jet lag, time change

It'll be several more days before all my timepieces (things which contain clocks) are reset for Standard Time (the change was 2am this past Sunday). Years ago, I would've set my alarm clock for 2am and hurriedly raced around the house to change everything (well, okay .. not really .. even I am not that anal). No more; now it takes days and weeks before I change everything (well, almost everything: the clock on the bread machine is so obscure that I often wait until the first Sunday in April when we return to Daylight Saving Time).

I mentally accounted for about 20 things that need resetting. More and more of My Stuff automatically adjusts: VCR/DVD player (synchs to one of those out-of-band signals in the broadcast stream); wall clock above the fireplace (synchs to WWV); Palm PDA (PalmOS 5); computers; wireless phone/answering machine (CallerID); satellite receiver (which contains its own CallerID gizmo for on-screen display).

Stuff That Requires a Manual Reset includes: the alarm system; the VCR (it's supposed to autosync, but ...); breadmaker; oven; microwave; 2 wall clocks; my "clocktail table"; the digital cameras; the camcorder; alarm clock; 2 wired phones; 2 wristwatches; and of course, the car. Some of these (like the car) have obscure ways of resetting the clock.

There's a classic riddle about whether a clock that runs fast (or slow) is more accurate than one which is broken, since the latter will always be correct twice per day.

got an email from Marty (high school chum) who is back from Ireland (icy runway, airline strike, reroute through LAX and the accompanying smoke-related delay). A NASA website had an incredible photo of the smoke from the wildfires.

Her story reminded me of my return from 10 days in Australia, years ago. Took me 3 DAYS to recover from that jet lag (theory: west->east jetlag is harder because you're going against the normal Earth rotation) and I nearly turned into oncoming traffic, having easily adapted to driving on the left (and the righthand drive rental car). BTW, the first indication that you're not yet adapted: you flip the turn signal, and the windshield wipers engage.