The Family (Or most of them)

The Family (Or most of them)
The Family

October 29, 2006

Turning Back the #@*&!! of Time

IT WAS THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN AROUND MOST OF THE WORLD...
Time to turn back the clocks to get that extra hour of daylight, at least for us up here in the northern hemisphere. I spent part of Sunday doing just that, but this time around, I had an extra smirk on.
This watch, which I bought a couple of years ago in an effort to be super cool, cheap and technologically advanced all at the same time, has been the bane of my existence ever since.


As you can see, it has four buttons on it and includes a stopwatch, date, day of the week, an alarm if I needed it, 24-hour time if I wanted that and the capacity to pretty much time my whole life and everything in it.

But do you think it comes with simple instructions on how to change the time on it as we do twice a year? Nope.

Well, that's not true.

Unfortunately, it was made in Taiwan or China and the instructions are virtually impossible to follow, requiring a complex code pressing all four buttons in some indecipherable Pythagorean sequence or hieroglyphic formula.

I think I did it once, by accident.

So for the past couple of years, I have walked around with the wrong time on my watch for half the year and with the right time for half the year.

So in honour of this year's switch to Central Standard Time, I went back in time and bought the old standard, the manual watch below that goes tick tock and which I can actually change myself by pulling out a little button.

Below are many of the clocks in my apartment that I had to turn back an hour on Sunday. The first one is in my daughter's room, so I won't apologize for that mess.

The other ones below are, however, adorning the rest of my place. I haven't even included the microwave clock and the coffee machine clock.




How many clocks do you have in your humble abode and is it fair to say we're obsessed with the passage of time?

26 comments:

  1. Well, I trust you're never late for anything, WW, with that many clocks!

    Do we really have four clocks, Aidan? Hmmm the lounge room clock, the microwave, the brick in the bedroom, the computer, both our phones, both our watches, this is getting scary so I'll stop now. I realised halfway through yesterday that I hadn't changed my watch... I looked at it, it said 3.15 so I thought "Crap, 3 more hours here at work..." then somebody pointed out it was actually 4.15 and I went "Woohoo!!!"

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  2. Incidentally, your link to my blog doesn't work, you might want to remove one of the "html"s.

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  3. 2, plus the one on the microwave. Oh, plus there are another 3 on the wa...no, make that 4 that don't have batteries in because I can't stand the sound of them ticking. I use a watch by the bedside.
    Going mad with daylight saving, can't settle.

    Wasted time -well done.

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  4. That is why we have sattelite clocks. Also that's what husbands are for - resetting the clocks - they like to wind up things, well among other things they like to do.

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  5. Aidan:

    When was the last power failure? Few months ago? You sound truly technologically challenged...

    Stace:

    I rarely AM late, actually, but being on time is one of my few obsessive compulsive traits.

    So you both have commented on this both within four minutes of each other.

    Does that mean you're both at work or that you're both side by side on his and hers computers?

    Ya see, the time change can have its positives...wait. Did you move your clocks AHEAD?

    And if so, I guess that makes sense because now it's summer for you, right?

    Duh.

    (I'll check the link, Stace. Thanks)

    Lee:

    Wasted Time: It's part of my music theme this week on time. I'll hopefully have something a bit more upbeat tomorrow.

    I think you beat me on the clock front, however...

    Ces:

    What are satellite clocks? Ewww, and that husband crack, that would be perfect for HE's Guy Bashing Mondays, don't you think?

    Sigh, but it's true...we do like winding things up, among other things...

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  6. Wow, I feel like I just fell asleep and woke up in 1979! Your old school clocks could fetch a pretty penny on ebay or in a vintage shop somewhere.

    I'm lucky. In Arizona, we don't "celebrate" (for lack of a better term) daylight savings time. No changing clocks here. On the down side, everything on cable TV is now on an hour later.

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  7. 10 clocks on the main floor and 4 upstairs...but my goodladywife is in charge of TIME so I don't worry about it.
    As long as I escort and retrieve my son from Kindergarten without incident and have a yummy supper available at exactly 5:45 every day I am at one with the universe.

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  8. I don't know what satellite clocks are, because I actually meant to say Atomic Clocks and watches. Atomic clocks contain a small antenna which decodes a radio signal from Fort Collins, Colorado to accurately keep the official time after the user has set the time zone. It's actualy very neat. During the actual time change the hands rotate several times , it looks very eerie.

    Hmn. I must be getting satellite signals that screw up my memory...

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  9. Ms. Val:

    What can I tell you, I'm a practical man of habit...if the thing works, why change it?

    Arizona...that's sure a place I'd like to visit. Did you know our Winnipeg Jets hockey team left here for Phoenix?

    HE:

    No, she's only in charge of one thing involving time, and that's deciding WHEN.

    You, as the good Homo Husband, should have changed all 14 of those clocks.

    Continue to be at one.

    Ces:

    Atomic clocks: Can you send me one? Nah, you'd probably forget...

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  10. Good song title again.
    Just remembered yet another 3 clocks - one of which I might even scan and post one day because it's nice in a very clocky kind of way.

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  11. wow...i can understand the problem...but we use jap watches forever here...its quite easy u kno. Just that sumtimes there are watches in the bbq.

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  12. DOH! I have supper ready at 4:45 and all wives are in charge of WHEN..which is fine because that still leaves HOW and WHERE.

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  13. I know, who needs this, but I have 18 ;-)

    And the creepy thing is, I changed them all in the evening(apart from PCs and laptops) and in the am I noticed that 2 of them had changed themselves back an hour, so now they were two hours behind ... obviously they were satellite clocks, but I didn't know until they moved.

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  14. 1 alarm clock, the one on the microwave and computer and that is it.

    I don't wear watches. The only thing that I really think about time, is the fact that I worry over not utilizing it more effectively when it comes to my children. After all, they won't be kids forever!

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  15. Lee:

    You're kind of ticking your way up the "crazy about clocks" ladder, girlie...aren't you up to about 10 now?

    Ghosty:

    I used to have a Seiko, it was my fave, worked like a charm, had a bevelled crystal.

    Once the world went digital, though, Father Time (I wonder if there's a Mother Time and a 2.3 Baby Times) went into the crapper.

    Remember the scare in 2000, when the whole world was going to implode because of computer time?

    And how the heck do watches and BBQ's go together? Enlighten me.

    HE:

    No, the women even orchestrate the how and the where, really, by determining the time.

    Or does Allie give you 15-minute advance notice and then laugh as you scramble around trying to figure out where and how, while simultaneously you're flossing, shaving and applying wussy smelly stuff?

    Bibi:

    I think 18 makes you the undisputed Titan of Time, doesn't it?

    It must speak to quality of life and family income and stability. Or maybe you collect clocks.

    It's almost like you can't buy an item nowadays that doesn't tell you the time as a selling feature.

    ;-)

    Awaiting:

    Aww, you took down the slideshow. I'm sad. :-(

    However, I admire your success in fighting the Time Temptation. What...we need a clock in every room of the house?

    Like you say, the only clocks you really need are the ones whose little hearts go tick, tock, those four gorgeous kids of yours...

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  16. 4. They are all wrong and I am always late for everything.

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  17. Cherrypie:

    You're a woman AND a lawyer. I think you're SUPPOSED to be late for everything.

    :-)

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  18. WW:

    Did not mean to butt in here but I was just checking if you had some hot pumpkins for Halloween...

    What's with the "woman" crack about being late and the lawyer one too. Our lawyer is always on time in fact a few minutes early because he charges by the hour! And oh, he makes sure to give me a hug before he gets down to business.

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  19. Every single clock in our house has a different way to change it. Remembering how to do them all every 6 months is getting to be a challenge as I age... but at least I'm better than my husband who still hasn't learned how to set the clock on the CD player I bought for his van in June.

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  20. 6 clocks in the house (4 of which are in the kitchen), and one cell phone. I don't wear a wristwatch and I'm almost always late.

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  21. 16 clocks to change. I never do it though. Wait, 17.

    Hubby loves doing it, or so I like to think!

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  22. Ces:

    No, actually, I never mind you butting in.

    All my hot pumpkins went cold tonight because I was at work, so no pumpkin pie and whipped cream for me.

    Ar ar on the women and lawyers always being late, I was hoping that would create a stir!

    I note however you responded only about lawyers, not women. And does he charge you for those hugs?

    Andrea:

    Hey...are you making fun of us guyz and setting things? So you are, in fact, aging?

    Anna:

    Ha Ha Ha! Oh, wait. I have three clocks in my kitchen (4 if my cell's sitting in there), and I only have an apartment...

    No watch, always late; no watch, always late; no watch...are we seeing a theme here?

    Pam:

    See? No wonder you didn't bash males at HE's place yesterday. You force your husband to change 17 clocks every six months.

    I suppose you make him mow the lawn and take out the garbage too.

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  23. Are you suggesting that I should wear a watch? Alright, fine. I'll look for a pretty one online and you can send it to me for my birthday. ;)

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  24. Anna:

    No, that would be too impersonal. How about if I just send you the watch in the first photo?

    The one that I've now abandoned as requiring the minds of Einstein and Darwin to figure out?

    :-)

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  25. I get furious when the time is changed. Dogs and babies don't care about the time at the moment, when they are hungry they want to eat now. That was my first gripe a long time ago. Now its an annoyance, I say lets all protest and demand the governments to change it one more time. That would be one HALF hour forward in the spring and then leave the DAMN TIME ALONE!!!

    I didn't count how many clocks we have but I didn't read anyone mentioning their cars or truck clocks. Those are tricky to change too.

    Keep smilin

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  26. Babe:

    Wow, you went way "back in time" to comment on this post!!!

    I'm with you on this. And I think a lot more governments are starting to see the light of day...

    I'm smilin'. You too.

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