Wednesday, March 21, 2007

New Daylight Savings Time and why I hate it

Okay, maybe 'hate' is too strong a word for the way I feel about this early onset of Daylight Savings Time. But 'dislike' just doesn't cover it adequately.

I always dislike the time change, especially the 'spring forward' routine. It seems silly that a one-hour adjustment to the clocks should cause such disruptions in my life, but it happens. For some reason it's more pronounced in the spring than in the fall -- I suppose it's a matter of losing rather than gaining that one precious hour.

This year, however, it's particularly a pain in the patoot because of the early onset that's supposed to save us so much energy and money. Whatever. My computer seemed to adjust to the change seemlessly thanks to Windows XP automatic updates. My TVs seemed to be fine, thanks to the satellite dish making the appropriate adjustments. Heck, I even managed to get all the clocks changed over (even in the car) without too much hassle.

But wait! Things that seem to be well-adjusted often are not (things, people, pets, that phrase works for all of them).

First I had problems with the recording times on my DVRs not adjusting (even though everything else on the satellite receivers seemed to adjust just fine). I turned the receivers off for a while, and they did their software upgrade thing and the problem seems to be okay now. Missed a couple of shows, but not a huge deal -- more of an annoyance.

All seemed well with the world. Then my hairdresser called and asked why I wasn't there for my 3:00 appointment. ACK! My calendar (via Outlook) said the appointment was at 4:00! Yes, friends, the computer had adjusted for the new time, but Outlook had. . . issues. Rescheduled the hair appointment (thank goodness she could fit me in later in the week 'cause my roots needed a touch-up, if ya know what I mean). I checked some other entries on Outlook. Some were fine and others were incorrect.

What I didn't realize was that one of the incorrect ones was for my mammogram appointment this morning! My calendar said 10:00, so that's when I went. The real appointment was at 9:00. ARGH! The lady at the desk was very understanding. She said they'd try to fit me in, but didn't know how long it would be. Fortunately, being the good knitter that I am, I had a project with me, so I sat and began knitting.

I'm working on another test knit project for Knit Picks. This one is a pair of lovely socks knit in their Gloss yarn. When I got home, Haley the bear graciously consented to model the sock in progress for you.

Anyway, after waiting and knitting for about an hour, I overheard one of the gals at the desk tell someone they were about an hour behind on the scheduled appointments, so I went up there and got my appointment rescheduled. I might have waited there all day and never gotten in, so it works out. At least it wasn't time completely wasted, because I made some good progress on the sock!

I just hope there aren't any more surprises hidden in my Outlook calendar thanks to that darned early-onset DST!

1 comment:

Leftycrafter said...

You could always move to Arizona. We NEVER change our time and it is so nice not having to remember to fix all the clocks. Of course, when you want to call someone long distance you better be able to remember the difference in the time zones.