I have to catch a 5:30am shuttle to the airport this morning. Getting up at 5:30 runs counter to my nature the way that taking baths runs counter to the nature of toast, so I very carefully implemented my patented triple alarm system. I live in fear of oversleeping and missing a flight, so I take extreme precautions.
I called the front desk and booked the shuttle for 5:30, then asked for a wake-up call at 5:00. (I can get ready really fast if I have to.) Then I set the alarm by the bed for 5:00. Then I set my cell phone alarm for 5:00. I have found this system to be highly reliable. One may fail, two could fail….three? No way. It’s failsafe. Then I lay down and immediately fell into the deep and dreamless sleep of the author on a book tour.
I woke up this morning, for no reason at all. The phone was not ringing with my wake-up call. The cell phone wasn’t ringing with my alarm, the clock radio wasn’t going off. I rolled over and looked at the clock to see how early I was awake and to divine if I could glean even a few more moments of precious sleep and HOLY SAINTED MERINO it was 5:32am!
I jumped up. I said some incredibly appropriate and foul words. (When under duress, I have the ability to string them together with incredible alacrity. It’s a gift.) I swore again. I ran into the bathroom and started ramming my toothpaste and sock yarn into my bags. I swore some more. Bastard pigs! How had this happened! I had already missed the shuttle, I was probably going to miss the flight, I was not going to make the event in Atlanta. Kim at Knitch was going to kill me. Jayme-the-wonder-publicist was going to kill me. I paused.
No- I would kill myself. More efficient, less humiliating. Son of a phentex ball band. How had this happened?!
I ran to the phone. If they could hold the shuttle for 5 minutes I could be there. I dialled the front desk. When the nice girl answered, I exploded into the phone.
“Listen, I don’t know what happened, I really don’t. I had a triple alarm system and somethings happened. You guys didn’t call with the wake up call for 5:00 but I don’t think there’s any time for blame. Lets move on, I’ll blame you later if I miss the flight. You can talk to the knitters. Not me. Now, I’m supposed to be on the 5:30 shuttle which I know has probably already left but if you can please just hold it I can be there in 5 minutes. No…4. Just don’t let it leave I’ll be right there. Don’t let it leave. Get my bill ready. Hold the door open. Distract the driver. Take your top off, I don’t care what you do…just don’t let that shuttle leave if if hasn’t already and if it did, maybe you should call me a cab. Yes, a cab… that’s the answer. Don’t talk. Just do it. I’ll be right there. I can pee at the airport. Damn. Damn. Damn.”
Here I paused, which was not my intent, but I was out of breath. When I did pause, the girl on the other end said “Ma’am, please calm down.”
“Missy – now is not the time for calmness. I’ve been a mother for 18 years. I know when to be calm and this is not it.” I replied, and the first seeds of real fury arose. (I’m not the type to get angry with hotel people, but her calmness in the face of disaster was more than I can bear.)
“Ma’am….?” she said, ever so tentatively, “I can hear that you are upset. I really can, and if you really want a cab, I can call one for you right now, it’ll be here in less than 5 minutes and be waiting for you, but I’m not sure that’s what you want.”
“Oh, are you?” I replied, the hostility welling up in me.
“Yes ma’am. ” she said.
“It’s 4:30.”
I fell down. My hotel room clock is wrong. It’s ahead by an hour. (Although it still didn’t go off. May be my fault. This is exactly why I have the triple alarm system.)
“Do you think you can still make the 5:30 shuttle?” she inquired.
“This day is off to a challenging start.” I replied.
For the record, my wake-up call and cell phone did ring at 5:00. The triple alarm system remains undefeated.
I am certain to be the only one reading your post at 2:30 am, but I have insomnia. Thankfully, my alarm is not set for 5:00.
Happy travels.
This is trippy! Our clock is off too! I did a double take when I got up to put my youngest back to bed after a midnight snack… I didn’t think it was after 5am already, and the clock said so, but it isn’t! WEIRD!
Oh dear!! Your bad start to the day really made me giggle!
Hope your day got better!!
Ah yes the miracle of daylight savings time…
oh wait, didn’t we do that already?
You see, some electronic gizmos have brains so complex that they automatically switch to DST for us, how cool! guess nobody told them about us humans moving dst. because we’re so godlike, we can manipulate, *Time* man.
Whoa, I sound like I’ve been smoking dope, rather than waking up groggy cuz preggo bladders are smaller than small. and happened to notice that my dvd player did not match my watch. wide awake now that i went and figured out how to reprogram it!
the Man is hassling you, Yarn H. this is what i tell my son when they don’t have his favorite cereal three weeks running at the store. obviously, it’s a conspiracy.
I love it when you screw up, very entertaining 🙂
As Mal would say (from Serenity and Firefly. I know you know this, but it’s early and you’re rattled.) Oh my Sweet and Fluffy Lord. (Which immediately popped into my mind after reading Holy Saint Merino and promptly choking on my coffee LOL!) I’m trying really hard to figure out how you could possibly be related to my husband! (Or he be related to you. I’m not fussy. It works either way.) He’s had several things like that happen because he’s so paranoid about being late, especially for work. He used to travel quite a bit for work and has set hotel clocks all over the US and even a few in other countries. On more than one occasion he’s had the time be off or the alarm clock malfunction. One time he went to work at 3 am because the battery in his alarm clock was dying and said it was 5 am when it was 3 LOL! So if you can figure out how you are related to a 2nd generation Italian from Upstate NY I would really appreciate it. Now I have to go and clean up all the coffee that was spilled (or sprayed as I choked, I guess it’s all how you look at it) on my computer. Happy travels and we’ll see you at WEBS on the 27th!
Oh my, coffee and laughter to start my day! I laughted so hard, the dogs jumped. Thanks, Harlot. If is any consolation, the same time thing happened to me this morning, although I had no plane to catch or knitters to meet. My bedside clock is one that automatically sets itself to DST, but of course it was purchased before DST was moved.
On the plus side, you were up early and got your post done. For me, since you posted early, I could enjoy a read with my coffee while my cat and dogs enjoyed an early breakfast.
This is the sort of thing I have nightmares about. Usually before important dates like weddings and early morning flights. Most of the time I just can’t sleep, so anxious does the fear of missing three alarms make me.
hopefully the flight is good and you have a chance to relax a bit (maybe a nap would be good!) before Atlanta this afternoon. I’m up early (well, not quite as early as you!) so I have plenty of time to get ready and get there. Fortunately, I’m only coming from 20 miles away, not Denver 🙂 Looking forward to it!
Oh dear, that sounds like something I would have done! Make sure you get the desk clerk’s name so you can send her a pair of socks!
Dear Steph, as a person who has alarm clock anxiety and has had it her whole entire life, I live in fear of not making flights, taxis, etc, and so I do exactly what you do…the triple system..ie the cell phone, the hotel room radio alarm, and then the hotel wake up call.
I am SO glad you made it. It sends shivers down my spine just to feel that burst of anxiety you went through. The reason that I have the anxiety is that my mother had the same anxiety with alarm clocks, with turning off the gas stove at night, etc etc, ( it’s a learned crazy type of behavior)! : ) …and I know, there is probably a way to talk myself out of it…. or to swallow a pill and stop it, but it remains a real issue, and so you have my sympathy and a great big hug as you jet around and let so many of us meet you. Remember, you are well loved. Deep breath. Focus on the fact that we all love you, and no one is going to kill you. We all want you safe and feeling fine when you arrive wherever you are going. Safe travels, my friend. Love, Kathleen
I sympathise – but please feel sorry for those of us who have to get up at 5.30 or earlier every working day (and who would rather stay in bed)!
I don’t know how you deal with all those different time zones though when you are on tour.
Oh dear, hope your day got better! 🙂 Atleast you made your flight (I hope)..
Here’s where you pause, alter your voice and say, “Sarah, dear, I told you not to play with the phone. I’m so sorry, Miss. That was my twin sister, Sarah, and I’m afraid we’re having a little trouble getting her to take her meds. I do hope that she hasn’t upset you too much. I just went in to the bathroom to brush my teeth… Just two minutes. But I guess I can’t turn my back on her for even that short time. She knows we’re supposed to take the 5:30 shuttle, and well… she gets a little worked up. I’m so sorry she bothered you. Sarah, no Sarah, you don’t use toothpaste to slick back your hair. Oh dear, I’ve got to go.” And then slink out of the hotel quietly.
Had this happened to me, I would have had the very same conversation 😉 I’m sure your day will only get better from here. I know mine is off to a great start after reading your post.
Now you just have to put lotion in your hair, lock yourself out of your room wrapped only in a towel and throw your shoes out of the window, all at the same hotel, and you will be the Queen of Inexplicable Knitter Behaviour. Can you manage them all at once, do you think?
Around here we use 3 alarm clocks just to get to school and work on time. Being a good Girl Scout (is it Girl Guides in Canada?) is just smart. (or maybe just paranoid in my case) Remember the motto: Be Prepared. But don’t make yourself crazy in the process.
Yup, just like E said above — you have become the victim of an automatic-daylight-savings-time-setting device that is too stupid to know that the start date for daylight savings time has changed. Just like my computer. Immediately after reading your post this morning, I looked at my computer clock and thought, “holy crap, it’s nearly 8:00 already!” Then I looked at the kitchen clock and realized what had happened — to both my computer and to your alarm clock. Still doesn’t explain the missed alarm, but my guess is you just set it for PM instead of AM. But it could just as easily be a stupid electronic device trick!
Bless your little felted soul for sharing this lamb’s tale. Holy Sainted Merino, indeed.
Cheers
Sally, listening to CBC Radio in Cumbria
Oh, my heart goes out to you for the sleep you lost! I am much the same way when there’s something early in the morning, particularly if I know other people are relying on my attendance, so I expect I would have had a similar reaction to yours…
the day can only improve… right??
YOWZA!!!!! I really hope you didn’t get a headache from all the ‘brain rush’ of that ordeal… did you happen to gift the nice desk lady a signed book? ask her to just chalk it all up to ‘inexplicable’?
Ha ha ha! I did this to my husband when we were dating! He’s a psychologist and had been making emergency admissions into the local hospital all night (I didn’t know that, of course). I was just getting into the first stages of myopia and woke up in semi-darkness to see it was 6:30! I had promised to wake him at 6:00 a.m., no matter what. I jumped up and grabbed my phone to call him. He was relatively polite (but a bit cool, in my estimation). We talked for a few minutes and he said, “Do you know what time it is?” “Why, it’s after 6:30!” I innocently replied. “No, Sweetie, it’s 3:30.”
My eyes were going. I had to admit it, then. The “3” looked like a “6” to my poor aging eyes. It really wasn’t my fault. The stupid powers that be in the U.S. were messing with my time again. Glasses soon followed.
I LOVE reading about your trips. I know how much effort it takes for you to do them, even while traveling. Thank you so very much for doing it for us.
Ouch. What a way to start the day. Hope it gets better for you! Oh and drink lots of coffee. 🙂
I’m just excited to be commenter #21!! I’m usually 100 or 200 something. I love your triple alarm idea, happy traveling. See you tomorrow in Annapolis–can’t wait!
Oh My God! Something similar happened when my in-laws’s came to pick my husband and I up to take us to the airport the day after our wedding day. We have gotten married on the weekend in October when we were supposed to “fall back”. My in-laws showed up an hour early at our house to pick us up (after we had made an annoucement to change the clocks at our wedding reception). Fortunately, we were awake and somewhat ready!
As long as the coffee pot in your room worked. Because I think you just drained your adrenalin allotment for the next three weeks.
I live up in Michigan (or down, depending on how you look at it). Often when we fly, we drive three hours to Chicago since it’s a heck of a lot cheaper. They’re an hour behind us. More times than I can count we’ve been panicking… until we cross the border and remember!
I am so sorry to hear that Lexington started your day off. I hope your flight goes well, enjoy the spring Atlanta provides, and come again soon (back to Lexington) I promise we will try and get our clocks fixed in the interim.
Though there remains the question of what the sock yarn was doing in the bathroom.
I find this extremely comforting to know that MY alarm clock is not the only one that finds it funny to set itself to the wrong time on occasion. It’s 4:50am where I am right now and I’m only up on here because I got up an HOUR early for work and didn’t notice it until halfway down the damn road…
Sigh…at least I’ll get some knitting time in before work…
I did that once. My hair was totally grody and I’d had a dream that I’d overslept and I was afraid I wouldn’t get a shower before school (this was a long time ago – I graduated in 88) ANyway, my mom came in the bathroom and asked me what the heck I was doing. I told her how gross my hair was and asked her to write me a note ’cause I was going to be late, and she said “It’s 1:30”. It still haunts me.
You had to get your sock yarn out of the bathroom?!?
See you in Charlotte!
Oh, you poor thing! I’ll bet it took awhile for the blood pressure to drop after that fright. I, however, have no trouble getting up. I wake up 4:45am every workday. I have to be at work at 7:00am. On the weekend, I think I’m doing ok if I sleep until 6:30. That’s really sleeping in for me! The upside of this schedule is that I’m home by 2:30 in the afternoon. The question is, am I still awake to do anything? Not always.
Whomever had that room before you should be shot for fucking with the alarm clock like that. Shenanigans! I call shenanigans!
So long as you make it to Charlotte. =)
I’m so glad you didn’t miss the Atlanta event…I would have been so sad. 😉 I am sorry that you had to get up at 5:30 though…or was it 4:30?
I am glad that I am not the only one who does this. I look forward to meeting you tomorrow in Annapolis. Anything you want me to bring?
Don’t you just love Daylight Savings time????? And, Rams – very good point. I was thinking, sock yarn and toothpaste in the same bag????
See you in Ann Arbor on Friday!!
I really freakin hate when that happens. Happened to me twice. At ridiculous hours in the morning. Of course I think 7:00am is a ridiculous hour.
I hope the rest of your trip has the right time on the clocks.
I’m guessing it was the lack of oxygen that automatically woke you up. It’s a good thing too, or else we wouldn’t be enjoying your (mis)adventure with our morning coffee(s). Hope your flight is uneventful and restful!
I totally get the sock yarn in the bathroom.
This is all President Bush’s fault, so blame him. I believe he decided it would be a good idea to fork with the time system without realizing technology was in place, things are rolling that are out of your control – like digital alarm clocks! Today is the start of the ‘old’ official daylight savings time, sooo, the clocks changed all by themselves! Lovely morning, isn’t it – I did try and do some extra knitting with the bonus time I had this morning, sorry it made your day off to a crazy start. See you in Ann Arbor!
Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
“Never mind!”
Thanks for the belly-aching laugh!
Yeah, we thought we were really cool a few years ago when we got a clock that automatically set itself when the power went out. And it automatically jumped ahead for Daylight Savings Time! Except that no matter how many times I tell the clock that Daylight Savings Time started weeks ago, it insisted on setting itself ahead overnight anyway. Technology. Feh.
Oh Steph! That’s too awful to go through (and I feel slightly bad that I have laughed so hard at your stress!) Especially since you were so wonderful last night in Lexington. Thank you for coming and for keeping us completely entertained! I read the first pages of the book already and laughed out loud about the airport wait time – that’s where I do most of my knitting. Have a safe trip to Atlanta – at least Atlanta has a great food court in their airport (terminal E) – not that I spend too much time in airports, myself!
Bummer! Well, at least you had time to grab a cup of coffee. Didn’t Joe used to be a part of the fail-safe wake-up system?
Just read your blog on Denver….and the same thing has just happened to me.
The United States has Daylight Saving time, and the Feds changed the dates when we “Spring Ahead” an hour in the (alleged) spring. My computer automatically changes the time. Except…it didn’t change it in March, the new date in the Federal law. I set the new time manually.
I am getting ready to teach a Sunday school class, drying my hair, and reading your post laughing, when I catch the time in the lower right corner…8:16.
I have to be at church at 8:30. I’m screaming at the Wonder Spouse, and, like your hotel clerk, he calmly pointed to his clock, his watch, and my watch (it takes a lot to convinvce me) that it was 7:16.
Coffee somehow tastes better at this moment.
I’m sorry you had to start your day like that! I hope it gets better. Did you make your flight?
thanks for the laugh Steph – sorry to say that your exhaustion is making me laugh but to say anything else would be a lie – I laughed me arse off so to speak
You, my dear lady, have a most enviable talent for turning lemons into luscious little lemondrops. I only hope your blood pressure spike didn’t cause any permanent damage.
Just one question: why do you keep your sock yarn in the loo? Or was that the loo yarn, not to be confused with the bed yarn, side table yarn or minifridge yarn?
I do hope you are planning on knitting that lovely young lady at the desk who didn’t lose her cool (or laugh) a pair of socks.
God Love You.
On a recent trip my husband took he added “a call from me at x:00 a.m.” to the usual triple alarm because he had not been able to get through to the front desk at the hotel. We have found the majority of hotel room clocks to be wholly unreliable.
Glad you made your shuttle!
So sorry your day started with such a nasty jolt. I hope you had time to realign yourself and go forward as planned during the rest of the day. I must admit I laughed out loud as I read your tale, but I too have the the triple alarm system in place for those most important mornings-so I feel your pain. I hope you have a wonderful rest of the day that contains copious amount of coffee and yarn.
Suzanne
Blame it on the Republicans & their brilliant idea to change daylight savings time to “save” a few dollars in energy costs while costing millions in the IT/IS world. For 2 weeks now our clocks have said anything they wanted to, as all electronics that automatically change for DST have to be continually reset. I still can’t convince our VCR that it really is an hour earlier
Egads! I would laugh but this is all too familiar…I travel every week for work and the triple alarm system is one I’ve employed time and time again. It never fails, only I do, on occasion. Have fun in Atlanta, wish you’d come just a tiny bit further south to Orlando!
Oh Stephanie, I’m so sorry. What a awful way to wake up…. I hope the rest of your day goes better.
We have this problem twice ever year, due to our notorious self-setting clock. There is no turning off the programming – it is set to do DST at the old times. It struck again this morning, as I lounged in bed until 9:15, thinking that really it wasn’t that late, but I guess I should get up. Walked into the bathroom, saw the clock that said 8:15. Dang it all! It’s hard enough to think about DST even when they’re talking about it on tv, but to remember when it USED to be is impossible. So every switch we have to deal with this. Ugh!!!
You ARE just like us, Steph! See? I knew it all along……. just thinking back to your days of treking through the snow with a sled and ‘rope’ that broke hauling your stuff to the cabin, walking endlessly to the nearest store to buy TP and some ETOH just light years away, uphill both ways in snow shoulder-high deep with NO shoes……….. well….. maybe we’re not completely alike; my idea of roughing it is a hotel room without a jacuzzi and straight single pointed knitting needles………
Hearing of all those places knitters will be seeing you makes me asking why southern NJ isn’t on your tour this year again………
Well – you got an early start, the desk clerk got a story she’ll tell for years and we got a laugh over our morning coffee. Alls well that ends well? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Have a nice cup of tea; it’ll make you feel better. Oh – and I really hope you remembered to separate the toothpaste and the yarn. I envision a luggage disaster there…
Ah, the ‘ol change-the-time-on-you trick by the alarm clock. Mine does that on occasion, will set the time ahead when I’m setting the alarm clock. Electronics cannot be trusted.
Enjoy the rest of your tour!
oh man i woulda been so pissed at that hotel! thats so wrong they didnt change the clocks!
I too had this problem this morning though not nearly as pressing. I had to get up to get ready for soccer and get laundry done before we left. And as I sat here eating breakfast, I realized my bedroom clock lied to me. I hates it! Could’ve slept another hour.
Ohhhhhhh…… I HATE that for you. bless your heart. (with no undertones). I’m not certain I could have done so after that adrenaline rush – but I do think I would have just layed back down till the phone went off. just to get my head back in place!
(I don’t watch the news generally. so I really had no idea why this had happened to you – and checked my computer clock just to see what time it was – and now I’m having to wander around the house and figure out what’s right. Meh.)
Margaret Atwood. Margaret Atwood. Margaret Atwood.
My clock did the same thing this morning! My husband had to take our daughter to the airport, and when I got up I thought they were too late to make the plane! Everything was OK. Our (older model) digital alarm clock is programmed with the OLD daylight savings time start date.
Anyways, I sure wish you were coming to the SF Bay area! Have a good trip!
OH that was sooooo funny!!
I miss seeing you at Atlanta –:( did not get tickets.:(:( hope you have a really nice time.
And you just know there’s no going back to sleep after the triple-shot jolt of adrenaline now coursing through your body. You’re up whether you want to be or not, and have a nice long leisurely hour to sip coffee and contemplate dropping the alarm clock out the window. The only question is, with or without shoes?!
At least you didn’t need coffee to wake up. Adrenaline coursing through your veins wakes you up fast!
I’m very sorry about your clock mix-up though, because I have had moments like that and they are always very disheartening when you realize that you have to give up precious sleep. Best wishes on your tour!
Too funny! The reason I can laugh so hard at this is that I know I would have done the very same thing.
bwahahahahaha! I’m on a road trip too, and I know the perils of waking up too early — because I’m afraid of oversleeping!
You have to knit front desk girl a pair of socks!
Whew!
Thank you for this valuable public service announcement: always check the hotel room clock for accuracy. I’m facing frequent travel myself this year, and I’ll never forget this lesson!
Hysterical. And I see I’m not the only one wondering why the sock yarn was in the bathroom.
I also set multiple alarms in similar situations. I include the alarm in my watch, which I take off and put on the nightstand, because if you’re asleep with your hand under the pillow or blankets, you may not hear it. Want to guess how I know that? And I’m nearsighted enough that I’d prefer to have it on my wrist. But I’m hoping I’d have noticed that the bedside clock was off by an hour. How tired were you when you were getting to bed?
Wait a minute. After all this, you were taking pictures of the clocks? Go back to bed!
Too funny – you know – fr us, though not necessarily for you. Thanks for sharing a giggle. I hate that I’m missing you in Atlanta today – hope all goes smashingly. Watch out for the “Snarky-s.” Those girls are crazy!
Now that is a bad way to start the day! Hope it got better from there.
Boy, can i identify with this post. That said, i could never hope to articulate any of it half as well. Sorry for your crap morning, but look at the bright side: at least you were on time.
When I was in high school — long before the snooze function on alarm clocks — I used a double-fail method. One alarm at my bedside and a second alarm, set for 15 minutes later, at the far side of the room. I could shut the bedside alarm off and go back to sleep, but to shut off the second alarm, I had to haul my sorry butt out of bed and stagger across the room. Worked most of the time. Fortunately, Mom would walk me up if I somehow crawled back to bed en route to the shower.
Glad I’m not the only one who hates early mornings.
Oh sweetie…
Oh my, I know what that’s like. I really, really do. For almost 5 years I traveled approximately 75% of the time for business and the feeling cannot be fully appreciated until experienced first-hand.
God bless you!
I hope to get to see you again in LA this year and will be checking posts for possible book tour dates.
You keep us smiling, Stephanie!
All my best!
Oh man, doncha hate when that happens!
I too have similar fears and have a triple alarm system. I also suffer from insomnia. Knowing this I still fear missing that critical wake up call. Sigh!
Good Luck!
Did you throw the alarm clock out the window?
It has been my experience that people in hotel rooms often mess with the alarm clock to freak out the next people in the room. Like setting an alarm for 2 AM. If the next lodgers don’t set an alarm because they’ll have a chance to sleep in, SURPRISE! Pranks are a highly annoying form of humor. I much prefer sarcasm.
Ah, the familiar I-didn’t-wake-up-to-my-alarm heart attack. Your heart drops into your intestines, you swear something foul, and you knock over about 200 things trying to get to the alarm clock to figure out WHY DID YOU NOT RING, YOU FRAKING S.O.B?!?!?!?! *curse curse curse*
Unfortunately, more often than not, I’m legitimately late. Man I suck at getting up on time.
Sorry your morning got off to such a ruff start. But look on the bright side – it certainly gave you some interesting blogging material. =)
Were you in Arizona or Indiana? There’s parts of the US that don’t follow DST, which makes my head hurt in ways that cannot be tolerated before coffee, so I generally try not to think about it. Wormholes and potential rifts in the space time continuum due to entropic cascade failure seems easier to deal with. How is that SG-1 viewing going anyway?
Oh, God, I know that feeling! I know that feeling way too well! Trouble is, after that kind of adrenaline-fueled awakening, it takes the rest of the day to calm down. “Challenging start” is one way to describe it, some of that creative swearing is a lot more accurate. Hope the day improved.
“the way that taking baths runs counter to the nature of toast” – that you could offer us this delightfully funny and descriptive turn of phrase after the start your day had speaks to your genius and your generosity.
If you need a 4th alarm when you are in the Twin Cities, I’ll be happy to set mine and call your hotel room.
Glad you made the shuttle on time, sorry that it had to be in such a panic mode. I think we have all done that is some way or form. It must be really tough to go from city to city like that.
My mascara did not survive your enchanting tale… I’m just glad I didn’t have to pee. Thanks for the uplifting start to my workday. C
I’m glad to know I’m not the only one that has happened to. I have problems with hotel clocks being set to PM instead of AM so I’ve learned to always reset the hotel clock to my cell phone and double check the AM/PM thing.
No matter how hard I try or how tired I am, I wake up every five minutes all night long when I have an early time to rise. Usually my internal clock will wake me at exactly the right time but if I have to be up to make a plane I don’t trust it and my subconsious is so wired I could roof houses all night long.
Love the guy in last post with the kilt! Did you peek to see if he was an authentic Scotsman??? 😉
Aww, that is extra stress that you just don’t need! And yeah, the baths/toast comment is priceless.
My copy of the book came a few days ago and I finished it last night! It provided excellent study motivation: finish a study section, read a “thing”, finish a study section, read a “thing”, etc. =)
Hey, we have the same cell phone!
I had something of the opposite problem last fall–my cell phone decided to switch to Standard Time two days early, on the day when I needed to be out the door by 4:30am. I was really glad I had a dual-alarm system…
I am so sorry you had to go through that. It was hilarious to read and please give me permission to use the saying: “son of a phentex ball band”. I laughed and laughed. That is a ‘classique’!
Poor Steph! I hate to laugh at your pain, but you make your pain sound so gash-darn funny!
My husband says the same thing happened to him on a business trip, once. I just never believe the clocks in hotel rooms.
Enjoy the rest of your trip.
Best line? The one about toast.
Oh Steph, What a horrid start to the day *hug* I know the feeling, I really do. I have A sleeping disorder, so oversleeping is a real problem for me. 3 alarms in a staggering 15 minute pattern usually wakes me up, but when it is really important I have to make sure someone calls me.
I do remember one fateful day where I had sooo much to do, Tests, Doctor appointments, the whole shebang. Alarms went off at 6, 6:15 amd 6:30 6:45 my friend called. 11:45 I woke up, looked at the time and swore voiciferously….
I hope the rest of the tour goes off without a hitch like this happening again
Ryan
I woke up this morning believing that my children had slept past 10… I didn’t realize what was really up till I read this post. TGFS – Thank Goodness For Stephanie! I am so glad we are having a laze-about Sunday. Have a fantastic rest of your day 🙂
My husband JUST had the same moment – it’s 1130am here, and for some reason his computer clocks says it’s 1230 (which is when we start work) and he panicked.
Also, we have the same phone!
he he he. I’m glad you weren’t really late. Then you would have had to deal with the whole, “am I going to catch my flight?” thing. Certainly by starting your day an hour early, you’re guaranteed to be on time for the next week or two.
Dear, I hope you get time for a nap later! You’ve been run ragged. My first visit to Denver was much like yours and you can’t help it that your went temporarily insane. Blame it on the lack of oxygen and dehydration. Denver’s climate sucks all the moisture out of your brain. Drink up and have a great day in Atlanta today!
Doesn’t being in a different time zone just mess with your head? I’m glad you didn’t miss your shuttle or your flight. : )
I like the triple alarm idea–three is an undefeatable number.
I would have been in a panic too. I was becoming anxiety ridden just reading about it. 🙂
Lady, I am still trying to wrap my head around your tour schedule. I can’t imagine how completely tired you are when you wake up in a new city every single freaking day.
Hopefully you’ll get a wee nap before the Knitch event. I’m sending you strength vibes, since we know that you don’t need chocolate…
Oh, sistah, I was right there with you, stomach churning! I am not the early riser type either, and I actually did manage to entirely miss a train once. (Somehow, although I am always late, I thought that I was magically protected by the God of Late People, but alas, no.)
Glad you had a happy (sort-of, you were still awake damn early!) ending.
So I’m reading this thinking blogging? Oh no she missed her flight(I’m reading this cursing for you in my head,daughter is near).How dare that hotel girl be calm(though I give her credit for it).4:30? I laughed so hard my daughter is wondering what in the world could be so funny that is making cry with laughter.I laugh so hard my four year old boy just starts laughing with me. Sorry for laughing so hard, but that kind of stuff always seems to happen to me.
Ooo I hate it when that happens. I hope you found your extra hour somewhere to grab a nap.
It’s probably already been suggested (I haven’t read through the comments) but methinks you might owe the nice hotel lady some socks.
There is no good sleep after bolt upright awaking.
haha. I might try that. can’t WAIT for you to come to annapolis tomorrow!!!!! look for me there
(not that you would know what i look like)
This just goes to prove my theory that NO ONE (ok, except maybe lifesaving service people) should EVER be made to rise prior to 7 am!!!! But aren’t you glad it WAS only 4:30? 🙂
we loves you!
were you a bit closer, our local knit-folk could’ve brought soothing coffee and various hippie-treats (Berkeley….aaaahhhh, Berkeley). Instead you are headed to my recent stomping grounds – not quite a vegetarian haven, but a place that lives fondly in my heart! Enjoy Atlanta, and when you are soon in Nashville, know that this California knitter is there with you in spirit!!
cheers
ps…hope those hotlanta knitters make it worth your while!!
This would SO happen to me!
And that half hour — I’d get back to sleep 30 seconds before the next alarm rang. sigh.
But what does it say about me that I felt an extra special connection to you when I realized that not only do early morning wake up calls wreak havoc, but we have the same phone.
(btw, have you figured out how to turn the volume up for when someone’s talking to you? I can get the ring tone to wake the neighbors, but I can’t make it be louder when I’m actually USING it).
Many a 20 year old would be defeated by your schedule. Heck, I’m tired just reading about your tour. Did you go back to sleep with your extra hour? I look forward to seeing you in Portland!
I assumed it was going to be like what I’ve been known to do in the past which is to answer the phone and turn off the cell phone alarm and then fall back asleep.
Just read your last couple of days of posts. Speaking of Denver’s tornado shelters, the city of Beloit Wisconsin, where I went to college, decided it was too expensive to put up tornado shelter signs. Instead they just left up all the nuclear bomb shelter signs that they hung in the fifties. THAT can unnerve a girl.
i would just like to point out that that lady was extremely polite for having to WORK A HOTEL PHONE at 4:30 IN THE MORNING.
now that just sounds like hell.
well. at least you had time for coffee?
Oh that is truly awful! I think I’d rather be toast and take a bath. Ugh!
Poor Baby!
I had to go take my high-blood pressure meds after reading this post and then yes, I tried hard not to but I confess to really laughing out loud! For what it’s worth, I too have done the same exact thing.
Take care …
That was almost as good as the “spider in the shower”….you lead such an exciting life!!
Years ago a friend, the mother of two children under 5 and with a responsible full-time job, woke up at 5:25 AM and wondered, “God, how did it get to be May 25th already?” These things happen.
As a woman with multiple alarm systems (and alarm systems that have gone wrong) I am not laughing at you, I am laughing with you.
Yes, this is definitely Bush’s fault for messing with the change to daylight savings time. My DVD player/recorder/VCR clock is off by an hour & I cannot figure out how to change it. It is not that I am an idiot (although, when my girls were teenagers, I frequently felt like one); I have adjusted the time on similar devices many, many times before. However, after going through all the menus & even reading the manual, I cannot find any way of altering the time! Good thing I rely on Tivo to do the actual recording & use it only to watch DVD’s or burn DVD’s from shows I’ve liked on Tivo (fortunately that is relatively easy to do).
i would say “Only you, Stephanie”, but really it totally sounds like something that I would do..
🙂
I use the triple alarm system, too. And I can’t ready as fast as you can, so it always seems like I have to get up so early that I might as well just stay up all night…but I realize that there is no way I could survive a day of business meetings on no sleep, and I sleep horribly.
Last time I came close to having a problem I hit snooze on my cell phone and figured I would get up with the wake-up call or the clock radio. Thank god I hit snooze on the cell phone and not off…because the wake-up call never came and the clock radio never went off because the time was set for pm instead of am.
I know religiously double check the time on the clock radio before I go to bed in a hotel room…
You missed an extra half an hour of sleep too 🙁 I’m so sorry!!!
We as fans truly appreciate the lengths that you go to for us! I hope that you made your flight and the rest of the day goes more smoothly for you!
I live with a very non-morning person (my daughter). She was the only toddler I ever met who looked liked she needed a good cup of espresso in the mornings. Dealing with her internal clock makes it easy for me to imagine what the shock must have done to your system.
Poor thing. That hotel better have had damn fine coffee. I mean, seriously fine.
Can’t wait to see you in the Twin Cities. The daughter is knitting her first hat ever (baby sized) for the charity thing The Yarnery is doing.
Speaking of which, I’d better get back to my contribution (same hat, different yarn).
I hope your flight is at least relaxing!
Schiesse!
You and that hotel clerk will have a story to laugh together over in years to come, should you ever be back there.
Take your top off?!?
I can just imagine your reaction if some crazy lady on the phone at work used that line on one of your girls!
Hahaha! Did you really suggest she take her top off to distract the shuttle driver??!? You’ve got balls!
I understand the need for a triple alarm…but for me they would all have to be set for slightly different times. I find that having 3 alarms that go off 5 minutes apart allows me to wake up gradually because if all of them went off at once, I’d just turn them off roll over and go back to sleep.
BTW, have you gotten your trip to Phoenix scheduled yet???
YOu’re not ogint ot believe this, but i have done that exact same thing. I really think it has something to do with the stress of knowing that you have to get up at the crack of stupid and function somewhat normally or something bad will happen. Hope the flight was not late 😉
ROFL!
Thanks for the laugh… sorry it was totally at your expense, but you’re laughing with us, right?
Several of our clocks leapt forward today. Once upon a time TODAY would have been DST “spring forward” day. But then our gub’mint, in their infinite wisdom, CHANGED the day. Yes, I’m yelling. But there are many clocks out there happily toodling along obliviously programmed to leap today. Sorry one was yours. Confused the frack out of us this morning too.
You want I should bring some Peets Saluwesi-Kalosi Monday?
Man, that sucks. I hope the rest of your day goes better.
I’ve had that happen before, it’s always more funny when you’re retelling th story later, rather than dwelling on how much sleep you lost by freaking out. 🙂
You need to read the “Zits” comic strip from today…
Oh, THAT explains it!
I installed a new operating system on my computer Friday, and I had to tell it I live in the Atlantic Ocean to get the time right.
Then, today, it was wrong again, and I had to tell it I really live in Virginia to fix it.
Well, now I know I wasn’t halucinating.
Have a great tour, and I wish you no more confusion with time for the rest of the tour.
This happens to me all the time when I’m traveling! But luckily when I think I’ve screwed up the triple alarm system, all I have to do is check my Mac – and there is the real (okay, relevant) time.
See you in A2! This time, no fog, no traveling back and forth across the midwest and here’s to arriving on time. But, we’ll still wait indefinitely for you! You are wonderful to come back. Thank you!
Snort!
I skimmed the comments quickly, so someone else may have already mentioned this, but it looks like it says “alarm off” in your clock photo (or maybe you turned it off since you were already quite awake by then). I don’t know how many times I have managed to do something screwy to the alarm myself. Fortunately, it’s usually when there is something really important that has me quite anxious. All the nervousness generally serves to wake me before the alarm was set anyway, but I don’t usually figure it out until I’ve nearly had a heart attack. Ahhh! That early morning, panic-induced adrenaline rush can run rings around coffee any day.
Good luck with the rest of the tour.
hate to say it but … been there, done that — only it was for college finals. At least the gal behind the desk got a laugh out of it … probably called ‘wakeup’ and made sure they got you the FIRST call on their list.
Poor, poor you. That’s a horrid feeling. But at least you didn’t miss your shuttle and/or flight, and at least you had time to get ready in a leisurely fashion. Bet you’re tired now, though.
But I bet you got a nice leisurely shower out of the deal, right?
If you’re gonna be wrong, be wrong in the right direction.
What a heck of an adrenaline shot at such an early hour!!
Sorry you had such a jolt to your morning! (The alarm thing may be one of those that has the a.m./p.m. settings – I’m always triple-checking to be sure that I set it for a.m.!)
OK, I know that someone reads these comments, so I am hoping that the someone is actually Stephanie, although I have no idea where you would get the time!
First of all, I totally identify with having that kind of start to your day. I hate, hate, hate early morning flights. In my youth, I used to pull an all-nighter just so I wouldn’t sleep in. Now, my body won’t let me do it, so I have made a decision NOT to do that again.
Second, I have a question. If you have no interruptions, how long does it take you to do a pair of socks?
Katherine
My husband once got everything packed and ready to go and then set his alarm for 5:00 so that he would be ready for the 5:30 van so that he could make his 7 am flight to London. (London, England, not London, Ontario.) Only he set it for 5 pm, so that we were awakened at 5:35 by a call from the dispatcher saying “get out there in 5 minutes or the driver is leaving without you.” Which my husband did, albeit with soap in his hair.
And then there was the time I berated him for not having called me the previous night to say he’d arrived safely in Seattle. This was the first we knew of my ability to conduct a perfectly rational conversation in my sleep.
We feel your pain.
P.S. “holy sainted merino” — this is why I stalk you.
oh, too funny, but not then, i am sure. have done identical thing except it really was time for the shuttle and i made it downstairs in 3 minutes from bed to lobby, with yarn dragging outside of my bag….
Maybe she was calm because four other people had done the same thing for their 4:15 AM flights, so she already knew the problem.
Looking forward to tomorrow night.
Yep. Looks like you’ve got a lot of relatives. 😉
This is why I use my patented 4-alarm system: The two alarms on my digital clock (which I can turn off in my sleep, or alternatively, continue to zonk through the approx. 45 minutes of ensuent beeping); and two alarms on my cellphone, which at least I have to wake up to turn off. (I think it’s the music. I’m still not used to that.) Although it’s also possible for me to immediately fall asleep after turning off the phone alarm. This has been proven. Still, it usually works. Good thing, because with the previous 3-alarm system (digital clock, travel alarm), it was possible for me to sleep through all of them. In chorus.
I could set even more alarms on the cell, but you know…that’s a tad ridiculous.
This is why I tend to stay up the 24 hours prior to departing on any trip. Obviously, that won’t work for you…
You made that sound so funny. I had the same thing happen the last time we flew to NJ. But it was at our house and I had no one to blame but me! Hope the rest of the day went smoothly.
We were in Rome, leaving for home in the morning. Some middle school age French kids had checked in that afternoon – a lot of them. They were playing with the phones all night. Our kids – in a different room than us – got a call. My son answered and he thought it was us, saying get up, come on and so they did – got ready to go to the airport. Thought is was little dark. Sat on their beds waiting for us to come; we didn’t come. Finally came to our room. Husband answered the door in his pajamas; they started screaming what are you doing, we’re going to miss the plane home, things are not supposed to work out this way, you’re the responsible ones. It was 2:30 in the morning. They were not happy, but went back to bed and slept in their clothes until the last minute as only teenagers can do. We can laugh about it now, but it took awhile.
Thank you. You remind us all that you are a mere mortal like the rest of us and not a “celebrity writer”. We’ve all missed the alarm clock, (or two or three);
I love your books because you write like you think; and it makes sense to those of us who think as you do. When I blog or write, it comes from my brain and through my fingers with very little filtering. That’s what your blog is. It makes you REAL. It makes you someone we can identify with. Thank you.
I was at your talk in Atlanta so I know tha unfortunately the day went downhill from the morning. I hope you can find humor in this leg of the book tour and that we’ll find something to laugh about in your next post.
May the remainder of the book tour be less stressful.
Thank you for finding humor in so much of the stresses of life and for sharing it with all of us.
You have me laughing so hard! But I also admire the desk clerk’s way with you. I hope her boss hears about how she kept her cool and helped you find yours. Thank you for sharing another great story!
As an old girlfriend used to say “been there, done that, took pictures.” I used to do the triple alarm system, plus sometimes I’ll add in some other safety nets like drinking a LOT of water before I go to bed so I’ll wake up to pee, or not feeding the cat so he’ll wake me up by licking my face so I’ll feed him…. By far, when I ABSOLUTELY need to wake up early, the most reliable alarm I can have is the cat one. If there is no food in his bowl at 5 in the am he will start meowing and licking my face until there is!
I remember a few years ago I had something similiar happen. I was supposed to be at work at 9:30am, woke up at 11 and panicked instantly. (especially b/c at that job if you didn’t call in within an hour of the start of your shift it was an automatic “no call no show”.) I was frantically getting dressed and called in to workforce crying and explaining about how I’d somehow overslept and I was so so sorry and the woman on the phone asked me what time I was supposed to start and as I was telling her 9:30 I realized it wasn’t 11 in the AM it was 11 in the PM. I felt like a complete idiot, apologized, and went back to bed. ::sigh::.
Next time, come to Orlando and if you miss your shuttle you can at least be comforted knowing that disney world is right around the corner! =^)
And, after that conversation with the nice young lady at the desk, were you able to come off that adrenaline RUSH and breathe again (let alone pee?). Been there done that — only to have the airline forget to order a crew and then left 2 hours late!
My alarm clock thinks it’s really smart. This morning at 2am, it jumped ahead to 3am. The first Sunday in April USED TO BE the start of Daylight Saving Time. Even though DST starts in March now, my clock doesn’t know that (not so smart after all). Perhaps this happened to you as well? Of course, I’m smarter than my clock and set it BACK an hour last night! Take that, clock!
Ugh. That just sucks. Haven’t we all been there? Still, what a drag. At least you can laugh about it now!
Thanks for the great laugh Steph! I feel for you having done that before myself but we knitters luv you for it!
I wish I could’ve made it to see you this tour but at least I bought the book. These experiences are necessary for another book and another tour means a chance for me to make it! 🙂
Aren’t you just really, totally, awesomely glad that you’re too polite to yell at the nice receptionist? Imagine how embarrassed you’d have been.
I didn’t read all of the comments to see if anyone else realized what was happening. My clock woke us up an hour early this morning and when we checked another clock, we realized that last night was the time when clocks would have changed to Day Light Savings time if the government hadn’t decided to change the date and the little chip in our clocks changed them automatically. I wonder how many people in the US were up an hour early this morning?
poor baby
I feel for you. In college on more than one occasion my roommates set all the clocks in the house forward, then rushed in to my room yelling that I was going to be late for class/a big test etc. I once made it all the way into the shower before wondering why it was still dark outside. Turned out it was only 1AM.
I REALLY enjoyed meeting you today (Atlanta)…and thanks for putting up with my over-caffienated shaky self! Thanks for holding my knitting…loved holding your sock. 🙂
Penny
Do you realize that it says “alarm off” in the bottom left corner of the hotel alarm? Did you already turn it off? Being late when traveling is also a worst fear of mine. Recently flew to Atlanta from Buffalo, got to the airport at 0430 for a 0610 flight, RAN to gate 26 of 27 and made the gate at 0607 and they closed the door and said “too bad.” God bless Delta.
I thought it was just me this morning! Thank you!! My “smarty pants” alarm clock thought it was daylight savings too, so I was up at what was really 5:30, wondering why it was still so dark. Glad you didn’t go nuts on the front desk clerk!
Oh Steph.. that poor girl. I bet she had a lie down when she got off the phone with you.
Oh crap! I hope your day got better! Glad you took time to share!
it used to be said in our little corner of the world, that one had to go through the Atlanta airport before one could go to either heaven or hell….sounds like your day started off quite warm. hope the rest of your book tour is hell free.
That’s awesome and awful all at the same time. Glad you didn’t miss your flight. 🙂
You were staying at a Hilton, weren’t you? I recognize the clock in the picture. I was staying at one last night, and had a similar experience. My alarm clock actually did go off, and it took me quite a while to figure out why it wasn’t showing the same time as my cell phone.
The clocks are somehow centrally controlled, and it must be DST-related. The weird thing was, comparing notes with other people at the same hotel, some people had their clocks go forward, some back and some were correct.
I’m sorry your day started off so poorly…it can only get better from here. Oh, and I am really laughing with you!
um.
I’m thinking one of my incredibly astute fellow knitters already asked, but—
Why was your yarn in the bathroom?
So, did you go back to sleep?
I have a theory. It’s a sucky theory, and I apologize for even bringing it up, because it places the blame on you, rather than the hotel, but it also explains why the clock was wrong AND why its alarm failed. Is it possible that when you thought you were setting the alarm on the hotel clock, you were actually setting the time forward an hour?
(Again, sorry. I assure you that the theory only came to me because it’s PRECISELY the kind of thing I would do. Also, it looks like a really complicated clock.)
Phoebe @1:34 –
Okay. That’s the best one I’ve heard in a long time. Sorry, Stephanie.
Son of a phentex ball band! WHAT A POTTY MOUTH!!!!
So an “erm…. nevermind” moment.
Thanks for today’s laugh!
I’ve got one of those smart alarms that resets itself–on the old DST schedule. For the last month, I’ve been setting it to go off at 5am when I need to get up at 6am because it’s impossible to reset the time on the clock. (It’s got the equivalent of a computer chip. You tell it what time zone you’re in, and the clock takes over.)
So this morning, when the alarm went off at 5am, it really was 5am.
I also use my cellphone as a backup alarm. It’s got a lovely snooze button, good for another 10 minutes. I always set it to something different from the alarm clock, and happily hit snooze as often as I can.
Two alarms, and on neither of them can I set the actual what-time-it-is-now. And they don’t match each other…by about three minutes.
I hate it when technology almost gets things right.
Same thing happened to me in a round about way this morning! My alarm went off, I dragged my poor daughter out of bed to get ready for school, then realised I hadn’t adjusted our clocks back from daylight savings time. Ugh.. I hate that I WASTED a whole hour that could have been incorporated into a nice solid block of sleep.
Eeps! I’ve had similar happen to me, so you have my sympathies. I managed to get up, get dressed, drive to work while CURSING at the unexplained road block that caused me to take a ridiculously long detour. Only to glance at the clock in my car for the first time just as I pulled into the parking lot at work: 8:24. A whole 36 minutes too early. Good thing I had some knitting in my purse.
Looking forward to seeing you in Philly!
I hate, hate, HATE waking up before my alarm goes off. It makes me feel robbed and cheated of perfectly good sleepy time. Add that to the stress of thinking you are late when you’re not, and combine it with a snotty receptionist (was it just me, or was she not snotty?), and you have the recipe for crankiness. Hope your day got better after that!
I’m glad that you didn’t miss your flight, and it kind’ve warms my heart that I’m notthe only one htis has happened to. 🙁
I’m currently experiencing a compulsion to send you something, like green tea or a bottle of vodka or a handbound notebook. If you make it to Vancouver, beware small Asian people bearing strange gifts. I also think you’ve earned the right to go Office Space on that hotel clock.
i would give money to hear what the front desk person said to the other front desk person right after she put the phone down. makes me smile just thinking about it. i’m glad you didn’t miss your plane..
I’m glad someone besides me does things like this when traveling. 🙂
Oh Stephanie – as a chronic insomniac and thus a doubly-chronic oversleeper, I have so felt your pain. I’m glad everything turned out all right, but… ooogh. What a terrible way to wake up. There’s no amount of coffee in the world to make up for that kind of kick-off to one’s day.
I hope you were able to get a nap on the plane, to help make up for the half-hour of missed sleep.
Ouch! See, this is more evidence that human beings are not meant to be awake so early in the morning. You should either go to sleep when it is dark, or wake up when it is dark, not both.
Hope you got some rest and the rest of this leg of the journey went smoothly!
I feel your pain 🙂 I have a “thing” about not hearing the alarm….so often crawl over/on top of hubby to read the luminous dial. ( our old cottage electrics mean plugs only on his side). On a positive note…you would have got an adrenaline rush to sweep you through the day! On my positive note, maybe I wouldn’t have had two kids if I hadn’t checked the alarm quite so often 😛
Oh dear me! I hate starting days like that, makes me feel like *the world* is telling me to give up and go back to sleep. I hope your day goes better.
Am curious, though. I love alarm clocks. They usually work well for me. (The only time I have problems with my alarm is when I’ve done something dumb to the clock. Like set it for PM when it should be AM. D’OH!) The photo of the alarm clock you posted? The clock says that the alarm is turned off… Just saying.
I wish you much rest and lots of fun during your travels!
Don’t you just love those adrenaline-filled moments of terror? Hope to see you in a couple of weeks here in Ann Arbor, MI.
Oh my gosh! I’ve definitely been there and done that. Thankfully, it all turned out well! Whew!
I knew what happened immediately, because my husband went ballistic Sunday morning thinking he was late for his class and wanted to know why *I* moved the clock ahead an hour. Why on god’s green acres would I do such a thing?!? I reminded him that he had has hero wonderful President Bush to thank for his near heart attack. 🙂
I laughed out loud. My mommie told me it wasn’t polite to laugh at someone’s distress so you have my deepest most sincerest knitterly apologies. If I ever meet you, I’ll buy you sock yarn.
I hate hotel clocks!
Waking up at the ungodly hour of 5am is traumatic enough without the added stress. What a lousy way to start the day! I hope you were able to knit a few rows and relax before getting on the plane and that the rest of the day went better.
I got stuck in the wilds of Holland once because I set the (single) alarm for pm instead of am. Your way is MUCH better!
Daylight Savings Time brings out all the hidden resentments I have about government interference. A friend commented this weekend that its amazing that after all the trauma we went through preparing for Y2K that DLST would get changed with so little notice.
I’m leaving for Denver tomorrow morning. It’s a 7 a.m. flight. I will be busy working until 10 p.m. tonight. I have not yet packed. I have not yet chosen my travel project, or made my clothes and food list. In order to avoid the “OMG I’M LATE!!!” panic that inspired your blog entry I am just going to stay up all night, pack, maybe go out to an all-night greasy spoon for sugar and caffeine, and not worry about missing an alarm. And sleep on the plane.
That kind of mistake has only happened to me in reverse. I consistently arrive late after the spring time change . Sigh. BTW I was there in Atlanta yesterday and I was thrilled to finally get to hear you speak. I got second row seats!! In a feat of amazing strength you managed to be as funny in person as you are here, in front of a crowd, I grovel at your feet.
And…you liked my sock yarn and asked what it was!! The socks shall be shadowboxed and placed above my stash in an act of inexplicable knitter behavior. Hope you find your yarn, oh yea, and your underwear too.
Love~Merdith
My clocks are all off too — and have been every freakin’ Sunday for the last three weeks. I don’t know if anyone else advanced this theory (haven’t read all the comments, yet, bad me) but I’m told by some tech-savvy people that it’s something to do with the change in daylight savings time.
Appliances like clock radios and DVD recorders and cell phones come pre-programmed with the daylight savings calendar, and if you bought it more than a year ago, the calendar is now wrong. Because daylight savings changed early this year, the clocks keep trying to reset every Sunday.
End result is I missed recording the new Jane Austen on PBS, thanks to the idiot DVR that reset itself, twice, despite my reprogramming it!
Okay, I’ll admitt it, I laughed…..a lot.
Darn daylight savings time!
Glad you made it to Atlanta! If it makes you feel any better, I came to the Hilan Theatre to hear you speak in Atlanta on Saturday April 5, not Sunday April 6.
Crap. Like one of those college nightmares…. you are late for class… wake up in a cold sweat only to find it’s Saturday…
You need intravenous humor… here- you can read about “Garbage Jenga” on my blog- go ahead- laugh at my expense- you need it;)
After having been awakened at 2:30 am and then the alarm not going off by the bedside table clock in the hotel room, I now check the bedside clock before going off to sleep (making sure the am or pm light is in the right position), it sucks to be awake at 2:30 am after having gone to bed at 1:00 am after a full day of travel and/or yarn fun. I love your idea about the triple warning system, and now will check the clock at the bedside table and place a wake up call, I always use my cell phone. It has only failed once while in I international waters off the coast of Canada, the cell phone thought it was 8:30 am and it was really 4:30 am. So much for sleeping in on a cruise…. however the cashmere scarf was completed! Cheers for the travel hint
Our alarm clock did that last night too!!!
Stupid daylight savings time being early this year and not telling all of the auto-clocks.
First Sunday in April – sounds like the “smart” clock didn’t know that DST was moved to March. As for not going off – I recently set my clock for 2:30 PM when I meant for it to be “AM”. Sorry for your frightening experience — hurray for knitting to calm the nerves.
It is moments like these that really emphasize the power of adrenaline, eh?
Oh, my sweet and fluffy Lord!! My clock finally made it to DST!!! I am certainly glad I read you early today. My clock has been wrong all this time, and I have gotten used to calculating what time it really is when I wake up. I just went to the bedroom and checked, and the darned thing matches the computer time now.
Glad it worked in your favor. Have a great trip.
Wow.. I’ve been there before. For the record, I generally have a triple alarm set up in place almost every morning, except they all go off at different times, hoping that I will wake up and stay awake for one of them.
Why on earth would the hotel clock be that far ahead?
But, all’s well that ends well, right?
Glad you made it. This proves my point that Daylight Saving Time should be banned. It mainly causes confusion with changing clocks. BTW – I’m guessing it re-set itself overnight trying to keep DST.
can i tell you that i know EXACTLY how you felt, and EXACTLY what happened?
that particular alarm clock has a ‘daylight savings’ button on it, and for a function that is used twice a year – the button is in a far too convenient place.
anyway, when you accidently hit the daylight savings button, the clock goes ahead by an hour, thusly making you paniced and thinking that you are running so very late, when in reality you are not anywhere close to running late.
i personally believe it is a plot of the hotels for cheap entertainment as their guests regularly run downstairs in a hurried panic as a result of faulty alarm clock buttons… but that could just be me.
We have a brand new keyboard. Must not lose breakfast holding breath and laughing at the Harlot’s adventures.
I love that you had the time to post to the blog at 5:14 in the morning, I hope you were drinking coffee while doing so. I suspect you aren’t used to the time change anyways so its entirely possible your internal clock was saying “its 7:30! The girls should be up now!”
Have fun in Atlanta!
i feel for you! you would think they would go through the hotel and make sure all the bedside clocks had switched over to daylight savings! reminds me of staying in hotels and waking up to ungodly early alarms set by the person who slept there the night before. maybe the next person to sleep in that room with wake to an alarm at 5am! maybe the clock thought you meant *tomorrow* at 5 am. or maybe you did like i often do and set it for 5pm.
That actually happened to me…once, several years ago. It was the first couple days after we had switched from daylight savings to standard time, and my father was supposed to call me to get up at a certain time. Unfortunately, the clock he was going by hadn’t been changed, and he thought that it was 6:00, when it was actually 5:00.
I haven’t let him forget this certain episode.
Wow! But seriously–at least you were awake!!!! (ftr–I once showed up at my daughter’s soccer game–daughter in tow–because I had forgotten to reset my clock at daylight savings time…)
Last year something similar happened to us except we weren’t going anywhere in particular, we homeschool so our lives are not hopelessly bound by what time it is… SOMEHOW I think we ended up 2 hours ahead instead of one for spring forward: I think I thought my computer had not automatically sprung forward because of the date change, so I set it an extra hour ahead… didn’t realize it right away either since our other clocks were agreeing with me or something… finally figured it out when I was on the http://timeanddate.com/worldclock/ website… boy was I confused & frustrated!!
You actually had time to take pictures before heading out!
Love the desk clerk.
And, frankly, I would turn off the hotel clock. Strange electronics can not be trusted. My very composed husband used to travel for business, and he was once wakened by an alarm so loud he thought it was the apocalypse. Took him five minutes to stop screaming…
Was there coffee? Please tell me there was coffee. Hand-roasted and ground and expertly sweetened by the clod in charge of clock-maintenance.
I’m glad you made the shuttle and although I’m sorry for all the upset you went through, I’m grateful to have a giggle this morning. I’ve been on “vacation” six days and wish I’d had this “dreamless sleep” you speak of. Nothing but horrible nightmares every night and in bunches, too. I hope it’s just my mind’s way of letting go. Anyway, your story made me think of when I went to Sturbridge MA in the fall of 2000 for a whirlwind workshop. I must have gotten the last hotel in the country that doesn’t do wakeup calls. I asked the front desk at 11:00PM for a wakeup call at 3:30AM, since I had only just that very moment realized how stupidly I’d planned (and I use that word loosely) the flight time….driving for more than an hour to drop off the car an hour before check-in time an hour before the flight….and they said, we don’t do that. I said, you don’t DO that? and they snipped, “that’s what the alarm clock in your room is for.” I stayed up all night since I knew I’d sleep 18 hours if I closed my eyes. I made my flight.
I had the same exact experience but my alarm was set for 9. If it had been set for 5:30 I would have absolutely lost my shit….
I hope your week has improved! 🙂
I do so feel for you. Hope you had a good flight!
I too believe in the same triple alarm system! It’s the best there is, I think.
OMG! That damned hotel alarm clock!
That’s the same one that was in my hotel room last week, and made me miss the shuttle several times! Mine wasn’t off by an hour, but 6 precious minutes slow–
AND YOU CANNOT RESET THEM! Why why WHY?!?!?
i stayed up all night with a slice
of toast pondering its nature
LMAO! As one who travels for a living I have had similar experiences regarding time zones. Of course I’ve never described them in such a hilarious manner.
Politeness is nice but she should have interrupted you immediately with the news that it was only 4:30. I’m glad it all worked out.
This is a belated thank you for the wonderful talk you gave in NY. My husband tagged along, based on the rave reviews from Rhinebeck, and still is talking about how funny and charming you were.
Hey, sympathies. I dashed off to an early lunch meeting today … at 10:46 not 11:46. The computer time clock had reverted because it still thinks we are changing to Daylight Savings time by the old system. Found out the glitch when I saw the clock in my car….
I feel your pain.
I once woke up in the night and checked my watch in a hotel room. I went into a panic because I was now late (no plane but a meeting to attend). I leaped into the shower and took the fastest shower of my life. I then checked my watch again to see how much time I could allocate to getting dressed or drying my hair. That’s when I realized that I had read the watch upside down. It was the middle of the night.
Gosh. That sounds a lot like me. I don’t find getting up early unnatural, but if I am worried about waking up I will just automatically wake up about an hour early, sometimes more. If I need to be up by 4, then BAM! I’m up at 2:30 or 3. It’s kind of ridiculous, but at the same time useful. I have never needed the alarms, though I set them anyway.
Oh, you poor thing.
I travel for a living (so I can tell solely by the picture of the clock you stayed at a Hilton; you *are* registered with them for points, right?), and this is exactly why I doublecheck the time on the clocks before I set the alarm.
I also have my palm pilot alarm as a backup 🙂
My clock did the same thing to me on Saturday night/ Sunday morning. But I was getting up at 7:30, not 5:30. So I feel sorrier for you than me. 🙁
I really, really love you. thank you!
I’d never think of killing you…but the knitters might kill me if you hadn’t made that flight! So glad you did for lots of reasons! Travel Sane…and, Nell doesn’t even wear underwear ;)!
I am in tears with laughter. And while I truly hate to laugh at your expense, your tirade with the hotel clerk has me in absolute stitches. I pray that one day, hopefully one day soon, that I can manage to tell off someone as well as you. It’s a gift, cherish it.
That poor girl. She certainly handled herself remarkably well.
OMG! I have been where you are with that waking up early thing.
NOTHING, and I mean absolutely nothing, is worse than waking up an hour late, forcing your young child out of bed and into clothes (with no breakfast, I might add), rushing to get to work on time when you’re already so late that you’re practically absent, only to arrive at the sitter’s house to find out that it’s Saturday!
Truly there were days when I hated my life.
I blame the US congress. Why? For changing the date for Daylight Saving Time. Why do I say this? I have a Timex clock that I bought around 2000, and the buttons kind of remind me of the clock in that picture. Anyway, one of the features that swayed me was that it had programmed into it the dates for DST, so it would automagically change, and either spring forward or fall back on the right date, so there wouldn’t be any confusion, or missing things on Sundays because I forgot to change my clock. Fantastic.
Except then those idiots in Congress changed the dates. Now, not only do I have to change my clock manually (the horror, I know!), but I have to do it FOUR times a year, because it changes on what USED to be the proper dates.
The problem is that I always forget. This morning, and yes, I know that it’s Tuesday, and this reveals me as a total slacker with too few responsibilities, I woke up and looked at the clock and thought “dude, it’s 10:30, I really should get up earlier! And blah, I missed the free Jamba Juice. Slacker.”, and got up and stumbled out to the living room. Sat down for a few minutes, gathering up the strength to make coffee, then looked at the clock on the DVR, which said 9:30. Um…what? It took me a couple of minutes (again, all before coffee, which made it especially hard) before remembering that it’s early April, and my alarm clock had probably jumped ahead. Probably a couple of days ago, and how did I go for two days without noticing THAT?
Stupid Congress. 😛
Annapolis looks like great fun. Too bad we couldn’t lure you across the Potomac to Virginia, too. 🙂
Oh, do I know that feeling: the panic, the cursing, the mad tearing about, followed by befuddlement and weak relief when you discover the truth.
At least you figured it out before you left the room. I once went on a business trip and managed to be up, dressed, in the cab, and on the way to my destination in full panic mode before realizing that I was 2 HOURS EARLY.
Wish you the best of karma for the rest of this tour. 🙂
I have had mornings like that. Nothing like a group of people sitting in a room waiting for you, to make a woman with a conscience worry.
If you look veeeeery closely at the photo, you can notice in the bottom left corner that the clock says “alarm off”. Just in case you were still trying to figure out that mystery.
You make me laugh like no other!!! Having toured for years, I have felt your pain on more than one occaision but your retelling of the woeful tale makes me remember those near diasters with a smile!