when I do something like this in Java there is a system variable returned by a function called "time in milliseconds" or something like that (I haven't looked at it for about a year) might be something similar in C which can be used to count from program launch. Failing that, there is a universal computer time as measured from some set date in the '70's I think (again, sorry about being vague - you'll have to look it up!) anyway, this can be accessed via a function and used to measure difference in time elapsed or an absolute date. If you don't find them then let me know and I'l try and look them up for you.
