Infinite Jest Timeline from Wiki

As Tim said last Thursday, decoding the timeline in which things are happening can make Infinite Jest a little easier to follow. So in case you check out the wiki page and missed the timeline portion, I thought it was really helpful and so here it is:

"In the book's future, advertising's relentless search for new markets has led to a world where, by O.N.A.N. dictate, years are referred to by the name of their corporate sponsor.

1. Year of the Whopper
2. Year of the Tucks Medicated Pad
3. Year of the Trial-Size Dove Bar
4. Year of the Perdue Wonderchicken
5. Year of the Whisper-Quiet Maytag Dishmaster
6. Year of the Yushityu 2007 Mimetic-Resolution-Cartridge-View-Motherboard-Easy-To-Install-Upgrade For Infernatron/InterLace TP Systems For Home, Office, Or Mobile
7. Year of Dairy Products from the American Heartland
8. Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment
9. Year of Glad

Most of the action in the novel takes place in the Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, or Y.D.A.U., which is probably Gregorian 2009. Critic Stephen Burn, in his book on Infinite Jest, argues that Y.D.A.U. corresponds to 2009: the MIT Language Riots took place in 1997 (n. 24) and those riots occurred 12 years prior to Y.D.A.U. (n. 60). Also, if the "2007" in "Year of the Yushityu 2007 Mimetic-Resolution-Cartridge-View-Motherboard-Easy-To-Install-Upgrade For Infernatron/InterLace TP Systems For Home, Office, Or Mobile" refers to the pre-subsidization-style numerical date convention, then Y.D.A.U., which comes two years later, would be 2009.

It is also possible that Y.D.A.U. is 2008, as Matty Pemulis turns 23 in Y.D.A.U. (p. 682). Matty and Mike Pemulis' father immigrated from Ireland in 1989 when Matty was "three or four" (p. 683). If Matty had been three and four in 1989, he was born in 1985, which mean he turns 23 in 2008.

Also, in the Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, November 4 falls on a Wednesday (176). If Subsidized Time is parallel to real-world time, this means that Y.D.A.U. would be either 2009 or 2015. Yet, Thanksgiving of the Year of the Tucks Medicated Pad falls on 24 November (793). Accordingly, Y.T.M.P has to be either 2005 or 2011, meaning that the Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment would be 2012 or 2018, respectively."

-IJ Wiki page