It's not an onerous chore, but it demands attention. About half of our most crucial clocks adjust to daylight savings time automatically now. The cable box is one we rely on a lot; there's also an Oregon Scientific weather/clock doodad that gets its info straight from the big NIST-F1 atomic clock in Boulder, or so I recall from the the manufacturer's manual. Sometimes it takes a few hours to pick up the signal and make the change. Our computers update automatically, of course, and the phones. I think my wife's new car does it automatically too, but my 2011 car does not. She also has a step-counting watch that changes as needed, but my analog Eco-Drive Citizen has to be moved forward by hand.
We are also divided on the matter of bathroom clocks. She has one that is programmed to adjust on schedule; the bathroom I focus my efforts in has a cheapo digital that has to be changed manually. It's a good time to check the time, actually, since that clock can lose a minute.
The stove clock is another manual adjuster. The coffeepot too, but we gave up on that one ages ago. The numbers are small, and it's near the bright stove display. Since we don't use its timer feature, we ignore it.
The seldom-used DVD player? I've never programmed the time on that. Don't use it to record, so why bother? Its screen just says --:--.
Similar case with the digital thermostat. When we were both commuting it was a godsend, adjusting the temperature a bit in advance of arrival so the house would be comfortable when we got there. Now that we work at home, I keep it up to date for reference only. Sometimes you want to know the time when you're in the hall. Not often, I know.
And since we do work from home, that means two analog office clocks that have to be advanced.
The bedrooms have digital clocks, and dumb ones; they need to be advanced by hand. One was a futuristic iPhone clock, in which you could dock your iPhone, and while it was charging it would reset the clock if needed. The clock could use any music or sound effect on your phone to wake you up. Unfortunately, the iPhones stopped using that connector, so it's just another digital clock now.
There was an old digital in the unfinished basement, but I haven't bothered plugging it in for ages.
I think that's all of them, but I always feel like there's something I forgot. Since our smoke detectors are hardwired into the house, they don't need battery changing. All the appliances I didn't mention are too dumb to tell time, let alone be connected to the Internet, which is fine by me. When the computer revolution begins, at least I won't get attacked by my washing machine.
The one plus about springing ahead is that the dogs can't tell time. When we fall back an hour in November, they don't see it as an extra hour of sleep. So they want to get up at five instead of six. It takes a while to adjust them to the clock time. Today, they waited until almost seven, which was six yesterday, so while I don't gain an hour of sleep, at least on Dog Standard Time I don't lose one.
Okay, that's everyone and everything accounted for! Bring on spring!
Research shows that changing time results in higher incidence of heart attack and stroke.
ReplyDeleteI can't think of any good arguments in favor of keeping standard time, why not daylight savings all year?
"Oh no, it will be dark in the morning in winter when people drive to work and kids catch school busses." How is that different from driving home or riding the bus home at 4:30 or 5 and it's dark already?
Before long I will be on retirement standard time and hopefully easing into life as a curmudgeon.
I agree with you, PLW; seems like a lot of fuss for nothing. The Sunshine Protection Act (got to love that name) was introduced in the Senate to keep us on DLS permanently. Let's see how it goes!
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