Carpe Weekend: Falling forward
By Jason Freeman jfreeman@southtownstar.com October 31, 2012 2:39PM
Rex Newell, of Rex's Antiques, looks at a cigarette dispenser during an antique appraisal event in 2008 at Matteson Public Library. | File photo
Updated: December 2, 2012 6:09AM
Spring forward, fall back. It’s an almost poetic phrase used to remind the temporally challenged to set their clocks either ahead or back one hour for daylight-saving time.
But what does it actually mean? Do we really lose an hour of our lives in spring and gain it back in fall?
Well, that really gets into a philosophical debate over the nature of time and whether or not it’s solely a human construction or dictated by the heavens.
But for the average working stiff, daylight-saving time certainly can seem arbitrarily unfair in March and a godsend in November.
Everyone hates “losing” an hour of sleep in spring, just as we all celebrate “gaining” an extra hour of shut-eye in fall.
No matter how you look at it, the fact remains that on Nov. 4, your clock will read an hour earlier than it did the same time a week before.
So, what are you going to do with that extra 60 minutes?
You can use the hour to …
Get something appraised
Hear professional appraiser Rex Newell, of Rex’s Antiques, discuss current trends in the antique market from 7 to 8 p.m. Nov. 1 at Midlothian Public Library, 14701 S. Kenton Ave.
Have something at home you think might be valuable? Newell will appraise one handheld item for the first 40 people who register.
Limited seating is available, so pick up that phone and reserve your spot.
Information: (708) 535-2027, midlothianlibrary.org.
Finally enter the 21st century
Are you the only one in your family not on Facebook? If so, check the calendar. You may be surprised that it’s no longer 1987.
While you’re at it, check out the Facebook for Beginners computer class for adults from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Nov. 2 at Orland Park Public Library, 14921 S. Ravinia Ave.
You’ll learn how to set up a Facebook account and how to post, upload photos and more.
To participate you must have an active email account and experience using the Internet. Also, you can’t already have a Facebook account.
Class size is limited to 10 Facebook newbies.
Information: (708) 478-5171.
Become someone else
Sick of your regular life and want to transform into a level nine paladin or an angry Italian plumber?
Take on your friends in the role-playing game “Dungeons & Dragons,” the Nintendo Wii video game “Super Smash Bros. Brawl” and tons of other video and board games during International Gaming Day.
The event will take place from 1 to 4 p.m. Nov. 3 at Steger-South Chicago Heights Public Library, 54 E. 31st St., Steger.
Sure, you’ll use more than one hour should you decide to stay the entire time, but so what? You’ll just gain it back next year.
Information: Michael Ayala, (708) 755-5040.
