For me, the first sign of spring is the ritual of setting the clocks to daylight saving time. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to change the time on most of my clocks. My thermostats have clocks, as do the microwave, the car, the fridge, the stove, the teakettle, the coffee maker, the phone and the printer. My actual clock changes the time automatically, as does my computer. At least I thought it did.

We took a trip four time zones away a few weeks ago, and I got out of bed in a strange hotel room in the dark of night. I didn’t want to wake Sue, so I peeked under the lid of my computer tablet to check the time: 6 a.m. Sue wouldn’t be up for a couple of hours at least, so I got dressed and went out to get breakfast and read the paper.

An hour later, I asked the waitress what time it was, and she said 4 a.m. Slowly, I realized that I hadn’t hooked up the computer to the hotel’s Wi-Fi; it still showed the time from where we left. Now I’d wake Sue if I tried to go back in the room. I learned a hard lesson about how long you can nurse a cup of coffee in an all-night diner.