Time to Buy a Watch

Last night I finally pulled the trigger on something I’ve been talking about doing for years. I bought a watch. Seriously. I’ve procrastinated for something like five or six years on this.

For a period of time I found watches to be stress-inducing. I have an extreme sense of urgency and my old watch just seemed to shout out at me, “Dude… You’re never going to get X done unless you do A and B, like, RIGHT NOW!” So, instead of checking myself into therapy, I ditched the watch. Cheaper.

Living watch-less was liberating. I found that I could always figure out what time it was. I could spy someone else’s wrist. I could look at the lower right side of my computer screen. Think about it… VCRs, microwave ovens, car dashboards. They’re all gentle reminders! I could sense approximate time by how I felt, whether I was hungry, sleepy, or had to relieve myself. I took better notice of sun and moon positions. Having no watch gave me a great excuse to initiate conversation with others. When my “Spidey sense” let me down, and there was nobody else around, I could always pull out the damn cell phone (I think I detest that thing more than any watch).

After living a few years like this (and being pretty proud of myself) I started training for triathlons. I needed a watch. Not the metal-banded corporate droid type, mind you. I needed something plastic. Waterproof. It needed big dorky digital numbers and giant red buttons. You know, something that would read heart rate data from a chest-mounted transmitter, sense running pace from a transmitter in my shoe, or align itself with global positioning satellites. Wearing that heavy clunky thing on my rather small wrist? One word… SWEET! Sometimes at work I have to play the, “I’m-a-gifted-engineer-that-habitually-solves-problems-with-the-quadratic-equation” role with customers. I always wear my Polar S625x under just such circumstances. It’s like a modern-day pocket protector… complete with taped eye glasses.

But back to my new watch. I must have a better sense of perspective these days. I finally decided to purchase the metal-banded variety. Guess I’m ready to be a big boy. We’ll see how long it lasts. Doh! Look at the time! Gotta go…