So I’ve been busy this week at work, making sure that all the test center Linux workstations are ready for the switch to a new Daylight Savings Time schedule.   I got home real late last night and pretty much just crawled into bed.  And I wake up this morning at the usual time, and as I get out of bed I note that new high tech energy efficient furnace I bought two Decembers ago has kicked in…

I have a variety of ways I can schedule that thing to heat or cool the house.  The controller on my wall, where the old Honeywell round thermostat used to hang, looks like an oversized iPod; white with a big LCD display and a set of controls tastefully arranged below it.  No more just turn the dial to the temperature you want.  I have it programmed to kick the heat back at night, and during the weekdays when I’m at work, and then start to bring the heat back up again just before I come home, and just before I wake up. I can tell it to heat the house as normal on weekends, and Friday, which is my telecommute day.  I can program four time periods during the day, can set a different schedule for each day of the week, or for the whole week, weekdays or weekends.  I can create a completely different "vacation" schedule, which kicks everything into low usage mode. 

The thing monitors the temperature outside as well as in, and builds an internal model of how the house maintains temperature, to use only the least amount of gas it needs.  It’s burners can run at high heat or low, and the fan is variable speed.  How much all of that is actually saving me is a good question, since right after I bought it, the price of natural gas heating here in Baltimore went through the roof (so to speak).  But its good not to waste energy.

…and so here I am getting up for my day, and I note the furnace has kicked on.  As I walk into the bathroom I can feel warm air gently flowing out of the vent.  And a thought occurs to me.  Does my furnace software need a Daylight Savings Time patch too?  Because I’ve never had to set that clock once I got it installed.  How the hell does this thing keep time?  I guess I’ll find out…

I wonder if my car’s software needs patching too.  Or that new digital camera I bought last year.  This future I’m living in is not anything like the Jetsons told me it was going to be, back when I was nine…