It’s Not Funny If It Makes Me Panic

I’ve never been a fan of April Fool’s Day. Pranks just aren’t my thing, and fake stories aren’t much fun for me, either.

There are some April 1 jokes that I know and expect now, and because I expect them I can laugh and enjoy the joke. I always expect Google to release some wild new feature that is completely impossible to do at this time. (Today’s Google Nose is pretty funny.)

I also usually expect my favorite online geek store, ThinkGeek, to send out an email showcasing some amazing new products that really don’t exist. And they delivered again this year. I was especially fond of the Batman family car decal set:

The Play-Doh 3D Printer was also brilliant.

However, one prank this morning left me nearly in a panic. As I settled into my morning routine, I glanced down at the clock in my computer’s taskbar to see what time it was, then briefly continued checking my email for a few seconds before the realization hit my brain: it was 9am!!

(In the morning it takes my brain a few extra seconds for processing.)

I was stunned it was already that late in the morning. Wasn’t it just 7:50am when I was in the kitchen making breakfast? How did I lose an hour of time? I frantically started re-arranging the day’s schedule in my head, trying to make up for the lost hour.

I turned around to check the clock behind me and realized it showed it was 8am. Now I had a dilemma – which was the right time? Did Aaron change the clock in the living room to play a joke on me? (Unlikely, he knows about my strong dislike for pranks.)

Grabbing my iPhone, I silently hoped it would settle the issue and not provide an entirely different time. It matched the clock: 8am. And since it had been with me since my alarm went off, there was no way it was tampered with. My computer had changed its clock to set the time forward an hour on its own. The time was correct last night, when it confirmed it was too late and I needed to shut the computer down and go to bed.

Having my time changed on my computer was NOT funny at all. A quick search of Twitter showed I wasn’t alone in the mysterious April 1 time change. Others have had their systems set forward an hour as well.

I haven’t figured out the cause yet, but I’m blaming Windows 8, just because it seems like the most likely choice. I’ve heard it didn’t change for some Window 8 users, but others did see their clocks advance by one hour.

Operating systems should not be allowed to participate in April Fool’s Day pranks. Internet services like Google, sure, but not your own computer. What’s next? Hiding your My Pictures folder for April 1 so you think all of your photos have vanished?

I’m not laughing.