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Daylight Savings

March 9, 2008 in Random | 1 comment

I have previously stated on several occasions that my favorite day of the year is the day in mid February when pitchers and catchers officially report to camp for Spring Training.  Yes, I am a baseball nut, however this also signals the beginning of the end of my least favorite season – winter.  Don’t get me wrong – it’s not that I dislike the cold, the rain, or the occasional snow.  I actually quite enjoy all of the three, as well as the annual appearance of “Storm Team 12” or 6…  or 4.

It doesn’t matter what channels in your local media market are occupied by local news teams – they’re the same everywhere – the only thing up for debate is exactly how much time will be spent on remote at a dry, albeit cold freeway overpass.

No, what I dislike is the unending darkness – the fact that one begins work under the slowly retracting cover of night, only to find that the covers have already been pulled back over the world by the end of the workday.  It reminds me of the nights I spent working the graveyard shift while in college – not a very pleasant time.  Additionally, with the winter comes my busiest time of the year at work.  It seems that people have more house fires in the winter due to all the makeshift portable heaters, fireplaces and Christmas-related items, meaning more time on the road, and tighter timeframes under which to work – all in the dark. 

So, two paragraphs in, and I can already hear you – “yeah Chris, so what’s the point?”

Well, the point is I also dislike daylight savings time.  Or, more importantly, the fact that it’s 11:23 right now, I am not at all tired, but yet I have to get up in four hours in order to make the 8:30 appointment I have four hours away.  You see, this combines some of my least favorite activities – beginning work while it’s still dark, followed by working (yes, working in general – while I do like my job, it is in fact still work), and finally, getting home from work after dark. 

 “Yes, Chris, but daylight savings time ensures that it will in fact be lighter later – its good for the economy – you want the US to prosper, right?  You’re not un-American, are you?”

Shut up.

This is my time to complain, and I’m going to get my money’s worth.  Normally I don’t care either way - I would prefer we do nothing but move the clocks back, but I realize that by year four of doing this my plan would have seriously backfired – and for what, an extra hour of sleep?  No, that’s no good.

My major qualm is that the first work day into DST will be spent being unnecessarily tired inside a house that isn’t mine, working, and by the time I make it back to my place it will already be dark.  It just seems like it got personal this year.  While the winter is ending, and with it, hopefully my busiest season, one of the harbingers of that change is showing up just in time to twist the knife a little.

Father time, you are one hell of a bastard.

Mid-Terms, Summer Staff

May 10, 2001 in Life, Politics, School, Work | No comments

Another round of midterms and another sleepless night for which I will pay the rest of the week. Its been two days now and I’m still a wreck. Alas, the paper was completed and handed in for what will probably be a B. Was it worth it? Based on my state of mind at the moment, hell no. But then again, one tends to be of a rather negative state of mind at 12:50am on a Thursday morning when you’ve been longing for the soft comforting arms of sleep for the previous three hours. I mean, tonight I felt as though I should have been waiting for the lasted “Diagnosis Murder” or a “Matlock” rerun- whatever all the septuagenarians are watching these days. You start to see things from a whole new perspective when you can relate to those who normally shuffle off to bed before the sun has entirely set. I suppose that I could continue to equate how I am feeling to the everyday plight of the elderly, but I feel that my comments have run their course and I would only be alienating what I’m sure is a very key demographic for this magical page.

Anyway… So you may have noticed that I haven’t updated in about a month. This wasn’t intentional, but while updating a few weeks ago, I became distracted by the fact that my computer was no longer functioning. Long story short, I was forced to reformat my hard drive and in the rush of the following week, my update was lost in the attempt to return my computer to its former glory. In the end, everything is once again working, but I’m about 500 mp3s short of what I had.

Needless to say, a few things have happened since my last update. First, it’s official that I will once again be a member of Ham Staff. Also in that category, it is official that I will be an RA in the Earl complex this summer, marking the first time that I will be spending a summer away from McMinnville- ever. I never went to camp or anything as a child, so I’m counting the days until I have a meltdown and start calling my parents twice nightly. It should be ok, as many of my friends will be staying here as well. It’ll just be different. Nonetheless, I am excited at the prospect of having a new room in about a month. Summer staff Hoo Rah! Or rather, hoo RA. I know that was horrible- just bear with me.

Also in the past two weeks, I have run for and promptly lost my bid for College Dems co-chair, which is OK I suppose. If there is any consolation, its that I was told by most who were present that I had the best speech, the most clear ideas, and had all the new people voted, I probably would have won. All of this begs the question of if I was so great, why didn’t I win in the first place? I have my own not-so-popular theories as to why this is the case, but I’ll choose to take the high road for now and not attack the person who has described my candidacy as a “coup” to one Dems member who was not present to vote. All this considered, everything is not lost. Upon losing my bid for chair, I promptly ran for and won the position of treasurer, which is great and all, but it kind of leaves me with the same taste in my mouth as would “Everyone Gets A Trophy Day.” But I guess it comes with the territory- after all, I’m not a woman.