My Time is Play'n Tricks on Me

When I was a youngster first learning about clocks and the concept of time it was never really important until things were a little off.  My first experience was when I was spending a week at my cousin's house.  They always had their clocks 10 minutes fast.  None of this really mattered until it was time to watch a favorite cartoon Speedracer, Speed Buggy or any other show that reflected moving faster than necessary.  So with chocolate milk in hand and ready for my show something was wrong.  Why was Josie and the Pussycats on and not Speedracer.  This was in a time before TV had an Guide and displayed the time down in the corner.  Actually my cousins were one of the first towns to get HBO and MTV.  This was all breakthrough stuff back then.  Well it took about 3 days to realize that their clocks were set 10 minutes fast and what I was watching was the final third of the previous show.  So using deductive thinking I programmed my inner clock to adjust and set my TV schedule 10 minutes later to compensate for the change.  I guess the question is once you know your clocks are off by 10 minutes, don't you automatically adjust for that time difference?

In my bedroom I have a big digital clock which is set 10 minutes fast.  This is the situation that prompted me to write about this concept of time.  Knowing that the clock is ten minutes ahead of schedule, when my kids get me up at 6:00 am which isn't that bad even though it is still dark outside, I become angered inside realizing that it really  isn't 6:00 am, but it's 5:50 am.  This is way too early to get up.  I think I would be happier having the clock set at the right time.  Or if you do advance your clock, pick a number that you can't remember like 3 minutes or 7 minutes.  Then you know it is fast, but not really sure by how much.  Does anyone ever set their clocks to run slow?  What would be the purpose to have your clocks running slow?  What benefit would this offer?  I guess if you are a procrastinator it would get you going in a real hurry.  For one thing you would be late to begin with, but now you know you are really behind because your clock is slow.

Day Light Savings or Wasting Time

When you are single or don't have kids daylight savings time is great in the Fall and not so great in the Spring.  In the fall you get that extra hour of sleep, because the clocks move backwards.  In the Spring we spring ahead and lose an our.

When you have kids this all changes and the circumstances are reversed.  Kids get you up early in the morning.  So in the fall when they wake you up at 6:00 am it is now 5:00 am.  This is murder.  In the Spring when they get you up at 6:00 am it is 7:00 am.

Some might argue you are losing quality time with your children, and I will argue the only thing you are losing is sleep.

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.

Benjamin Franklin