OK, so I haven't posted in a while - things won't change much... I'm getting married in May (yes, THIS May) and I'm likely moving in the next several weeks, so I'm already over my head.

That said, it's all very, very worth it. Sara (my fiancée) and the boys are a blessing and I'm incredibly happy. That's what's keeping me working on prepping the house late into the night and giving me the energy to still get up early and go to the gym before work. Yeah, sounds weird until you try it.

A personal goal - I would like to eliminate about 1/2 my stuff (volume-wise) when moving into our new home. I've already made several donation trips to Savers and I'll likely be making several more. I need to do this for me and for my new family.

Oh, and if you know anyone interested in buying 1st and 2nd generation Transformers for a fair price, let me know.

OK, fair warning - this is a total "geek post."

Quite a ways back, I did an experiment and installed the Ubuntu operating system (a distribution of Linux) on a spare system that used to serve as my file server. While a fun experiment, I really didn't know what I would use it for. I eventually bought a license of Windows XP, installed it on the machine, and donated it to the local Montessori school where my girlfriend's boys go.

Flash forward to 2008. A friend of mine has been telling me for months the virtues of his "toaster," a small but powerful home-build computer with Ubuntu installed and a media center application called XBMC acting as a media hub from which music, videos, photos, and more could be displayed on a high-def television.

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Enough said.

So, this summer had a big "first" for me. My first "family vacation" with a family of my own - that of myself, my girlfriend and her two boys. We decided to take a week-long trip to the Big Lake Wilderness Lodge. The lodge has several cabins on or near the shore of Lake Big Lake in Ely, Minnesota.

Going there we had high hopes: a big lake with several islands was essentially at our disposal (along with other lodgers and tent-campers). Use of paddle-boats, canoes, and kayaks were included in the price and there were several national forest trails within a short driving distance.

OK, so it's taking me longer to post than I wanted. :-) The next post in my "green" series has to do with reusable bags. Before I started to see them pop up in every store, I saw something called a ChicoBag and was impressed. Folded up, it looks like a tiny little coin bag. Unfolded, it's a large shopping bag (big enough to fill with 3 2-liter bottles) that can carry 20 pounds.

I eventually bought six - plenty enough for nearly any shopping trip. True, it's petroleum-based (nylon) but if I use them well, I'm sure they will last years and ultimately greatly reduce my use of paper or plastic bags.

As part of my "green" posts I thought I would start off with a really cool discovery that I was made aware of by my girlfriend. One day we were talking about food, vegetables in particular, and she mentioned Community Support Agriculture (CSA) farms. CSA farms are agribusinesses run in such a manner where individuals buy a "share" in a farm. The result is a mutually beneficial relationship: the farm has a guaranteed income that is based on plot area and not solely on production; the share owner benefits by getting loads of fresh (often organically grown) vegetables and fruits.

Yields may vary year to year - awful weather may hurt production one year and the resulting shipments may be small. Conversely, good years may yield shipments that are large enough that the share owner may have to share their food with others. In the long run, however, it is a very cost effective means of getting locally grown, healthy produce that is picked at its prime.

I have often pondered the impact of my life on this planet. I wonder if I set a good enough example, if I use too many resources, and the like.

Lately, I've thought about it with increasing frequency. As a result of that, I'm starting to make some small (and not so small) changes in an attempt to get a little greener and to hopefully have a better impact overall. I'll try to write occasionally about the changes I've made, which are successful, and which aren't. Bear in mind much of what I say is based on my opinion and my limited knowledge. I don't have all the answers but I'm trying to discover a bit more about how I can improve things around me by improving myself.

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I typed "Dan Keller" into Google today and found my site is the second match.

How in the HECK did THAT happen?

There's something wonderful about having someone special in your life - more accurately, there are many wonderful things. I'm still counting the ways.

One of those ways is how you can continually be surprised. My girlfriend and I were not able to have a "normal" Valentine's Day due to schedules. As I came home late on Valentine's Day in single-digit weather (Fahrenheit), I saw a lone heart-shaped balloon flying in the wind on my mailbox. As I drove into my driveway, I saw another half-dozen balloons at my front door, including an enormous rose balloon. As I approached the door, there was more - nestled between the storm door and front door was a bag full of treats and small gifts, including two wonderful handmade cards, one each from her sons. Also in the bag was a lone rose.

My heart sank - I had no idea how long the rose had been outside in the sub-freezing temperatures. The stem was frozen and the petals brittle with the cold. I rushed it inside, and started to thaw the end of the stem in warm water. I then cut the tip under water (to prevent air from creeping into the stem) and placed the flower in a small vase. One petal was drooping, as if it were on the verge of dropping. To my amazement, the flower started to recover and the petal righted itself. Just a short time after I brought it in, it looked like this:

From Valentine's Day

A perfect flower that was returning to life before my eyes.

It's not hard to see how red roses are often associated with love. The delicate, intricate, and beautiful flower is often used to represent similar qualities of the love between two people. The thorns are even used to refer to those difficult times - with great beauty there often comes some difficulty.

I submit that the rose, or at the very least this rose, may also represent the durability of love. Given care, the rose came back to life, the stem and petals largely unaffected by the freezing temperatures. Many other "hardy" flowers would not have fared as well. Likewise, true love can be durable and given proper care and attention may come back from even the coldest of times.

Never have I felt so loved by someone not of my blood; my girlfriend and her boys mean the world to me and this Valentine's Day was the best yet in large part because of them.

I've certainly proven that I'm behind the times. This post won't help me any.

With the advent of unlimited Netflix streaming I decided to start by watching the first seasons of Heroes and Dexter. Charming shows.

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