This is night in Santiago, regardless of what the clock says. Also, not my view, but yes, my photo.
About two years ago, I missed a much-anticipated hike. I woke up extra early, had snacks and water and everything packed, and even had my hiking poles in my hand and my hydration backpack strapped on, when the phone rang, (by my estimation at 7:15 AM, giving me plenty of time to get to the meeting spot at 8:00) telling me that I was fifteen minutes late and that the party was getting started without me.
I missed the hike.
And I was so confused. At the time, I had only two functioning clocks, the one on my computer, and the one on my phone, both commandeered/controlled/changed by Apple. There are settings you can change so that the time doesn’t change automatically, but what fun is that, I would have gotten to go on the hike (and not screwed up an incipient friendship, but as you can guess, we might not have been friends anyway, if missing one hike was going to make it go patas arriba).
So what happened?
Once upon a time, The United States and Chile changed our clocks at approximately the same time (and not everyone had a mac, or even a computer or even (gasp) a smartphone. And the US would spring forward (hi US!), and Chile would fall back. Because we are on opposite sides of the equator. Your spring is our fall. I’m sure this is not news to you.
When we changed the clocks on the same day, or before all this SMRT technology fell into our laps, pockets, and sometimes behind the couch (oops), we had to keep track and change our phones and such automatically. But not so these days.
Now your phone changes for you. Ditto the computer. But not necessarily on the day you think it should.
Sometime in March (and I should remember this day, because it was the day I went to a party and Steven made not one but two awesome desserts, and I stayed up way later than is reasonable for me, and walked home from mid Providencia to my apartment in República at 4 AM, and that is far when you have a broken toe, and late at any stage of physical well-being), our clocks hiccupped, giving us an extra hour where none belonged.
We were sitting peacefully on couches and at dining room tables, and I looked at my watch and I had two hours before turning into a pumpkin (2 AM). I looked two hours later, and I had an hour still to go. Because our phone and computer and cell and someone please tell me who is at fault system had zigged when it should have done nothing, and all of our clocks changed. I went home and duly reported it on Facebook to a chorus of “OHHHHH”s and “thank goodness you told me”s. And btw, if you, dear fans have been friending me on FB, please don’t do that unless you know me, find the bearshapedsphere page, thanks.
But we know the drill, we do. Twice a year we do a triple take, check out the hora oficial en Chile page (which sometimes also changes on the wrong date), or in my case, check the super schoolroom tick tock clock I have behind me on the wall, which is not connected to anything other than a double A battery, and which knows not any network, and know what time it is.
But what of our visitors? Twice in the past two weeks I have either personally experienced or heard tale of visitors from foreign lands (NZ and US), who have missed tours, missed meetings, or otherwise confused the bewhosis out of themselves trying to figure out what time it is, because their phones, computers and maybe even their brain chips themselves moved to the “new” (or as I like to call it, fictitious) time.
Right now, today, April 26th, 2012, we are one hour later than NY time (despite what your phone may say if you just landed here). But on Saturday night, oh, Saturday, delightful day with garage sales and free tomato giveaway which I can’t get to because it’s too far and a horseback ride I kind of want to go on and maybe I’ll just skate in circles. Oh yes, I was saying, on Saturday April 28th, 2012, we will fall back, as befits a country plunging into a grey and dank fall. We will be on NY time. And then no one will be confused, or miss any meetings, and I will wake up with and not before the sun again, such as the sun is in the grey of the Santiago fall.
Insert lazy discussion of how this whole time change thing is kind of foolish and how the expression “robbing Peter to pay Paul” in Spanish is “devestir un santo para vestir a otro” (undress one saint to dress another) which just goes to show you how Christianity is in a lot of places you might not expect it to be, even in the US, separation of church and state be darned. Can I get an amen for the separation of state and clock, by chance?
Just adding a couple gripes:
– I disconnected from the auto-update system, but a problem persisted in that I use the system clock to tell me the time in London, New York, and other places where my editors spend their days. Since Apple was confused about the time in Chile, I had to kluge the system by telling the computer I was in Argentina in order to see the correct time difference with these other places.
– If Apple gave a rat’s poto about Chile, this all would have been fixed a long time ago. (And I wouldn’t need to wait two weeks for Apple to replace the defective charger it provided with my MacBook.)
– Maybe on arriving flights in March and April, the recorded announcement about SAG inspections should warn people not to enter the country with Apples. Or at least, to disconnect their fruit from the global update network.
– The reason for the changed date of the time change was ostensibly energy conservation. Ever noticed how when the government dislikes an idea, it studies it to death and then quietly discards it, but when it likes an idea, it implements without the least concern for side-effects. Annoying.
once again, Bodzin for the win. As for Lemon (I mean Apple) and the rat’s poto, I don’t get why they don’t care about us. Heck, we had the fewest journos killed last year and in preceding years. And so many journos use Apples. Though the number of Apples that may have died in vehicular mishaps (and purposeful runnings over) is still open to calculation.
My computer thinks it’s in Chicago, my phone is a Seattle number, I now live over 2k miles away. Yet a few reminders I set up while living in Montana 2 years ago are still appearing to come from a Montana number and a couple arrive at completely the wrong hour for any of those 3 time zones. :-/
Sounds like most folks there take the couple of days of time change confusion in stride, and if it only happens twice a year *big grin* throw a party in its honor!
ow. my brain hurts just reading that. I’m going to put up several clocks in my house with signs under them for where my people are, like in Penn Station. Except the ticking would drive me mad(der).
It’s not just an Apple problem. I have shut off all the notifications on my laptop and work computer (both Windows) and my phone (Blackberry) and even so, they changed that day. Now my computers randomly switch back an hour about once a week and I have to manually change it again.
I will give you an amen about the separation of state and time. Daylight Savings is silly! Although I’m happy that after Saturday it won’t be dark when I wake up in the morning.
Estimada Eileen; muy entretenido su blog,el cual sigo hace un par de días. En relación al cambio de hora, este se origina en la década de los sesenta(60),en el gobierno de Eduardo Frei Montalva , y se realizó para incentivar el ahorro de luz.Lo cual se mantiene hasta hoy en día.Antes se hacía dos veces al año.El segundo fin de semana de Marzo,que se atrasaba una hora; y el segundo fin de semana de Octubre, que se adelantaba una hora. En la actualidad ha ido modificándose el cambio de hora. Esta vez se hace este sábado 28 , en donde se retrasa en una hora el relog y a finales de Agosto se adelantará una hora nuevamente.Quizás más adelante,en los próximos años , dejemos una hora fija para todo el territorio continental y modificando sólo el insular….Acuérdese retrasar en una hora su relog , pc, móvil y de pulsera este sábado a la medianoche….esperando no molestar , me despido de ud , Atte Nano Fernández .
Hola Nano, bienvenido. Sí, se entiende el porque del cambio del horario, el problema es cuando no se sincroniza con el cambio en otros partes del mundo y fuerzas invisibles hacen que se nos cambia la hora sin avisar, ni preguntar. Bueno, todo se aclara con el cambio de hora mañana de noche, y sé que todo el mundo disfrutará de esa hora demás de sueño (o carrete). Saludos!
I think of Northern Hemisphere fall/spring (corresponds to Southern Hemisphere spring/summer) as “the months I don’t get to talk to my sister because of the dang 5 hour time difference.”
We didn’t do that badly this year, but yes, it will be much easier for the next six months. I am particularly looking forward to the lack of time difference in August when we are, you know, in the same HOUSE! 🙂