. The root cause of all of this is that the motor fan is not working. The airflow is blocked by base. I put small extenders on the feet and now there is much more airflow. Only time will tell if this is an effective fix. etc. It really makes me wonder how it got past UL approval.