Monday, March 31, 2008

I didn’t exactly take part in Earth Hour on Saturday since I had to watch the Blackhawks game on TV, but I did manage to turn off a few of the lights in the family room as I was watching. Also, when I was grilling some steaks on the back porch, the coach light was burned out for a while, so I guess that counts too, right? Damned kids! The last time they used my BBQ, they busted the bulb trying to change it. Then they just left the busted base of the bulb in there for the next person, who would be me. My kids always do stuff like that, even though they don’t even live here anymore. It’s like I’m running a resort.

I tried shoving a candle into the base to twist it out, but ultimately had to go with the pliers and praying that the light didn’t get turned on while I was doing it. That would have been ironic during Earth Hour. Janet is back home from her trip to Eastern Europe and we had already had some miscommunication over whether or not I wanted a baked potato. She thought I said I didn’t want one, when I thought I said we were going to split one. It would be just my luck she would have thought that I said to turn on the light switch once I got the pliers in the socket. That would have wasted a lot of electricity.

There were some nice pictures of the Chicago skyline during Earth Hour on the Tribune web site, but I have to be honest and say that I really couldn’t tell if there was that much of a difference. It seemed as if they had kept all of the lights along the lakefront and in Grant Park lit, for safety reasons, no doubt. I’m thinking that kind of took away from the overall darkness that I was looking for, or, not looking for, if you know what I mean. Well, it’s the thought that counts. We spoke to one person on Friday whose wife’s law firm was paying her to come in and turn off lights. That wastes fuel right? Just checking.