A Downer Day

Well, as you know by now, daylight savings time has come to an end. It's one of those days that drives me into a serious funk. Instead of getting dark at 6:30 pm in the eastern time zone of Dublin, Ohio it'll be an hour earlier. Lucky are they on the western edge of Indiana. They get to see the sun an extra couple of hours. Indiana got smart two years ago by going year round eastern time. I used to work in Niles, Michigan and, just across the border, South Bend, Indiana. In the summer when it was 8 am in South Bend it was 9 am in Niles. I had to wear two wrist watches to figure out if I was coming or going.
I recall, back in the 50's, growing up in Central Iowa in winter. I swear the sun went down around 3:30 pm. In the days before television we'd go to bed at six to get the day over. To make it worse there wasn't a whole lot to do in Boonetown. My buddy, Musser and I, would go to the YMCA to play basketball then grab some donuts at Johnstone's Bakery and before we knew it 3 pm had arrived and the sun was on the horizon.
Today is the day I start keeping tabs on the first day of winter. It's that time when the days start getting longer. Not by much, maybe a minute or two daily, but it's a start. The doom and gloom of December pales in comparison to the month of 'frigid death' more commonly referred to as January. January is the month of my birth. I used to think it was special. What a fool. Some smart guy with power should force whoever to eliminate January and, what the heck, February too, then add those 59 days to March. Feel better already don't ya'?
If that doesn't work I have the cure all and I'm going to take advantage of it this winter. Beginning in 2011 I'm going to call it 'Florida'. My downer is beginning to turn into an upper.