2003-03-31 - 11:26 p.m.

Communist Alarm Clock

There was something important I was going to remember to write about.  I can't remember it now so I will just write and maybe something it will come back to me.  I'll start with yesterday.  Yesterday was Sunday and I had the place to myself and myself to myself.  I slept late.  I ate a big lunch and then drove over to a place called BJ's. It is one of those gigantic stores where you buy stuff in bulk.   As I was walking around the electronics area I passed a big screen tv that was playing a commercial for BJ's (which is sort of odd, I'm already there, they have me, they don't need to harangue me to come and shop).  The perky woman in the commercial said, as I passed by, "I LOVE BJ's!"

I suddenly burst into laughter, like a 13 year old kid.  Where are the guys at work when you need them?

I bought 16 bars of soap, a pack of toothbrushes and a digital wall clock for my bathroom.  The clock for my bathroom is a total liar!  I bought it because it is one of those clocks that receives a radio signal from the US Atomic Clock and it is supposed to set itself and keep setting itself and stay accurate.  When I got it home it said that it may not work if it is not able to read the radio signal. The instructions suggested I hang it near a window or on a wall that can receive a clear radio signal.

Huh?  What are you talking about?  Just set your damn self.  How hard can that be?  I tried and tried to convince the clock to fuckin' set itself but it would not.  The instructions seemed to be translated into English from some Asian language.

 After power up, the display will show all segments 3 seconds with one beeping.  Then display 12:00 pm Jan 1, 2000 together with room temperature.

Other instructions tell me

While the Atomic Clock is seeing for the signal, the icon will change gradually indicating the seek condition.

So I just set the time manually by hold SET buttons 3 seconds and press + to select the correct values.  It was easy and cultual.

Anyway, now I have a big digital display in my bathroom telling me that I am late for everything.  It beats the Communist Alarm clock that Helen gave me.  The Communist Alarm clock is a wind up clock with the ringer on the top.  It is red, and the face of it has a group of Communist women holding up their little red book in solidarity.  Helen thought it was funny.  It is definitely an unusual clock.  Unfortunately it does not keep good time.  I guess it was manufactured by skilled Communist hands.  It was always at least 20 minutes off no matter how often I set it.  Although that is a fitting metaphor for Communism, it was a crappy clock.

For the rest of the day I did laundry and hung around.

And, continuing on the subject of clocks, I forgot to set my alarm clock last night.  I made sure the time was right.  I double checked it to make sure the time was correctly set and then forgot to push the button that makes the alarm go off.  This is the second time I have done this. Luckily I woke up at 6:15 am and decided to check the time.

I made it to work early because traffic was so light.  The day went ok, but it started going sour as more and more assignments came my way.  We are now entering the time when all the shit we did not have time to do for the past few weeks starts appearing before our bosses eyes.  It is like a joke.  After breaking our backs and working extra hours they are now starting to see stuff we did not do and shake their heads and look disappointed.  If only we were better workers.

Jimmy
 

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