Let's talk about timezones for a minute. This isn't a rant so much a | |
stream of consciousness rambling about thoughts on the topic. Mainly | |
because it's more than halfway through the day and I've had any better | |
ideas about what to write. | |
If you are a regular in #sdf on IRC you've probably chatted with me | |
at some point; I try to be fairly active there. You may also have | |
seen my comments recently about being in Germany the last two weeks | |
on vacation. What a beautiful country Germany is. Having taken two | |
years of German in school I am no were near fluent in the language | |
but over the years enough has stuck with me to pick up conversational | |
fragments as well as enough of an understanding of the language | |
symantics that I was able to piece together enough to get me out of | |
a jam. Phrases like "Zum berliner Hauptbahnhof" for Taxi drivers. Or | |
"Ich spreche kein Deutsch. Sprechen sie Englisch?" was suffiently | |
polite for people to generally try and assist me with the best English | |
they could, even if they didn't speak it very well. But the one thing | |
I was the least prepared for was the time change and the affect it | |
would have on me. | |
I've flown all over the US and Canada for work and pleasure, but the | |
largest time difference I've ever had to deal with is a mear 4 hours | |
when I am out on the Pacific coast, and that is typically ok because | |
when I'm out there I tend to stay out late anyway so I never really | |
adjust completely to the time. While in Germany though, UTC+1, things | |
were much more difficult. I do not sleep on planes, I just can't get | |
comfortable. Sure, maybe if I was in one of those nice sleeper seats | |
in first class, but not in coach, even with Delta's "comfort plus". | |
No way. So, on the first day in Frankfurt I'm up for nearly 48 hours | |
straight and finally collapse in my hotel room at 1900hrs. I then | |
wake up at 0700hrs for the hotel breakfast. By about day 3 I'm pretty | |
well adjusted. I'm still getting tired around 2000hrs but some nights | |
I'm able to stick around until 2100hrs. Getting up at 0700hrs turns | |
out to be about right. But I had no idea how much this was going to | |
be a problem when I got back State-side. | |
I'm now three days in to my return to my "native" timezone and I'm | |
struggling more than I could have ever imagined. Thank goodness I | |
flew back on Friday and not Sunday. I have thoroughly needed these | |
last two days to get my sleep schedule turned back around. I've been | |
hard pressed to make it much past 2100hrs before passing out (that's | |
0300hrs in UTC+1!) and waking up at 0300hrs (a more reasonable 0900hrs | |
in UTC+1). It's the waking up part that's got me the most messed up | |
really. This morning I was able to force myself back to sleep until | |
about 0500hrs. If I can do this again tomorrow I think I'll be in | |
good shape. I had planned on using this shift in circadian rhythm to | |
shift my work schedule from 1000-1900hrs to something more family | |
friendly like 0700-1500hrs. Waking up at 0500hrs is just about right | |
for that kind of schedule. | |
So, there's my brain dump on timezones. Probably not that interesting | |
but it got me a post for today :) | |
Ciao |