You Light Up My Life

Other than the time I sat in on, well... a sit-in in UCLA's administration building with Woody Harrelson, Ron Kovak, and a bunch of fellow Bruins to protest the Gulf War -- and then bailed out after 20 consecutive hours because I had a ski trip planned with my fabulous roommate and the bus was shortly leaving for Lake Tahoe and I had to pack -- I'm not really a political person.

Sure, I have certain beliefs about how life and our country would best be run and I make sure to exercise my civil rights by voting accordingly in each and every election. But I tend to not pay much attention to the minutiae of political intrigue from day to day or week to week; in my opinion, shenanigans and machinations by those in public office are as old as time and are, frankly, part of the job. I'm astounded when people are surprised and outraged by this, as if it's a new discovery that politicians are slippery.

Politicians do bad and they do good, depending on where you're sitting. Hopefully, when all's said and done, they end up doing more good than bad for everyone involved.

All that aside, one news story caught my eye today that made me genuinely excited for the work of our federal government. Not surprisingly, I consider it a good one, although I can imagine certain people are calling poppycock from their bleacher seats. Here it is:

"Daylight-saving time (DST) will begin at 2a.m. Sunday, March 11, and will end a week later than usual, on Sunday, November 4. The change, thanks to a massive federal energy bill passed in 2005, adds extra hours of daylight with the hope of decreasing national energy consumption."

Four. more. weeks. of. light. than. usual.

Holy crap.

This is certainly one of the most exciting pieces of news to pass my monitor in years. This means extra playtime outside, longer walks in the neighborhood, babies sleeping in later, and sunnier dispositions all around in Casa DDD.

I'm sure there are plenty of energy moguls out there crying into their halogen bulb boxes, but this Mama's jumping for joy at the thought of more light in her daily life.

Let the sunshine in! Well done, Uncle Sam!