Spring Forward.

This Sunday, March 11, 2012 at 2:00 AM most of the USA will begin Daylight Saving Time. The process of advancing timepieces one hour actually saves nothing, but it does arrange for an additional hour of daylight in the late afternoon/evening. This extra hour of daylight facilitates outdoor activities as the temperatures approaches temperate. Still daylight savings also brings some challenges. For example:

source: morgueFile

• Those above over the age of (fill in the blank) have more trouble adjusting to the biannual hour shift each year. The additional usable hour of daylight is offset by a feeling of post-intoxication for multiple days.
• Little Suzy has to catch her school bus before 7 AM daily. It's been nice going to the bus stop at daybreak the last two weeks. Not anymore.
• Since Little Suzy has to get up very early she needs to go to bed early. During the last few weeks of the school year, I have the privilege of putting her to bed while it's still daylight and her peers are still outside. This will again ruin my hopes of Suzy nominating me for "Father Of The Year", a streak that remains unbroken.

Still, I like daylight saving time if only because it is a first harbinger of spring and warmer weather. Enjoy the weekend, spring is almost here.

ROL: Winter Solstice.

ROL (Return on Life) is a qualitative metric modeled on the quantitative metric, ROI (return on investment). The concept behind ROL is to make small incremental changes in habits that generate a disproportionately greater increase in QOL (Quality of Life). Today's ROI involves seeking the light.

Today is the Winter Solstice, a pagan winter festival. In simplest terms, the winter solstice is the day with the least amount of daylight and the most darkness. The Winter Solstice is the darkest day of the year and for the next six months each day has a smidge more daylight and a touch less darkness. Yeah!

source: morgueFile.com

If you pay attention to the news, way too many people have had a rotten 2011. According to the U.S. Census nearly 50% of the USA is poor or nearly poor. Since Congress is perfectly willing to go on "winter break" despite this poor national embarrassment, I too will give politics a break until Congress returns to work. For those happy to be rid of 2011 the Winter Solstice indicates that the tide could be turning. A little less darkness and a little more light.

For those that flourished in 2011 the Winter Solstice means that each following day offers a little more light to shine on and bask in the accomplishments of 2011. It's great to celebrate success, just be careful to build on success while enjoying the fruits of those successes. Too much celebration and not enough planning could turn these successes into mere memories.

Since I've written all "sweetness and light" about the Winter Solstice, how will I handle the 180 degree shift of the Summer Solstice?, I hear you think. I've got six months, I'm sure I'll think of something. How about you? How do you view the solstice or any other of this winter's festivals? How was your 2011 and how do you feel about 2012? Take a moment and share with the class.