The little pooper had a long day, and after getting a little too bitey I put him in the kennel for a few hours before one last trip outside and a chance for me to sneak out and have a beer or two.  In the meantime, I am sneaking in a blog on something I have been thinking about for the last couple weeks … time.

Alaska is in the Alaska Time Zone.  No, that’s not being ironic or elitist, the time zone we are in is called the “Alaska Time Zone”.  It is one hour beyond Pacific (West Coast) Time Zone, three hours past Central (Kansas) Time Zone, four hours past Eastern Time Zone, and ten hours past Central European Time Zone — and yes, we have readers from Europe .. and no its not because I am popular (more like a pappnase).  Being in this time zone means that things you can be used based on national times, its going to be offset oddly for you.

The easy example is NFL football.  Anyone who follows the game knows that Sundays are set up nicely with games at Noon Central time, and 3:30 Central Time.  Not in Alaska.   The first game starts at 9am.  Think about it, a game that is traditionally enjoyed with a nice beer and a load of bratwurst now happens when you are more likely to be sipping coffee and nibbling on a doughnut.  The sports bars that show the games open early, but even they won’t serve beer right away.  While I never was able to get into a place for a game (too many football fans, too few sports bars) some tell me that nothing beats steak and eggs at the Crossroads while catching the early game.

Sometimes it works in my favor, like I am watching an Oregon/Cal football game that got started stupid late back in Kansas time, but as it moves along to late in the game I’ll move along to downtown.

The odd part of this for me to adjust to is that things happen later in the day here than I am used to.  For the most part, work begins around 8am, not just at BP but everywhere in town.  For instance, I have a standing meeting every Monday morning at 7:15am. While it was rare that we had 7am meetings back in Kansas, everyone was basically in the office or nearly there by then.  I go in for that 7:15am meeting and all involved complain about the time (except for the guy on the slope who probably had been in the office since 5) – and there are slow movers until at least 8:30am.

But its not just work.  I went to grab breakfast this morning and at 7am the restaurant was a dead zone.  Walmart was like a graveyard shift at 7:30.  Even the coffee shops were still slow by 8:30.

The first thing you might think is that people don’t get up early because its dark out.  Well, it’s dark out at night too but it doesn’t stop anyone.  But like all places, people are up and moving for the same amount of time everywhere.  Things are still happening and fun well up to 10pm.  Some shows and music doesn’t start until 9pm.

But as I got to think about things, I remembered when I visited Spain a few years back. That was a country where everything was shifted back to late late late — like, people would be eating dinner around 11pm daily.  And let’s face it, people starting work in Kansas every day at 6am is … well … just insane.  So time is what it is, it fits the schedule of the world it lives in.

Now … why a puppy needs to go potty at 5:30am every day is a complete mystery.