Worst days of the year, LA sports titles, squeeze mayonnaise and more

Emptying out my virtual columnist's notebook with thoughts, questions, answers and dumb jokes – including naming the saddest day of the year: The first Sunday in November.

That was a week ago, when we returned to standard time.

I've written plenty about the daylight saving time vs. standard time debate and my stance is clear (daylight saving time should be year-round). However, this is more about what the return to standard time signifies than the merits of changing our clocks twice a year.

The end of daylight saving time is really the official beginning of winter. Days are getting shorter and that change makes it more dramatic. Sure, the holidays are coming, but they're inexorably linked with short days and cold, wet weather. Warm-weather activities – hanging around outside, watching baseball, enjoying the sun – are over. The start of standard time is the saddest day of the year.

Here are the other days in my top-five list of saddest days:

5. Black Friday. Many people love the official kickoff of Christmas shopping season, but even more people dread it. If you get that day off from work, it often feels wasted, since it comes after Thanksgiving and really isn't good for doing fun things.

4. Valentine's Day. I don't know what is worse: Seeing people share mushy thoughts on social media or seeing others talk about how much they hate it. If you love Valentine's Day, you're under attack. If you hate Valentine's Day, you're under attack. It's a bad day.

3. The second day of school (pre-pandemic). For kids, the first day of school is exciting. The second day is when it sets in: This is going to be a long year.

2. Dec. 26. The day after Christmas kicks off several weeks of winter with only a smattering of holidays included.

1. The start of standard time. See above.

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Bad news for Bay Areas sports fans: The Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Dodgers won championships in the past month.

Good news for Bay Area sports fans: We'll forever be able to dismiss those championships as tainted by being played in seasons changed by the pandemic.

I guess everyone wins.

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Putting mayonnaise in squeeze bottles – like ketchup companies did a generation earlier – is one of the greatest technological advances of the past decade. Name something better.

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I don't trust book recommendations from people who read only on mobile devices, because I secretly think they don't read books.

But if you say you read books on mobile devices and have recommended a book to me, I don't mean you, of course.

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This might make me appear old, but every time I see those Burger King commercials where they rave about getting two burgers for $5, I think that sounds about right for a fast-food burger: $2.50 per burger.

Then again, I still have a Hotmail email address, so I am old.

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I think I speak for the majority when I say I'm exhausted from waiting for election results.

Finally, Thursday, we knew: Baby Nancy, sidewalk chalk and Jenga were inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester, N.Y.

Like you, I spent most of the morning hitting refresh on my browser, waiting to see if we finally had a winner.

I can't imagine there is any recent election-related as dramatic as that.

Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@hotmail.com.