My grandmother summed it up the best when she remarked, "It is a beautiful spring day. It is just the wrong month."
She was referring to the weather during my recent stateside visit over Christmas, where most of the days I was there were a rather pleasant 24 degrees Celsius. A couple of days got closer to 30 degrees, which did not sit so well with me. I wanted the temperature to be a lot more fitting to the season, requiring jackets and sweaters to be worn.
As they always about Texas weather, just wait a few minutes, and it will change.
Sure enough, the day before I was to return to Germany, we started the morning close to 27 degrees C, and by evening the cold front had blown in, and we were all saying "Brrrrr," as we checked the thermometer, which was right at -2 degrees C.
Ironically, 40 hours later, I was back in Frankfurt, sweating ever so slightly as I removed my jacket, sweater, and my thermal; German temps were rather mild at the beginning of the new year.
I always kind of chuckle during the first month of each year. I see countless emails from people referring to the previous year during January. For those of us who ever had a checking account, we can ask ourselves how many times did we have to void a check in the days after new year's, simply because we wrote the wrong darn year?
We all have to kind of adjust to things each January, at least I do. This past month was no exception for me; I struggled to kick start the year, and really kind of flopped around for a few weeks trying to get into the swing of things.
This year, I was overjoyed to receive some wall calendars from my father as a small Christmas gift. I missed receiving those last year when travel was impossible due to the pandemic. Although we had agreed as a family to sort of skip the gift exchange, Dad kept the family tradition of giving me said calendars: one with scenes of Texas, and the other sharing inspirational quotes from the cast of Sesame Street. Quite fitting, I must say.
Hanging the calendars in my Frankfurt flat was pretty much the first thing I did after I had unpacked, and I felt like it was a great way to get prepared for the new year. What I failed to immediately realize was that in North America, the week begins on Sunday, while European standards start the week on Monday.
In addition to using my digital calendars on my computer and mobile, I like to note meetings and events on the wall calendar. Multiple times during January, I found myself preparing for a meeting, only to find out that I was about to be a day early. Fortunately I got in the habit of checking the calendar DAY, so only had to scribble out a few things. The football schedule added to the confusion, because many games had to be postponed due to Covid illness. Thus, planning to watch a match on Saturday afternoon was suddenly rescheduled for the following Sunday, or during the week, or tbd.
Despite the scribbles on the calendar, I am happy to have them, and gee whiz, time is speeding by, as we are already in the next month of the year. (San Antonio River Walk and a comment from Oscar the Grouch, in case you are wondering.)
Just like with calendars, where I use both digital and paper to keep up with the days of the week, I like to keep an analog clock on the wall in my kitchen, which also serves as my office. It is not so much that I am watching the clock, but rather, I just like hearing the second hand go round, and I keep a decent idea of what the time is.
Sure, my computer and mobile calendars always sound an alert a few minutes before a meeting, and they all seem to be pretty well in sync. As helpful as these little alerts are, I sometimes just sort of tune out, since I know I can glance at the wall for the exact time. (It also helps that the church bell in my neighborhood chimes every 15 minutes; it is a perk of where I live)
However, my wall clock has been a little off over the past months, if not years. Normally, as soon as I recognized this, I would change out the battery, reset the clock, and continue merrily along.
Finally, and maybe it is just a sign as to how long an inexpensive wall clock from Ikea will last, I found that my once pretty dependable Wanduhr had given up the ghost. No less than three times during the first couple of weeks in January, I had glanced at the wall clock, only to find that it was still stuck on 30 minutes ago. The first time I tried to correct it, I simply changed the battery. Two days later, I had reset the time, only to find that the clock now took 75 or so seconds for each minute, which was subtle enough that I did not immediately notice.
Once the penny finally dropped, I decided to invest in a new clock. It actually was a pretty challenging task, because I seem to be one of the few consumers who actually WANTS a wall clock with an audible second hand.
But, things are now back on track, my new clock is doing what it is supposed to, and I am feeling pretty punctual.
All these events fit nicely into the conversation I had with a friend this past Friday in the pub. He was explaining that his girlfriend was frustrated with the way her mobile phone was alerting her to upcoming meetings and such. She, herself, had missed a few events, and was trying to blame the technology.
I could almost relate to her complaint, and I certainly understood her frustrations. But, I always try to hold myself accountable for my actions. If I need to set up a lot of alerts and reminders on my mobiles and laptops, I also never fail to make sure that I have ink in my pen and a little pack of post-it notes, so that I can write the reminders down, even if it is a reminder to listen for the little chime alert on my phone.
And that is exactly why I was on time for my appointment at the hairdresser early Friday evening, because I had written the correct date and time on my wall calendar (on the right date) and had also written a sticky note to myself. And this all helped me determine that the reason that my mobile alert for that appointment did not sound at the expected time was not because the technology had failed, but because I had inadvertently managed to switch my mobile to "do not disturb."
Happy February
Bryan
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