How is your daily life affected by it? What do you have to take into account when planning events, going to events, commuting, etc.?
Just a random question that popped into my head…
Thanks.
I used to have a job where we had to go from CA to AZ alot. I still don’t know what the time change is, and I doubt the boss does yet either. We’d have a group of us go, and without fail, we’d be one hour late or two hours early or some crap. I think the boss was not man enough/smart enough to call the day before and ask “Hey, what time is it over there right now, I’d like to synchronize the time.” It would have saved ALOT of time and money.
I knew someone from Florida who lived near the time zone change. They referred to it as “fast time” or “slow time”, whichever side of the line you were on. If you invited someone to an event, the question inevitably popped up " fast time or slow time?"
I lived in Indiana until last year, where there is no time change. I had the most difficult time explaining to clients on the East Coast and the West Coast (and good heavens, Hawaii), that we didn’t change time at all. We called it “New York time” or “Chicago time,” depending. Now that I’m in Chicago, I find that some parts of Indiana change time to stick with Chicago, and the rest doesn’t. I’m still confused. I don’t know which way to go or when.
Now, I just check in with family and friends (in Indiana and Arizona) a couple of times a year and ask them what time is is wherever they are. And I keep a list of how far off they are from my time, and whether it’s earlier or later there. (So now, my sister is one hour later than me, but Mom is one hour earlier, but when Mom comes back from Arizona, it will be time for me to change time, and we’ll all be on the same time… Is it any wonder I’m confused?):rolleyes:
On a road trip with friends, heading to Georgia from Alabama at around 11:05 am CST, my friend in the back seat asked if I wanted a beer. I told him I never drink before noon - then we crossed the state line and I told him I’d take one.
In the 70’s I lived in Michigan and my grandparents lived in Ohio, and one state or the other didn’t observe daylight savings time, so we were the same on standard time, different when one was on daylight time.
gypsygirl, I live in Indiana, and it’s confusing as hell. There’s been a measure in the state leg. nearly every other year trying to get us on on of the Daylight Saving Time, but there’s always a farm lobby that opposes it. The argument? “It’ll confuse the cows.” Seriously.
Also, there’s a county outside of Louisville that stays on New York time all year, just to add to the mix. Total of 3 time zones in this godforsaken state.
I live in Indiana also. My county changes time to stay in sync with Cincinnati. The county next to us which is where my husband works does not change time. It gets damn confusing my husband works on slow time the kids go to school on fast time. The time difference is only an hour but it can be a real headache.
When dealing with Indiana, I ask “what time is it where you are?”. For other states, I just ask what time zone the stated time is for. (I think Arizona doesn’t do daylight savings time, but I’m not sure.)
I had heard this about the farmers’ lobby for years, and I always wondered, “Why? Are the cows watching the clock?” I still don’t understand it. My uncle said something about having to get up at a different time to milk the cows, but are the cows really going to notice an hour’s difference? I’m skeptical.
Ahh, I don’t miss Indiana a bit… 
Actually, the farmers don’t like DST because the crops will die from the extra hour of sunlight. 
Zev Steinhardt
I don’t think that Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder is the best authoritative source on farm life, but it’s the book I’m reading to my kids now, so I’ll use it.
In the book, she makes reference to the fact that cows have to be milked the same time each day.
Zev Steinhardt
Yup, that’s the argument. Apparently these farmers are unable to set their alarm an hour earlier or later, in order to coordinate with the cows just like farmers do in every other state of the union (except AZ and HI). The other argument is that while the cows are off by an hour (which they certainly will be), the delivery truck doesn’t change their schedule - which is completely wrong.
Even when it’s cited that there have been airlines that refused to put a hub in Indy because of the time confusion that clients routinely face, the farmer’s union and their supporters don’t back down. Claim it’s what makes Indiana unique. I claim it’s what helps make Indiana #40 in education.
Milking the cows at the “same time” each day is not difficult. If you milk them at 5:30 am CST, you milk them at 6:30 am CDT.
Obviously it’s not the cow that would get confused about that.
I live in Indiana and it’s amazing to me how many people don’t even know what time zone they live in, let alone how it relates to the rest of the state and the rest of the country.
Ferret Herder, most of Arizona doesn’t do DSL, some of the tribes do. One of the larger nations (I think Navaho) is split. DSL is a bit of a pain for me, I can never remember when you folks change your clocks or why.
Good point. Perhaps it’s the farmers, rather than the cows, who might be confused… Considering my uncle, the farmer, I’ll buy that.
And when I lived in Indiana (31 years), I had no idea what to call that weird time zone there. Still don’t. Chicago is so much easier…
The time zones in Indiana are called exactly the same thing as they are elsewhere – Central and Eastern. To be precise, you’d add the “daylight” or the “standard” and say CDT or EST or whatever.
Mr. Kitty and I live in CST and work/go to school in EST. All the clocks in the house are set on EST, and we pretty much function on that time (any time we’re dealing with contractors we make sure to specify EST). The main advantage to living an hour behind where I work is the grocery stores are still open when I get home from school.
Wasn’t there a West Wing episode that had something to do with that?
Actually, the way I hear it most often is “Indiana’s on Eastern Standard Time all year.” Unless you are in the northwest corner, or the southeast corner, or the southwest corner …
I’m going to break with the other Hoosiers on this board and admit that I REALLY LIKE not changing time. I’ve lived here for 26 years, with friends and family on both sides of the time change equation, and it is really not that big a deal to me.
The cow thing in Indiana is unbelievable. I grew up in a dairy farming area in California, where we switched from Daylight to Standard and back like the rest of the country, and as far as I know, the cows didn’t have a big problem with it. There are cows outside of Indiana, so why is this problem confined to that state?
Arizona doesn’t do DST, so back in CA, half the year we would have the same time as them, and half the year they were an hour ahead of us. It was kind of strange.
Oh. And this is totally irrelevant to the OP, but in Israel, they switch to ST based on when the High Holidays are falling. When I was there in 1998, we switched from Daylight to Standard time in August, at least a month before the rest of the world. I was ten hours ahead of my parents in Cali, then nine, then ten again when the rest of the world moved to Standard. It was strange.