And a simple message for some that might need it:
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I have (alright, a couple) “bog standard” Casio wristwatches. One I wear for work so I need not look at a phone for simple time checks. Also, the hourly beep and one alarm are useful for my work purposes. It does very well. It does not keep track of the year, and thus there is no leap-year awareness.
So on the night of February 28, 2024 a second after 11:59:59 PM it became March 1, 2024 despite it being the 29th as the watch doesn’t know of the year and most years (3/4 of them!) are not leap years. Thus I had to set the watch “ahead” by setting it back.. or was it the other way around? Setting it manually does allow selecting the 29th of February.
“I hate temporal mechanics!” – Miles O’Brien, Star Trek Deep Space Nine
Oh, the other Casio watch? Mr. Lemke bought it and found something about it he didn’t care for and rather than fiddling with it or trying to fiddle with a return, he kept it and just bought a replacement. Eventually he asked me if I could use it. I could and still do. It can deal with two different time zones. This means the occasional venture into Eastern Time isn’t a big annoying re-setting of the watch, but a simple single button press.
[ADDENDUM: Yes, the transition from Feb. 29 to March 01 happened exactly as it ought.]
The HR (I know, I know, H… for me…) person can’t quite grasp the crossing-midnight thing, so my schedule is shown as 12:00-08:00 or such. Midnight to 8 AM. Though it’s never that. It’s 11 PM to 7 AM, or 10 PM to 6 AM. Very rarely it’s shifted even earlier still. No big deal. I can deal with it, and $BigBoss(es) only care that I show up and Do Stuff. And as long the Stuff gets Done, the timing I use is no great concern.
But timekeeping is a concern. Since the HR person can’t deal with the midnight crossing and does the schedule naively for simplicity, when I start “off schedule” (all the time) I cannot simply clock in. The automation doesn’t allow for deviation from the scheduled start time, or not by much. A minute or two, fine. An hour or more? Forget it. For that that there is a timesheet. Also for swapped shifts, those called in to cover a no-show or such, or when someone forgets to clock in properly. No big deal. I can do this.
Ah, but I cross midnight and this can cause confusion. So, for example, if I worked last night (I did not, I was enjoying not having to) I’d start at, say 10:00 PM June 03 and stop at 06:00 AM June 04. Simply wring 10:00-06:00 isn’t enough, and 10:00 PM – 06:00 AM should be, but isn’t quite. Adding the date as “June 03-04” is the cue that “Hey, this is a special case.” That this is helpful has been relayed to me a few times. Again, no big deal. I started do that some time ago, figuring it would be helpful for that very reason. Except once, late last month… when someone tried to be helpful.
It was the night of the 20th to 21st or maybe 21st to 22nd. And someone signing in on the next shift figured the second day/date was really the year and helpfully corrected it to ’23’. As this meant a shift from 10 PM on the 21st to 6 AM on the 23rd which would be 2+24+6=32 hours Or 40 hours had the start been on the 20th), it was caught right away. I was told that the reason for my ‘strange’ entry was explained, so hopefully there will not a similar “correction” in the future.
The newspaper comic Garfield was at least generally amusing, which put it ahead of most of its kind. It was no Calvin and Hobbes and certainly no Far Side, but it wasn’t out of place on the same page as Wizard of Id or Frank & Earnest. I have accused $HOUSEMATE of being Garfield due to a decided fondness for lasagna (or did $HOUSEMATE make the claim first?).
One thing that amused or bewildered me was that Garfield had a fear of Monday the 13th. Now, some people have an irrational fear (and others play along…) regarding Friday the 13th for whatever reason. Sure 13 is ‘unlucky’ but that differs across cultures. Some, 13 is lucky, and for a good many 13 is just another number.
I could see a pet cat not liking Mondays (and the rest of the work week, for those working the typical business week) if the cat wanted human attention on-demand as might happen on the weekend. After Monday, the routine might settle in again. But why should a cat care of day numbers? Yeah, I know, it’s comic strip and ‘Rule of Funny’ should cover it. But I am me, so I think about these things.
It is indeed Mother’s Day today, and in my mother’s case it really is – twice over. Once upon a time, my mother became a mother on this day and month. Five years later (plus or minus 45 minutes – yes, we checked) it happened again and thus I have a younger sister. We have NO excuse for forgetting each other’s birthday anniversaries.
It’s a rare occurrence that I have a night off and $HOUSEMATE is away. That happens tonight. I was pondering what to do for the evening meal and had settled on a walk to the non-fast food Mexican restaurant in town. Good food, a decent walk, and with no driving I could have a drink or two.
And then I realized the date. 5 May. Cinco de Mayo. I’ve no problem with Mexico and people of Mexican ancestry having some pride in the victory at the Battle of Puebla. It’s the Americanized celebration of it in the form of too many people, excessively loud music, and too much low quality beer – even without getting that most do not realize the actual significance of the day. The day some claim it is, is actually September 16.
I’m a bit torn. I kinda want to go just to see how things are and if I can get a decent meal and some good (I do not expect great) drink. And I get to say “been there, done that.” But that is an if there. What do I do for a backup plan? Right now, no idea. Just turning around and walking home is unappealing, but it might the best choice. There really isn’t anything else between there and home. Even with a significant detour it’s really only fast food and I had quite enough of that from recent travel.
ADDENDUM: Decided to risk it and am glad I did. The music was not any louder than usual and while there was a crowd and a wait, it didn’t seem out of line with might be expected on a Friday night. The food was good, and the drink (just had one, but it was “jumbo”) was good – and I was glad to have planned on walking back home from the start. I did stop once on my way back get a dessert, something I rarely do nowadays.
The Elegant Ungulate 