SUNDOG - 3-30-2007 at 11:28 AM
Springing forward in nick of time
By Anna Cearley
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
March 30, 2007
TIJUANA – With daylight-saving time in Mexico set to take effect Sunday – three weeks after it took place in the United States – frequent border
commuters are more than ready for the clock confusion to end.
The earlier-than-usual change affected people in big and small ways – missed appointments, puzzlement over cell phone clocks, and general grogginess.
Michael Lewandowski, who manages a plant that makes medical devices in Tijuana, ended up an hour late to an important meeting in Ontario because of
the time difference.
“This was a big meeting with the CEO, CFO and president, and I tried to explain but I'm not sure they could relate,” he said.
Normally, Lewandowski would have left from his Chula Vista home. But he had agreed to take a job candidate from Tijuana, and arranged to meet the
candidate north of the Otay Mesa border crossing at 7:30 a.m.
The problem was Lewandowski was thinking U.S. time, and the job seeker thought he meant Mexico time – which made them an hour late in the United
States.
Nonetheless, Lewandowski still has his job, and the interviewee got offered one, too.
Many people who rely on their cell phones or other computer devices to verify the time got tripped up.
Some Tijuana cell phones had U.S. time, other cell phones switched between time zones, apparently depending on where they were picking up signals.
Louis V. Belen maintains automatic weather and rain stations for a government agency on the U.S. side. Some of the sites are near the border, where
his Mexican cell phone provider picked up his signal and switched it from U.S. to Tijuana time.
“I used to check my cell phone time to compare and reset the weather station clocks,” he said in an e-mail. “As you can imagine, I don't do this
anymore.”
Instead, he has been relying on a watch permanently set to U.S. time.
Jose Cervantes works in San Diego, but coaches a Little League baseball team in Tijuana, where he attends league meetings twice a week. They start at
8 p.m. – 9 p.m. U.S. time.
By the time he gets home to San Diego, it's between midnight and 1 a.m., U.S. time. And he starts work at 6:30 a.m.
“It had been a struggle for me trying to keep up with two different times,” he said. “Sometimes I take a nap and when I wake up I don't know what day
it is.”
Congress mandated the time shift in an energy conservation bill, so the time difference will haunt border crossers again this fall, when the United
States will switch back to standard time a week later than Mexico.
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Anna Cearley: (619) 542-4595; anna.cearley@uniontrib.com
bajajudy - 3-30-2007 at 02:21 PM
For those of us who live here and have old computers, we should automatically spring forward, right? I have not had to change my clock because my
computer still thinks that we are on the old schedule. Friends who have newer ones have had to go in and manually change the time.
Having a Tough Time of It ?
MrBillM - 3-30-2007 at 05:36 PM
It is amusing and reassuring to hear all of the Horror stories of people who are unable to cope with some of the elemental tasks in
life. Barnum was Right.
Some people with Older Computers had to reset the time Manually to be on U.S. time ? WOW ! That really sounds imposing. On two of
the six computers I own, I had to manually reset the clock. It took about five seconds. Adding to that I had to reset my three Auto Clocks, Four
Wristwatches, Three Cellphones, Two VCRs, Four DVD Recorders and more than a dozen clocks in the U.S. and Baja. I may have other devices I missed.
It's a wonder that I've been able to do anything in the last two weeks with all of that imposing work to do. Somehow I survived.
David K - 3-30-2007 at 05:40 PM
Remember to change all the backup batteries in you clocks, irrigation controllers, smoke detectors, etc...
work, work, work!
bajajudy - 3-31-2007 at 07:16 AM
mr bill
Corky1 - 3-31-2007 at 11:41 AM
Time change!!
What time change??
Az rednecks don't change no time.
Corky