Time travel

The topic I'm about to cover is boring to everyone but me, but it's my blog, so I'll write about it anyway. How do I know it's so boring? When I talk about it with people in person, their eyes glaze over and they humor me with a polite half-smile. When I talk to people about this topic on the phone, I can hear them snoring. But I find it interesting, so you have no choice but to indulge me (unless you choose to quit reading, but by now you're probably so compelled by the prospect of this near-fatal boredom that there's no way you can quit.)

I don't have to set my clock ahead for Daylight Saving Time this year, ever. How have I managed this amazing feat, you might ask? Since you're curious, I'll explain.

Those of you in the States (except those of you in Arizona and I think Hawaii) moved your clocks ahead by an hour last night. You awoke this morning all grumpy and out of sorts because you were deprived of an hour of sleep. (That's why I haven't called any of you today.) That date is three weeks earlier than it was in previous years. It changed last year in the United States. Europe, however, has stuck with the old date, so Switzerland doesn't move its clocks ahead for three more weeks.

So far, you're wondering what the big deal is. But here's the part that's really cool: in three weeks, when the Swiss are moving their clocks ahead an hour and waking up all grumpy and short-tempered on Sunday morning, where will I be? Yup, Minnesota. By then, I'll be on a business trip to Minnesota, so I won't have to move my clock when the Swiss do.

You're already thinking that this is pretty exciting, but it gets even better. Because I'm flying to Minnesota when Minnesota is on DST and Switzerland is not, I only have to overcome six hours of jet lag on the way out there, rather than seven hours. I'll still have to overcome seven hours when I get back to Switzerland at the beginning of April, but I'm getting used to that.

So, to summarize all of the exciting news: I don't have to move my clock ahead in Minnesota; I don't have to move my clock ahead in Switzerland; I only have to deal with six hours of jet lag on my way to Minnesota; and I got to write a really interesting blog entry about all of this. Life is good, isn't it? (Except for those of you who actually stuck with this post for this long and are now regretting the ten minutes of your life that you can never, ever get back.)

On the subject of cheese, I give up. After two glorious entries, I'm finding a great lack of motivation to blog about cheese. I'm told that Gretchen and I are scheduled to spend two or three full days running around and sampling cheese while she's out here in May. Maybe I'll get my inspiration back, or maybe Gretchen will be inspired to start a cheese blog of her own.