In the zone

Time zones. They're either for you or against you.

Living on the west coast, and traveling to the east coast, I'm used to the three-hour shuffle. Losing the time going, getting it back on the way home. Somehow, in my disoriented mind, it all evens out and I can talk myself out of the lag.

But for the past four days I've been in the central time zone - two hours ahead of where I normally am. It's very confusing to me, which isn't good because I'm confused enough to start with.

I don't let the clock on my iPhone reset. Instead, I keep it set to my home time zone, and just apply a 'plus two' to whatever time it displays. I do this because I take a pill for cholesterol, and I want to be taking it the same time as I do every day - the time my body's used to.

Even if the same time is a different time. See what I'm saying?

The other thing about central time is all the TV shows are on an hour earlier than where I live. So I wind up missing a lot of them by at least a half hour or more. This might be at the top of the first-world problem list.

Anyway, I just wanted to get this posted tonight before I went to bed two hours ago.

Or is it two hours from now?

Light at the end of the day

I hope you're sitting down. I don't know how to break this to you, but my Jedi instincts tell me the best way is to just come right out and say it: there are a lot of babies and whiners on the internet.

I know, I'm as shocked as you are. Shocked.

If you've been on Facebook or Twitter in the last couple days, like me you've probably noticed an ungodly amount of posts talking about how much people hate daylight savings time. How they just. don't. understand. why we have to change the clocks at all. How they're soooooo tired because they lose one hour in 24 out of one day in 365.

I'd like to promise all of you complaining about it that this is not the worst thing that will ever happen in your life. Trust me.

As you might've guessed, I happen to be a big supporter of DST. And I can't even begin to understand why everyone else isn't. There are so many more reasons to like it than not.

Let's start at the wallet. The fact it's light until almost 9 means electric bills go down. Way down for at least six months. Who's against that? Whiners? Anyone?

Next, the hideous commute I'm up against every night seems to get a little easier, because for some odd reason drivers are able to navigate better when they can actually see the road and what's around them. Body shops don't do as well during DST, but they make it up when we Fall Back.

Finally, and this may just be me, but I seem to have more energy. The longer it's light out, the longer I think it's not time to settle in for the night. I'm out and about longer getting more done. Not just more of what I have to do, but more of what I want to do.

So for all the whiners out there bitching and moaning about switching All The Clocks In The House! ahead and losing your precious hour, I say this with love: just shut up.

You'll get your hour back in November.

Look at it this way. Now that the day's longer, you'll have more time to think of something else to complain about.