Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Trip to Nashville, Book 5: Central Time

As you drive through the great state of Tennessee, an amazing phenomenon occurs. Somewhere between Knoxville and Nashville on I-40, you slip an hour back in time. One second it's 4:34pm, the next, it's 3:34pm. Isn't that cool? No flux capacitor required. Just a simple trip over an imaginary line drawn on a map of the United States.

The drawback is that if you drive back east, you go back to the future. Or the present. One hour that was gained is lost once more.

But I'm really beginning to grasp the concept of Central Time. When I was a kid, I hated it. I thought it was strange. The news doesn't come on at 6 o'clock here. It comes on at 5. That's weird. The 11 o'clock news doesn't come on at 11. It comes on at 10. What's up with that? And your primetime programs? An hour earlier on the schedule.

From a television standpoint there's no difference. They're shown at the same time here as they are there. It's just that when Lost comes on at 10 on the east coast, it comes on at 9 (simultaneously) in the Central Zone. Not that I really need to explain this, it's fairly simple to grasp.

But as an adult, I'm seeing the pros to this time zone. See, I love watching things like Lost, which comes on at 10 back home. But here it would come on at 9. I tell ya, at this age, it's getting harder to stay up 'til 11 just to watch a TV show. Staying up 'til 10 would be so much easier.

Look out Central Time Zone. When I get out of seminary, I may be looking to come back to the past on a more permanant basis.

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