Springtime Blues

It's springtime in New England. All the signs are here. Trees don't look quite as dead as they used to. Brightly colored WWII amphibious assault vehicles (aka Duckboats) carry tourist around to all the sights. You can even shed your heavy winter coat (provided you replace it with a heavy fleece jacket).

But the most telling sign that it is spring is that I wake up at 6:00 AM. Since mid-March, without any help from my alarm clock my body shouts, 'wakey, wakey' a good hour earlier than I would like. Some people may find this wonderful. I find it down right annoying. I like sleep. I particularly like staying asleep.

So imagine my surprise this morning when I woke up and saw the giant red numbers 7:03 on my alarm clock. I had slept an hour and 3 minutes past my automatic wakeup call. This obviously was going to be the best day ever. I rolled out of bed and carried out my normal morning routine, and headed out the door.

As I walked into my office, I noticed there was no one at the front desk. Since it appeared that I had also beaten the two other assistants into the office, I knew I'd need to cover for the receptionist until she got in. As I quickly went to my desk to drop off my things, I was stunned to see my boss in his office typing away on his computer. He's usually teaching when I get in on Tuesdays.

My mind raced to figure out why he was here, until I looked at the phone on my desk, where the clock blinked 8:00 AM.

"NO WAY!!" I said. My boss jumped out of the chair, and nearly died of shock.

So how did it happen? My alarm clock was off by an hour and I had never bothered to correct it since I don't use it much anymore.

Moral of the story: don't let mistakes go uncorrected, or you too could be early for work.