diff --git a/Hermes/GUI.rkt b/Hermes/GUI.rkt
index 6f3dc9a..7780e28 100644
--- a/Hermes/GUI.rkt
+++ b/Hermes/GUI.rkt
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@
         (send dc draw-text input 0 height)  ;; just print message to string
 
         (set! listy (appendlist listy (list username input color height)))
-        (set! height (+ height 15))
+        (set! height (+ height 15)) ; 15 is space between messages
         ; redraw overly long text on gui
         (set! min-v-size (+ min-v-size 15))
         (if (> (* 20 (string-length input)) min-h-size)
diff --git a/Hermes/client.rkt b/Hermes/client.rkt
index 197485e..ae1354c 100644
--- a/Hermes/client.rkt
+++ b/Hermes/client.rkt
@@ -92,11 +92,11 @@
   ; get current time
   (define date-today (seconds->date (current-seconds) #t))
   ;TODO pad the second if its only 1 character
-  (define date-print (string-append (number->string (date-hour date-today))
+  (define date-print (string-append (pad-date (number->string (date-hour date-today)))
                                     ":"
-                                    (number->string (date-minute date-today))
+                                    (pad-date (number->string (date-minute date-today)))
                                     ":"
-                                    (number->string (date-second date-today))
+                                    (pad-date (number->string (date-second date-today)))
                                     " | "))
   ;; read, quits when user types in "quit"
   ;; TODO read from GUI instead
diff --git a/Hermes/modules/general.rkt b/Hermes/modules/general.rkt
index b33eb8a..76ceaf4 100644
--- a/Hermes/modules/general.rkt
+++ b/Hermes/modules/general.rkt
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #lang racket
 
-(provide displayln-safe)
+(provide displayln-safe pad-date)
 ;; Several threads may want to print to stdout, so  lets make things civil
 ; constant always available
 (define stdout (make-semaphore 1))
@@ -22,3 +22,8 @@
             (displayln a-string)
             (semaphore-post stdout)])))
 
+; adds padding to dates
+(define (pad-date date-element)
+  (if (> (string-length date-element) 1)
+    date-element
+    (string-append "0" date-element)))