late night questions

three questions, then i go to bed so i can wake up so i can read more. 1. is valentines day special or just a "hallmark holiday"? my cynical wife and i chose the latter, but then we had a chance to go out to dinner with my always-traveling, usually-optimistic mother and she kept saying how special the day is. so maybe my mind is changed. i just never received that "choo-choo-choose you" card in 4th grade. perhaps i'm bitter. don't act like you don't know what i mean. 2. what do we do about our parents as we (and they) get older? do we have more or less of a responsibility toward them than we used to as kids? does that responsibility look different? what if we only have one parent left--does that change things? 3. what does it mean to be a "conservative" christian? what does it mean to be a "liberal" christian? how much do these things have to do with politics and how much do they have to do with theology or views on church/ekklesiology, or views on salvation? in other words, how do you know when you've entered the conservative camp or the liberal camp? (this came up because of ray's recent post). 4. (i lied, there's a fourth question): what do we like about blogs? what do we dislike? [i'm having a "like blogs" week, but i'm wondering if that's just because i'm interested in stuff and want to share it with others. i've had plenty of "dislike weeks" too.] just thought i'd ask.