Bye-bye DST

Daylight saving time ends this weekend. I both hate and love when it ends, but only one of those emotions makes me more productive in the shop.

In general, I love daylight saving time. I’ll make it permanent when I become King of the World. I love it that the sun keeps me company a bit longer for late-evening grilling, outdoor tasks, and yard work when it’s a bit cooler. Whenever I’m on a long road trip, that extra hour without headlights blasting into my eyes is a blessing. And another hour of darkness on Saturday and Sunday mornings makes sleeping in easier.

When DST comes to an end this weekend, I’ll truly miss it. It means having dinner in the dark, feeling tired sooner than you should because it’s dark, and getting absolutely nothing done outside because it’s, well, dark outside.

On the other hand, a curious characteristic of my biological clock gives me a working benefit when DST is gone. I don’t need an alarm clock; never have. Sure, I’ll set one as backup if I have a morning appointment I can’t miss, but in truth the alarm never goes off – I wake up automatically, based on the sun, I guess.

What that means is that as soon as daylight saving time ends, I start getting up an hour early. Yeah, my internal clock adjusts itself after a few weeks, but before that happens I get a real jump-start on my day. Everything bumps up an hour for me – breakfast, newspaper, morning chores all get done early, and then I get out into the shop a full hour earlier. I’ve found that this few weeks of adjustment proves to be my most productive of the year.

A.J.