in praise of daylight savings

It is 8pm.

I just settled on the couch with a cold crispy Stella and my trusty laptop. My dog is happily chomping away at his food in the kitchen, alternating the sloppy sounds of his eating with the sloppier sounds of his drinking. (My dog has large lips that flap and resonate with every movement of his mouth. Soon he will come in here and present them to me to be wiped off. If I don't oblige he will wipe them himself on my lap, or perhaps a piece of furniture. Fortunately for us both, I have a paper towel at the ready.)

I left work at an astonishingly normal 5:15, just ahead of the worst traffic trying to get out of the Park (lately I've been leaving around 9, so 5:15 is pretty special.) Twenty minutes later, I was at the Y for a brief but vigorous workout. I was home by 6:30. The dog and I then took a pleasant walk through the park and around the neighborhood, stopping to converse with various neighbors along the way, lasting about 45 minutes. Arriving home, I realized I still had adequate light to run the lawn mower over the weeds in the backyard, in advance of tomorrow's predicted rain. I was able to do this in a leisurely and unhurried manner, pausing for the occasional draw from the aforementioned beverage.

This done I had time to put the roof back on my jeep, also in advance of the rain.

Back into the house for a quick round of wrestling with the dog as the sun set over the Carolina piedmont. And here we are, enjoying the luxuries of summer on the Ides of March.

All of this is to say that I couldn't care less whether extended daylight savings time leads to a net savings in power consumption. This rules. Let's keep it.