Earth Hour Results

As you can read, Calgary actually used more power during Earth Hour than just before it. I'm not surprised but these numbers could be misleading. It was still light out when Earth Hour began so I would expect an increase between the reported times of 19:45 and 20:15 since some people, like me, didn't turn their lights out because they were already off. People who were like me but didn't participate in Earth Hour, would have just turned on their lights so they would cause pre-Earth Hour power numbers to be low. I would like to see some power graphs for Earth Hour and some other recent days. Since it was definitely dark when Earth Hour ended, a power graph spanning 21:00 would show if consumption quickly picked up. Still, it's a poor showing by Calgary as photos show most of the buildings downtown with just as many lights on as any other day.

Observing Earth Hour 2008

... or, "Lights on in Hidden Valley."

I observed Earth Hour today. I turned my lights and TV off and my computer spent almost the full time asleep. I did take my daily shower in the dark but, with my glasses off, I don't see much in the shower anyway. I also spent a little time snooping on my neighbours. Photojournalism is something that interests me quite a bit since I like photography and I don't believe anyone in politics or the media with the exceptions of Rick Mercer, Bob McDonald and Peter Mansbridge. I might believe Rex Murphy if I could understand what he's saying. Since I'm such a skeptic, I have to see things for myself and I'll be watching Futurama reruns during The National.

Since I was alone and bored in the house and too lazy to go out in the cold to get a good set of pictures, I aimed my telephoto lens out my bedroom window to see if one of the newer communities of Calgary would be turning out their lights. As you can see in the during and after pictures, the answer is pretty much, "no." I count about four lights coming on afterwards and one turned off afterwards. It would have been interesting to see the view of downtown from the top of Nose Hill and see a wider sampling of Calgary but, as I stated, I'm feeling lazy tonight so my sample is whatever I can see out my bedroom window. It's kind of like deciding the Cola War by asking one person if they like Coke or Pepsi.

From my small sample area, I'd have to say I'm disappointed. Turning out your lights for an hour is a token gesture so, ergo, it's not a tough one. One of my neighbours even had their backyard Xmas lights on. Oh well, next year I'll try to get some better pictures. I feel like a Barq's or a Dr. Pepper.

Julie Walks

After a few little steps this weekend, we finally got some of Julie's first steps on video this afternoon. Two days short of ten months and six days from her first plane ride to China, Julie's getting around on her own two feet. More to come as events warrant.

So far, so okay

Commuting to work is going well so far. Three weeks in and I'm averaging three rides per week. There have been a few days with snow and a couple days that I drove so that I could pick 老婆 up from the doctor but, otherwise, everything's been good for riding. The numbers don't sound impressive and I lose a bit of recorded distance when my GPS doesn't know where I am but I'm getting in some distance and lots of climbing. I'm feeling better and better on the bike so, hopefully, bringing up the rear in Cat 5 won't kill me. I've managed to eat a little better and have dropped two kilograms. Only twelve to go until I feel I'll be at a good racing weight! I've got eight weeks before the first race I'm thinking of doing but two of those weeks will be in China.

My recorded totals for 2008 are 270 km in just under 12 hours with almost 2.8 vertical km of climbing. My maximums so far are 56 km/h and 181 bpm, though I rarely wear my heart rate monitor. I wear it for all racing and training but maybe I should wear it commuting occasionally.