EricByers.com

Rebekah and I decided to take a short mini vacation a few weeks ago, and planned a trip to Venice. Unfortunately the day we were supposed to leave American Airlines graciously cancelled a lot of flights, causing all the flights to fill up. Somehow we managed to still get out, although not to Venice, but instead to London.

We ended up getting business class there and on the way back. Having flown with 61 inches of leg room, I don’t know if I can ever go back. Enough bragging, on to the photos.

Because everyone loves big ben:

Triangle’ish Flower from St. James Park:

Tree lined pathway also in St. James Park:

Stonehenge:

Stonehenge Stitch:

Wardour Castle, this was way off on single track roads — made getting to it kind of crazy, but probably one of the best stops, mostly because the journey is half the fun:

Windsor, this is a beautiful little town, we only spent a few hours here but it was very nice:

Windsor again. Castle in the background, double rainbow on the right:

About to get rained on, weather in London changes very fast. This was near the finish line of the London Marathon, just in front of Buckingham Palace.

Some more wedding photos from nearly 9 months ago.

The kids looking at the airplane:

Thomack & Ex-Thomacks:

Byers Family:

So true. (via DF)

The one day I really don’t like being online. I consider myself a guy who humor, however everyone doing the same old thing year after year is pretty lame.

In a few hours here in California major landmarks will turn off their lights, and people have been encouraged to turn off their lights (and other things using electricity) for an hour. It’s been recommended that people enjoy a candlelight dinner. I think it’s rubbish.

Earth Hour is great if you want to feel good about yourself or “raise awareness”. It’s really not that great for saving money or changing people’s habits. Think of it as the modern day “do not buy gas day”. Since you actually don’t curtail your usage any, you’re still buying the same amount of gas. However Earth Hour is slightly different in the sense that you will be using less electricty..but wait remember the recommendation of candles? I have news for you, candles emit roughly the same CO2 over the course of an hour as running your normal energy effecient CFL bulbs. There are better alternatives to traditional candles, things like beeswax and soy candles, however when you factor in transportation costs it’s still better to use electricity (not to mention you probably made a special trip to the store to purchase them).

I’m all for reducing. Making sure you unplug things, hibernate/sleep/turn off computers, and I think everyone can easily change a few habits that will not only save you money on your electric bill (what most people actually care about, myself included), but reduce what you require to sustain your life. Earth Hour might be good for raising awareness, but that’s about all.