[FRIAM] rant re: Changing clocks

[Steven A Smith]

This semi-annual ritual of changing clocks, missing appointments, 
grousing, ranting, etc.   seems to have become deeply part of our culture.

I try to mostly just note it with fascination these days...  in the days 
when I had a day-boss I resented it quite a bit.   I have (almost) 
always been in jobs where I had some flex-time and I would often use 
that to soften the blow.  I'd come in a few minutes early (or late) by 
my old schedule each day until I was synced with everyone else.   Today 
it means that next Monday the LANL traffic that whizzes by my house 
every morning will shift a bit.  I suspect some of the early birds won't 
be quite as early and some of the stragglers will be a little less 
straggly (by the clock).

I love the "quickening" of the Spring, but that is the rapidly *longer* 
days, not a big slug of "evening light", though for wage-slave day-job 
folks, it makes some sense.   I'm surprised at YOU Glen that your own 
work schedule isn't flexible enough to have already shifted toward 
early?  Especially being a west-coaster working over the wire with (I am 
presuming) some who are in earlier timezones?  One of MY challenges with 
working *mostly* over the wire is that my clients and colleagues are 
widely spread (as east as Ukraine and West as Melbourne, OZ) which means 
we are *always* having to adjust our scheduled meeting to "reasonable" 
times.  Fortunately my Ukranians are nicotine-fueled youth (40's now!) 
who are up until 2AM their time.  My Ozzies keep fairly conventional 
hours but as long as we ignore what day of the week it is where, my 
afternoons are their mornings.. so I catch them fresh.

Coming from a non-urban context, most people I knew growing up left home 
or arrived at their job-site at first light or sunrise and began their 
tasks, no matter what the clock said.  They stayed in the field or on 
the job site until they either completed their tasks or the sun went 
back down.   Few of them wore wristwatches and the pommel of a saddle or 
handle of the chainsaw didn't have a clock built into it.  (I can just 
imagine both tools have smart-phone holders designed for them now!?)  I 
can just see ranchers following the "little blue dot" on their Google 
Maps until it arrives a the red dot?

When I moved to "the City", and so many people worked in office, 
factory, retail contexts and their hours were all defined by the clock 
and policy and convention.  It just so happened that I was in Arizona 
which is the refusenik state to DST...   so *I* didn't actually 
experience DST until I moved to NM 15 years later.

The larger implications of either a "federally mandated" or a 
"collectively chosen" change which is simultaneously this trivial and 
this fundamental is fascinating to me.   The drummers we all march to!

- Steve


On 3/10/17 9:50 AM, glen ☣ wrote:
> Thanks for the reminder!  It'll be nice to have daylight in the evening, since I have to work on my truck and I can't pull it into the garage because the damned city inspector hasn't come by to log our seismic upgrade. <sigh>... 1st world problems</sigh>
>
> On 03/10/2017 08:12 AM, Gillian Densmore wrote:
>> Rant rant rant
>> Changing the clocks around reely reeeely vexes
>>
>> That is all...at least on that rant.
>