I was always told that Valentines' Day was a secular holiday, invented by Hallmark and embraced by the commercial sector to promote the sales of cards, flowers, candies, and lingerie. The history may be more involved and romance is the general idea I suppose, but this year I choose to be more circumspect. I can't content myself with a few token gifts to a handful of people; I want to give my love to all mankind.

Charity does begin in the home, so I would be remiss if I didn't start with my wife and son. They have been supportive and forgiving beyond what I can express here, and I love them both without measure. I can extend my love to family and friends, allowing my life's path to intersect with their own in those warm moments that we can only reflect on in later days when we're apart. I could even try to pawn off some love on the random stranger, with a smile or an unexpected kind word. None of this can hurt and I encourage you to celebrate in kind, but I'm more ambitious.

The truth is that with this effort I have not been entirely honest about my motives. I believe open source is an effective mechanism to achieving quality, but that's not really why I make make my source code freely available. I have every intention of building a viable business on my software, but I'm not looking to shake up the Fortune 500 or even take work from the service providers in my community. I'm critical of many players in the information industry, but my aim is to make them better. The examples I'm providing for the LDAPHttp Framework are a particular labor of love, since I have been free to design them around whatever it pleases me to provide. Yet what pleases me most is what you find engaging or meaningful, whoever you are. I give away everything on this web site without reservation because I love you all.

That said, I do have to single one guy out. In the words of the mighty Jack White (Orson Welles?)...

A Better (LDAPHttp) Example

Peace and love to you and all your valentines.