Floats, Columns, and Repeating Backgrounds, oh my!

Ok, so I know this has probably been asked, and yes "use the search function", but honestly, I'm not really sure what to search for, so I figured I could just post this real quick, and hopefully get a quick concise answer, or search term, or link, or just something. Anyway, so I have a container on my site, and I need to put two columns inside it, but I need the columns to be side by side, so I figured I'd float them. As you can imagine, this made it so the container they were supposed to be in non-existent, and the repeating background in the container was no longer there, breaking the page. basically, I have these two scenarios:

http://pixel-tech.net/dt_mint_dark/index.html

http://pixel-tech.net/dt_mint_dark/index2.html

Thanks, and sorry for the stupid question. I feel like I'm getting worse and worse at webdesign by the day :s

Float the divs and just be sure to clear them. http://www.positioniseverything.net/easyclearing.html

Oh wow, that totally did it, thanks for the help once again :)