99 years ago, the United States began daylight saving time (DST).  On Easter Sunday 1918, everyone was supposed to set  their clocks ahead by one hour. That meant more daylight after work to get things done, whip up a backyard cookout, or - as the false legend goes - to harvest crops. In reality, farmers lobbied against DST because they set their workdays by the sun, not by clocks.

Farmers weren't the only people not onboard with the idea and patchwork participation created a mess for the United States. For the first few decades cities and states chose their own dates for springing forward, creating what Time Magazine called "a chaos of clocks" across the country. In 1966 the Uniform Time Act cured the mayhem by standardizing the DST dates, though states could still choose to opt out of the practice.

I remember loving springing forward much better than falling back, even though we lost an hour in bed. The extra hours to play outside after school and the long, long summer days more than made up for sleepy mornings. I still love DST, though I must admit, it gets harder to overcome that lost hour with every passing year!

On Friday, December 20, 1957 Elvis Presley received his draft notice. He was ordered to report for duty on January, 20, but at the time, he'd just started filming King Creole. Elvis was already a big star, so if he'd asked to be excused from service, his request might have been granted.

But The King didn't use his film career to shirk his civic responsibilities, "It's a duty I've got to fill and I'm going to do it," he told the country. Elvis was granted a short deferment to finish filming King Creole and then he reported for duty - just like any good American would. He was officially inducted into the U.S. Army on March 24, 1958 - 59 years ago today.

Then Elvis The Soldier, serial number 53 310 761, had his famous locks shorn by an Army barber. It was a devastating moment for teenage girls everywhere.

Elvis' unit was stationed in Friedberg, Germany. He served in Company C, which was a scout platoon. Not surprisingly, he also entertained the troops with his music and the folks at home with news of his every move from enlistment to discharge.

My friends and I had never been so interested in the nightly news. If our parents thought our interest in current events meant that we were growing up, they would have been wrong. We were just keeping tabs on our beloved Teddy Bear.

50 years ago The Beatles scored a number one hit with "Penny Lane". The song topped the charts from March 18-24 in 1967. I remember it well because my good friend Penny lived on Penny Street!

Here's another thing I remember about that song: we actually tried to get the city to change the name of the street to Penny Lane. Unfortunately for us the city council was full of boring adults who had zero idea how fabulous the Beatles were, so it's not too surprising that our little homegrown initiative failed.

No one was sadder than poor Penny of Penny Street.

However we did learn a priceless lesson in civics: when you go before a government body to ask for something, you need a stronger argument than "dreamy", "cool", and "popular" to win your case!

Remember the old party lines? Or the days when you actually had to be wired to a wall to talk to someone? When you couldn't "screen" your calls with an answering machine? And you actually had to be at home to talk on the phone?

On this day in 1876 Alexander Graham Bell spoke into his new invention, the telephone. “Mr. Watson," he said. "Come here. I want to see you.”  It worked. And what followed over the next 140-odd years would change the shape of human communication.

But did you know...

• Bell applied for the patent just three days before the famous phone call took place?
• His patent filing barely made it over the wire (pun intended), beating a claim by Elisha Gray by a mere two hours?
• The Western Union Telegraph Company hired both Gray and rival inventor Thomas Edison to develop their own technology for a telephone?

Alexander Graham Bell sued Western Union in a rare patent case that went all the way to the Supreme Court. His claim was upheld and the Bell Company became American Telephone and Telegraph, which we know today as AT&T.

What's the best way to revisit your favorite childhood shows? Follow a child.

That's what I did last weekend when I decided to take on babysitting for the family while they were out wedding shopping for my niece. My houseful was more than a handful and I was at my wit's end trying to corral all those kids. Until I found my old Sesame Street DVDs.
When I was that age, you couldn't tear me away from the adventures of Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, The Count, and Cookie Monster. So I hoped my trusty DVDs would capture (and quiet) this new generation of rambunctious kids.

Worked like a charm.

The kids sat in a semicircle around the TV and counted with The Count, identified shapes with Kermit The Frog, learned letters from the adult cast members, and giggled as Cookie Monster gobbled down treats.  It worked on me, too. I couldn't help but join them on the living room floor. When the adults finally came home from shopping, they found a houseful of happy kids and this happy kid-at-heart who was very glad to see them. These days I need a little help getting up from the floor!