my own worst enemy

Does anybody know what time it is?

Friday, October 21, 2005

Anyone who has ever driven through Indiana knows how complicated it can be figuring out what time it is. Amazingly, Ginger is still struggling with it after living there for over two years (as evidenced by our conversation last night."

Ginger: "It's so nice when you can watch the news at 10 and get to bed at a reasonable hour."

Me: "But the news comes comes on at 11 at Purdue."

G: "Really? That's weird. I thought it was at 10:00. Normal people watch the news at 10:00."

Me: "Normal people in Texas and Oklahoma. Normal people on Eastern time watch the news at 11:00. Fox News is at 10:00."

G: "No, Fox News is at 9:00. You just ignore it and watch the news at 10:00. Wait, I'm not on Eastern time?"

Me: "You're on Eastern Standard Time. Which is effectively Central Time right now."

G: "So wait, when are we on Eastern Time?"

Me: "Starting next weekend."

G: "Oh good. Then everything shifts an hour, so the news will be on at 10:00 and Conan will be on earlier."

Me: "No, news is at 11:00 Eastern Time/10:00 Central Time. Don't you remember hearing ads for shows saying something like 'on at 8 eastern, 7 central!' ?"

G: "So people on Central Time watch everything an hour earlier than people on Eastern Time?"

Me: "Yes. Well, it's actually the same exact time, but it just seems an hour earlier to Central Time people."

G: "Oh. So that means the news here is on at 10:00 since we're on Central Time right now."

Me: "Um, no. All the stations in Indy delay their shows an hour so they match Eastern Time schedules. So you're actually seeing everything an hour later than everyone in the Eastern and Central Time zones."

G: "I'm so confused. So we're on Mountain Time?"

Me: "Eastern Standard."

G: "Wait, when does the news come on in LA?"

Me: "Normal time. 11:00"

G: "So what time is the news in Mountain Time? 9:00 or midnight?"

Me: "I don't think they have TVs there."

G: "Oh."

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