linux mint 9 is what i finally chose to go with. i was a little scared about switching from windows to linux, but mint has a very nice look and feel to it. right out of the box it does everything i want it to do and then some. has a windows kinda feel to it also. i would suggest linux mint to any new linux users. i put it on my old desktop pc and removed windows completely and havent had the urge to even look at or touch windows again.
odd issue i've never experienced... i know this isn't a real solution and more of a bandaid but you could always create an init script to update the time/date on startup
