Frank's routine is slowing getting back to a kilter stage due to the recent time change associated with daylight savings time. Yesterday, Monday, was better than Sunday, and hopefully today will be better than Yesterday, but this would all could be easily avoided by one action . . . ELIMINATE DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME!
The concept of modern daylight savings time was conceived by an entomologist from New Zealand in the late 19th century. That in and of itself makes no sense whatsoever...why in the world would someone that studies bugs be tinkering with the whole concept of the amount of daylight enjoyed in a given day? Do the bugs wake up in late October and say, "nope, not going to be studied today, daylight savings time ended last night and I get to sleep an extra hour this morning?" Do these little bugs get up an hour early in the Spring and down a pot of bug coffee so they can be studied? I think not.
Daylight savings time creates a loss of productivity and loss of resources. All the clocks, and watches, and coffee pot timers, and stovetops have to be reset twice a year either the night before or the morning (or later) after. Come to think of it, that's probably why we don't see as many of those neat bank signs with the time on them...it probably cost a fortune to get a technician out twice a year to change the time.
Fortunately, the new computer operating systems have now built in the time changes automatically. It would be nice if the carmakers could make that magic happen. It takes longer to find the owner's manual than it does to change the time on the clock!
It takes at least the Sunday and Monday after to get the body clock adjusted to the new time. This happens twice a year, four days a year, at minimum. Suppose the average life expentancy is eighty-five (85) years old. That means one would spend three hundred forty days in a lifetime adjusting to time changes. Nearly a year lost in a lifetime because of a bug scientist in New Zealand.
If one more person tells Frank that he gets an extra hour of sleep because daylight savings time ended, he will probably scream. There are two elements in the Luppe household that negate what little bit of benefit that may be realized; one, Kendall...she's two...she doesn't know how to tell time, even with a digital clock. She doesn't understand that she should sleep an hour more. All she knows is that "Max and Ruby" isn't coming on the television when it should.
The other element, the family pet, Shay. She has a bladder that is over nine years old. Regardless of what the clock on the microwave reads, when its time for her to go outside, its time to go.
Now, Frank could rant and rave about this issue, and be long on problem and short on solution, but he has a plan.
Simply, make daylight savings time voluntary. If one choses to enjoy longer days, then get up an hour earlier and leave the rest of us alone. If you want to sleep in in the fall and winter and stay up later at night...knock yourself out. You don't have to change every single clock in the country just so there's another hour to play softball.
As far as government entities, such as schools, and courts, and the like, well, they would be prohibited from adopted daylight savings time. If a judge wants to go in early to work, that's his/her business. That doesn't mean the rest of us should have to go in early as well. If Congress wants to hold hearings on the snail darter salamander an hour early in the Spring, go right ahead. But don't expect the rest of us to be there bright-eyed at 7:00 in the morning.
Just some thoughts...
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