We finally got around to pushing our clocks forward last night, and before bed did the usual ritual of going around the house to reset the clocks: on the stove, on all the telephones, watches, and of course our alarm clock/radio. (Thank goodness our computers take care of themselves.)
It was especially important that I reset the alarm clock, because Georges and the Little Guy had to get up extra early to attend a big judo competition that the Little Guy was involved in. This particular clock is a Sony product I picked up a couple of months ago, and although I've used Sony clocks many times before, for some reason THIS one is overly complicated for setting times and alarms.
For one thing, on top of the clock was what looked like a handy button for automatically changing your clocks for Daylight Savings Time, marked (oddly enough): "DST". I hit this button. The clock flashed a message: DST ON! But the time didn't change. Hmmm... hit the button again, this time DST OFF! And still the time remained the same. I tried it a couple more times, but the time never changed; the only difference was a little light marked "DST" on the display went ON or OFF accordingly. I gave up and moved on to figuring out how to manually roll the time ahead one hour. Which I did, successfully. Georges even double-checked me to make sure, and when we fell asleep both the clock radio and the telephone time were exactly the same time: one hour ahead.
The alarm went off on schedule at 7:45am. Since the clock is on my side of the bed, I hit the snooze and nudged Georges into some form of semi-awakeness. He trudged off to get himself and his son ready for the big event. I started to go back to sleep.
A few minutes later, he came back into the room, fully dressed, big smile on his face. It was then he informed me that somehow, I had set the alarm clock ahead TWO HOURS INSTEAD OF ONE. And it was really only 7:00am, not 8:00am.
I had robbed the poor man of an extra hour of precious sleep on the one day a year we all lose an hour anyway. I am a bad girlfriend.
He laughed it off and said he'd just stay up and read or surf the 'net or something, and that I should go back to sleep. But of course I couldn't do that, because I couldn't figure out what the hell had happened? I knew the time had been correct when we'd gone to bed because it matched the time display on the phone; but now the alarm clock was showing an hour ahead of the phone.
Then I remembered: the DST button. The DST light was still in the "on" position on the clock display. I am guessing now that although the time didn't change immediately when I clicked the DST button, the clock must be programmed to automatically roll forward or backward at the appropriate official time overnight. So it just added the other hour on its own.
Damn freaking technology. Of course I fixed the time right then and there. Georges is having fun teasing me about it but of course it's all done with love. I still feel really guilty though.
Not so guilty, however, that I didn't manage to go back to sleep the entire time they were at the judo thing. I woke up at 11:00am (DST). Georges, on the other hand, looks like he really needs a nap.
