Phoenix Observation # 4: What time zone are we in?

Yep, this week is a twofer... I missed an observation a couple weeks, so I'm going to make it up.

In what time zone is Phoenix?

A map of the United States puts Arizona in the Mountain Time Zone, but don't let that fool you. Apparently Arizona does not observe Daylight Saving Time, and that's really messing with me.

First of all, that means that at the moment our clocks are set to the same time as anyone in the Pacific Time Zone. Great, that means that we didn't have to change our watches when we moved down here, and we won't have to for the rest of the time that we are. That's where the fun ends though, because this has complicated my life in other ways:

-When are my shows on? Okay, so I understand that we are technically on MST, but how does that affect television schedules? We don't have cable, and as a consequence we don't have a DVR anymore. We get all the major channels through HD broadcasting (including JCTV!) which is great, but it means we have to watch shows when they are actually on (gasp!).

So, if a show is supposed to be on at 8 pm PST and 7 pm MST, what time is it on in Phoenix? My guess would be either 6 pm (if the channel is from a MST station) or 8 pm (if the channel is from a PST station). Both answers are wrong - The show will be on at 7 pm Phoenix time. This has messed with me already.

I almost missed Heroes on Monday... and I DID miss The Office yesterday. Primetime doesn't start until 8 anyway, assholes!

-Last year I bought an analog atomic clock at Target. You can ask my wife how excited I was about the thing. Mount it on the wall facing Fort Collins, CO and the thing sets itself. Just watch the hands spin around to the precise time. I love it! Unfortunately for me, the one thing I was most thrilled about, watching the the clock adjust for DST automatically, has been foiled every year since I bought it.

Remember the Comprehensive Energy Bill of 2007? One of the useless things this bloated gift to the oil companies did accomplish was to change the official beginning and end of DST, beginning this year. Apparently they didn't notify Fort Collins in time, so my clock didn't adjust 2 weeks earlier this year, like it was supposed to.

My solution was to adjust the time zone manually on the back of the clock, to trick it into thinking we lived in the Mountain Time Zone. This worked great for the two extra weeks, but when the atomic clock adjusted for real, it messed me up. Luckily it was a weekend, but I did sleep through my chance to buy fresh fruit at the farmer's market that weekend. Oh yeah, and I guess I missed Church as well. Sorry Jesus!

Now that we are here in AZ, I'll have to manually adjust the time zone again to deal with the lack of DST. Government laws are messing my chance to enjoy my geeky gadgets. Damn the man!

Apparently, Arizona gets enough sun to not merit Daylight Saving Time. While the concept of DST is rather silly anyway, shouldn't the whole country have to follow the same system? At least in the interest of preventing confusion?

Just sayin'.