[cd34]

~~insert boring daily grind drivel here~~

Good morning. Lost power at the house last night for a few hours and now all of the clocks and timers are screwed up. The alarm clock with the battery backup is always fast when it comes online -- yet, GE and their infinite wisdom only provides a way to advance the clock, either fast or slow. Cycle through 23 hours and 48 minutes to move the clock back 12 minutes, or, add a 'reverse' button to the clock functions. Electrical tape already covers the VCR clock so that the blinking 12:00 doesn't annoy the wife. I am not sure why so many devices need to have clocks.

Why does the microwave need to know what time it is? It has no setting to start cooking something at a certain time. You can program it to 'power 0' for 15 minutes then cook for 3, but, there are no provisions for setting it to turn on at 6am unless you figure out the countdown time.

The oven has a clock as well -- and it doesn't even have a timer. Just temperature settings and whether it is bake, broil or char. And, the oven and microwave are never exactly the same, 8:45 on one, 8:46 on the other for 20 seconds or so until the other catches up. I often wonder if they think it is a race and pass each other -- just to keep us on our toes.

The VCR has a clock, which I can understand if you are setting to record shows at particular times. But, does anyone use their VCR as an accurate clock source? If you set it to record starting at 8pm, you miss the first minute of the show anyhow. To record a 1 hour show, even with the VCR clock synced to the cable company's clock source, I had to set it to start 2 minutes ahead and end 2 minutes late. Similar with satellite -- our receiver keeps a clock, but, by the time the receiver switches to the other program, you've already missed the first 30 seconds.

Then there's the desk clock, the watch, the clock on the desktop on the computer. None ever agree on the time, only one is accurate.

How many clocks are required for one to establish a sense of self? I would bet that we have 25 timekeeping devices in the house, of which 4 are accurate to the minute, 2 are accurate to the second. And how many devices that have clocks really need them?

Then there's my watch... a Seiko Perpetual Calendar. I'm not much of a watch person, but, a few years ago I figured, I should buy something that costs more than $20 to keep time. (style decisions influenced by spousal unit as I think she disliked the $20 timex -- which kept very accurate time). The reason they call it a Perpetual Calender is that the date is perpetually set at 11. Its been back for warranty repair 4 times, each time, Seiko sets it to a different date that corresponds to the last service date. Perhaps some reminder so I know that I last had it repaired on the 11th.

I like the watch, but, I still need to look at my computer to determine the date. Though, it is right once a month. I have to remember to avoid getting it serviced on the 30th or 31st of the month or it would probably throw off my schedule completely. The 29th would be ok, because I could then have the right date 45 times during a 4 year period.

Ugh, its late... long day ahead rewriting a 26 page requirements document into a more concise, more feature packed 2 page request to a programmer that is doing some work for us.