Having done this same sort of thing quite a few times before, I agree with ikegami completely. When I discovered Date::Time it solved all of my problems. A little time thinking about *how* to use it...and it took very little time to do thinking given the tools that Date::Time provides... and I've never had to look back.

I also often have issues, especially with cummulative counters, finding the number of "new" or "added" things during a particular time period. Date::Time, again, makes that easy.

So I highly recommend getting to know Date::Time.