Alarmed

I knew today was one of the days I could not allow myself to sleep later than the time the alarm went off. As an SAT site supervisor, I needed to be there early to get the materials arranged for the various test administrators so they could take them directly to their room before we let the students in.

We want the day to be as smooth as possible to relieve some of the stress associated with taking the SAT.

As normal, my alarm started blasting the local NPR radio station at 5:00. The show that was on normally played an hour later, but after the recent fall fund-drives, I figured they must have shuffled the Saturday morning playlist and the show (one of my favorites - Sound Opinions) would start coming on an hour earlier.

Halfway through the broadcast, the local announcer came on the radio and announced that the time was 6:30.

Not possible. I was supposed to be at school at that time.

I looked at my phone - 6:30. I grabbed my wristwatch - 6:30.

My leisurely preparation for the morning morphed into a mad rush to get done in -10 minutes what I counted on 40 minutes to do.

Now I know why the French used so much cologne.

I also grabbed a hat. I know better than to wear one in the building, but I have too much pride for bed-head.

I have no explanation for why my alarm clock shifted by an hour last night, except to think that some programmer, somewhere, thought it extremely funny to program the change to regular time one day early. My alarm is set for seven days a week, so there was no adjustment of any setting before I went to bed and the time correctly showed 10:44 when I pulled the blanket over my head.

Mr. Sony programmer, I curse you and spit on your bits and bytes.

And for a while, I am going to sleep a bit lighter with a back-up alarm clock, because after this event, I do not trust mine.

Maybe I need to petition my neighborhood association for chickens.