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.

Hallowhen?

As part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Bush administration made one of it's wisest decisions of either term (the list of wise decisions of the Bush administration is a short list, but I digress). Beginning in 2007, the end of daylight saving time was pushed back one week, from the last Sunday in October to the first Sunday in November. The big deal? It allowed another hour of daylight for trick or treat. An extra hour of sunlight means it's a bit warmer for trick or treat. It's also one less hour of kids daring between parked cars. Now, it's time to complete the task started in 2005.

source: morgueFile

Consider The Source.

The observance of Halloween has a long history. Here in the western world there is a tie to All Saints Day (November 1) with All Hallows Eve (Halloween, October 31) being the night before All Saints Day.  The modern practice of kids running around the neighborhood collecting a month's worth of sugar fix or college kids dressed in "costumes" that hide nothing is not a celebration of saints or the hallowed. I'm not against kids and candy or college kids and body paint; to each their own. It's time to change the date of the modern celebration of Halloween. Why not the last
Saturday/Sunday/weekend in October?

The Calendar Can Be Changed.

Some of the most sacred days on our calendar are not fixed to a date. Memorial Day, Labor Day and Thanksgiving do not have a fixed date. For most of my life Veterans Day was celebrated on the Monday closest to November 11.  Washington's Birthday has morphed into Presidents Day, celebrated on the third Monday in February. So why do we have young children out after dark on a school night merely to collect candy?

Disclaimer.

By no means do I espouse changing the day or celebration of All Saints Day and the accompanying All Hallows Eve for those that celebrate All Saints Day. As for the rest of us, move Halloween to the weekend.