In April of this year, Keller, who has lived in Willow Glen for five years, set up a web log or "blog" so fellow residents can swap news, views and stories. Keller says the community blog allows him to give his spin on the latest neighborhood buzz, from dishing out advice on door-to-door scams to hot-button issues like airport noise. Now, he hopes other residents will jump into the blogging fray and use this online space to voice their thoughts.

"I really enjoy the Willow Glen community and the local businesses," said Keller, who left his job as an executive director at St. Elizabeth's Day Home in Willow Glen to look after his two daughters in August 2003. "There's so much you can do with technology. I want to help more people in the community use it to improve the neighborhood and their businesses."

Unlike most blogs that only allow readers to give feedback and edit their own postings, Keller's blog integrates Wiki, an online content tool that allows readers to edit content on the blog or create their own page.

Besides sharing their opinions, residents can use the blog to market upcoming events, Keller says. "Small businesses that do not have the time or resources to maintain a web presence can just create a page on the blog," he adds. "They can put their menu online and let their customers give feedback or suggestions."

The idea of starting a Willow Glen community blog came about in December last year. With lots of time on his hands and creative ideas swimming in his head, the stay-at-home father wanted to do something for the community. "It's also a way for me to stay connected and be creative," Keller says.

He spent the next few months thinking about the design and features that residents would want in the blog. Besides a feature that tells Willow Glen weather, the site has links to other key Willow Glen-related websites.

Keller sees blogs as a simple tool to preserve memories and promote conversation in a community. They are not too tricky to set up and easy to maintain.

"With the myriad of web tools available, a person could be blogging in 10 minutes," Keller says. "Creating a blog is easy. The hard part is getting people to read it."

About a year ago Keller decided to convert his family website into a blog so he could keep family and friends updated with pictures and snippets on their lives.

"It's like scrapbooking but in a totally different medium. In about 10 years when the children are older, we'll have this incredible digital treasure where a lot of 'first moments' were captured," says Keller, who also runs four other sites, one of which discusses his life as a "stay-at-home Rotarian."

Blogs are an avenue for him to throw his ideas around and communicate with friends, he says. However, Keller quickly points out he's no computer geek. He calls himself an "accidental techie" who picked up scraps of technical knowledge from his years working for nonprofit groups where he often doubled as the tech guy. Most of what he learned came from "tinkering around," reading books and visiting web forums where other bloggers convene to share tips and experience.

"I used to joke when I first started that by the time my eldest daughter turns 8, she would probably come up with a better one, and laugh at what her father did," he says.

Whenever he has some free time, between taking care of 6-year-old Jocelyn and 15-month-old Felicia, Keller works on the blogs. It takes him less than an hour daily to work on the Willow Glen community blog and inspiration comes from all corners. "I drive around, take walks and keep my eyes open," says Keller who also gets ideas from the local community newspaper, the Willow Glen Resident.

"I keep a lookout for things that make Willow Glen different," he says. Even boring gray sidewalks have caught his eye. "If you look closely, there are stamps on the sidewalk and some of them go way back to 1939," he says. "The new ones don't have a date on them." Then there are calendar events that he also promotes on his site, such as art fairs and summer programs.

Since he started blogging, Keller has touched on a wide range of topics. One such topic was the recent "Day of the Teacher" when teachers "picketed" by wearing bright red shirts. "Has the debate about school funding (and 'teacher tenure') been a polite one marked by civil discourse? No, it hasn't. Hopefully, we can have a fair and reasonable debate on the issue and teach our kids the right way to solve a problem," he wrote on his blog.

Keller says "he's no journalist," but hopes his blog will get people looking at things in a different way. "As I read about things, I also think about how I can contribute and add value to it," he adds.

For now, his wife, Karen Martin-Keller is his "biggest loyal fan." Karen says that she religiously reads every update when she logs on to the Internet. "In this world where big businesses are killing local ones, people really need local resources and this is one of them," she says.

For people who get most of their news online and are "invested in the community," the community blog is a good gathering place, she notes.

Even though it's only a month old, the Willow Glen community blog is already creating a buzz, drawing residents from Rose Garden. Cecelia Babkirt finds Keller's conversational writing style inviting.

"It's easy to read and in a casual way, I feel I'm getting to know the community," says Babkirt, who is looking at a home in Willow Glen.

Babkirt, who works in the mortgage industry, is even thinking about starting her own blog. "It's interactive, user-friendly and can be a good source of information."

When he is not fiddling with blogs, Keller keeps busy with his other hobby, creating digital videos. He is in the midst of putting together a digital yearbook for Jocelyn's kindergarten class at Booksin Elementary School. At the same time, he's enjoying his "career switch" to a stay-at-home dad, spending time with the girls and taking them out on walks in the afternoon, he says.

While there are no plans to turn the community blog into a cash-spinner, Keller is more than happy to help others start their own blogs or create a web presence.

For now, the blog will be another thing that makes Willow Glen a special place, Keller says.

To view David Keller's Willow Glen blog visit www.willowglenextra.com.