Mountain Time...

The Cat Daddy and I were discussing our new time zone, trying to orient ourselves among the lower 50 in the way of the clock. It still takes me a minute when I figure out the time difference between myself and others, especially those in Arizona. This is because I grew up in Arizona, where the time doesn't change. And I prefer it that way.

So, for most of our tenure in CA we were on the same time as AZ, but now we're an hour ahead, until November 2, when we'll be the same time as AZ again and CA will be an hour earlier. And now we are always 2 hours behind our peeps on the East Coast, which is only one less hour difference than before, but somehow is way more bearable. For this reason I like living in the middle.

Our primetime starts at 7pm, just like the Central folks, and the TV show times do not change with the DST schedule. This is because, while people can adapt to changing the time completely, it would be simply inconceivable to adjust the TV schedules semi-annually. Not that there would be a reason to do such a thing; just something I wanted to point out.

Incidentally, this leaves the Central time zone as the only one we have yet to live in. I'm not sure how I feel about this. On one hand it would be nice to round out the Big Four along the way so I could speak from the greatest breadth of experience. Finally, after years of hearing "10:30, 9:30 Central" I would know firsthand the thought of "Oh, that's me," instead of having to wait for "10:30, 9:30 Central & Mountain," which always sounds to me like a reluctant inclusion. On the other hand, this adds a (very) small element of mystery to our lives, which some could (mis)construe as mildly nerve-wracking and/or exciting. What is it like in the Central zone? Are they regular people just like us? Or do they have some sort of knowledge the rest of us don't? Maybe. Or maybe it's just me.

Anyway, the discussion made me think of some friendly (I think) jabs my college roommate and I once exchanged on the topic. I said something snotty like "Yeah, AZ doesn't believe in arbitrarily changing the time," and she retorted "Well, at least we don't change time zones." At the time I didn't have a witty comeback. You could definitely look at it as Arizona switching between Mountain & Pacific times.

Now that I'm more educated on the DST sham/phenomenon (admittedly, from living it), however, I know the truth. Each zone vacillates between its respective standard and daylight time. Arizona, on the other hand, constantly remains on Mountain Standard Time. Everyone else: time & time zone change twice per year. Arizona: neither.

Now it's not like I want to get a time machine and go back to the original conversation and throw that little bit of insight in there--"Feh! Switch time zones? That's preposterous!"

OK maybe I do just a little bit. I'm just saying...