Months ago, Jodi and I were having a lot of frustration with our cell phones. The cause of this frustration: they couldn't agree on what time it was. What's more is that neither could a lot of other clocks we have around the house. We were baffled and confused and still unsure as to what time it was even after calling Time & Temperature. The problem eventually worked itself out and we forgot about all the problems it caused until yesterday.
Yesterday morning was looked forward to by both Jodi and me for a week at least. Most Sunday mornings we have to wake up before 7:00 and start getting ready for church as quietly as possible so that we don't wake up the boys. We get ready and then Aunt Ginger graciously shows up to take over with the boys so that we can go to worship practice at 8:30. We practice until 10:00 when church starts and we lead worship until about 11:00. So, we're pretty busy from the moment we wake up at 6:45. Yesterday was to be different, though. Our team switched with the Saturday night team for the weekend, so we played Saturday night and were able to get a chance to sleep in on Sunday for once.
We didn't even set an alarm since we knew we'd wake up with plenty of time. Which we did. But, here's where our morning could have been a lot better. Jodi woke and checked her cell phone for the time which read 7:35. So, she was relieved to have about another hour to sleep and enjoy the morning. But George W. Bush came in our bedroom and stole that hour from us. Okay, he didn't come in our bedroom but his influence did. My phone read 8:35. My phone is set to be automatically updated by the cell towers. So, if I change time zones (like when we went to Michigan) my phone automatically changes the time for me. My phone tells me what time the network says it is. Jodi's phone, on the other hand, is not set up in that way. Like all cell phones, it has internal software. The software was programmed years ago to allow for Daylight Savings Time and had the exact dates that these changes occurred on figured into the equation. And that's where we point a finger at the Pres.
George signed into law an energy bill in 2005 that included a measure to extend Daylight Savings Time starting in 2007. DST would start 3 weeks earlier and end 1 week later than normal. The pros to this change included the savings of 100,000 barrels of oil daily somehow, people would turn their interior and exterior lights on later in the day using less electricity, people would have an extra hour of daylight for activities, theme parks could run later, and part-time farmers would have more time after work to work their crops. The cons included children having to wait for the bus in pitch dark, the airline industry claimed millions of dollars lost to adjust schedules, and many electronic devices automatically adjust to DST on what will no longer be the correct dates including VCR's, computers, some microwaves, and apparently Jodi's cell phone.
Her cell phone will show the incorrect time all this week and will finally be back on track next Sunday at 2:00 am. I think that we tried to fix the problem last spring, but her cell phone's software doesn't have a way to fix the problem.
So, what do you think about Daylight Savings Time? Do you like it? Do you hate it? Do you have a better solution to utilizing all of God's given daylight?
So, it's W's fault.
1 comments:
Oh where to begin.... My phone is so weird because of this that is will adjust somehow at any given time or if I adjust it it will readjust again. Bottom line to that is that I have to use a battery operated clock along side my phone to assure the correct time until it finishes it's nonsense. I'm tellin' you ~~ If I had to report to someone in the morning and got in trouble for being an hour late for weeks every Spring and Fall I would be throwing a fit! I may throw one anyway!! As far as the light adjustment issue, I guess if you want to utilize the light then you should just get up at the appropriate time and then of course go down with the sun. After all it IS what the farmers do. I do not agree with waking children at "5" in the morning to go to a bus stop in the dark. This silly time change has always effected people and their moods because of the sleep schedule change. How do we expect children to just adjust?? Really WE should be adjusting to THEM seeing as though that in 6 months we have to readjust them yet again. It's hard on a body to change sleep patterns in that way and not expect mood changes. Oh what do I know, I'd be most happy if I got to sleep 12 hours a day. Weird I know, but true.
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