Well, as most of you have probably figured out by now, daylight savings time has ended.

I can't speak for all of us, but guys don't like remembering things. Birthdays, aniversaries, most of us aren't real spectacular in these areas. Then, as if to make like more miserable, some joker decides it'd be a really great idea to force people to readjust their clocks twice a year. I can see see the way that planning meeting went: gales of laughter, lots of "wouldn't it be funny if" and "I can't wait to see the look on their faces when..." comments.

My ex-fiance is similarly imparied. Apparently, she discovered very recently she was now an entire hour off. Or that she was now living one time zone west of where she ought.

So what's the point of this little semi-annual tradition? I've heard varying explanations. One, which clearly sounded recently manufactured, was so that kids didn't wait for the school buses in the dark. Tell the Alaskan kids: Their buses have flashing strobe lights on the top, so they can be seen over the crests of the snowbanks, and also make a continual loud strobe noise so that everybody knows there's a bus full of kids nearby. As if it weren't enough that pickup and dropoff are usually both in the dark, around Fairbanks there's often a thick fog to negotiate as well.

As a kid I waited for the school bus in the dark at points. In the snow. In the wind. With wind chill reaching to 50-below Farenheit. In Wisconsin.

I wasn't shocked to see that a lot of the graves in Fairbanks were filled with people who had grown up in Wisconsin. I guess it if doesn't make Arizona look attractive, then you're the kind who might consider going even further north. Lambeau field is great training as well. But I digresss...

My father used to say Daylight Savings Time was created during the war to help farmers. The exact details were never supplied.

[Did you know that there is the exact same amount of daylight present whether or not we change our clocks? Interesting trivia for you to wow your friends with at the next party! Not.]

Most of these theories seem predicated on the idea that people who care are physiologically incapable of getting up earlier in the morning when the sun rises earlier. And that it's more important to make sure the sun rises at a similar time on the clock, and we don't care if we make it dark at 4PM.

First, what's with these people? Do they have clocks with permanently fixed alarm times? Is there something psychologically disturbing for them about seeing a different time on the clock when they start to go about their heliocentric chores? Should the rest of us all engage in an elaborate deception to ease their stress in this area?

Those of you who live in Indiana have the right idea. I don't care if they use "Hoosiers" as an insult here in Missouri. You're dead on on this one.

Second, what's with this sunrise fixation? Me, I'm much more depressed about it getting dark earlier in winter than I am anxious about possibly missing some extra sunlight should I fail to rise earlier in summer. Sunset at 5PM is a major downer when you work a 9-to-5 job. I'd much rather get an extra hour of light in the evening, thank you very much.

Of course, I'm one of those lucky enough to commute away from the sun. Currently.

I had a friend who used to quip: "We're from the government, and we're here to help!" This is one of the places where that applies. Who else would think of having everyone reset every clock they own twice a year?

Anyway, happy non-daylight-savings-time everyone. Enjoy your extra hour of darkness! Hope you all didn't show up early for some appointment today. Enjoy the hour of sleep they took from you this spring -- too bad it does't come back with interest. :-)