1- Edit the time zone by clicking the "user cp" button at the top right, then selecting "Edit Options", and the time zone selection is near the bottom. I thought it defaulted to PST but perhaps not - hmmm. Not sure if your PC clock has anything to do with it.
2- The car should not shift from 2-3 very quickly at full throttle. If so, something is wrong with the Bowden cable. They do tend to do this at light throttle, which I find annoying, so I shift manually most of the time - pull the lever back to 2 and only move it to 3 when I *want* the tranny to shift to 3rd gear.
3- Your reputable MB repair depot is only half right. Yes, a valve adjustment can make a huge power difference if your valves are way out (adjustment needed every 15kmi, or about 22kkm). The slow acceleration has nothing to do with pump *timing*. If the injection pump timing is off, that means the timing chain is stretched. A new chain fixes the pump timing. Adjusting the timing (and using an offset key to correct cam timing) may help power *slightly*, and may improve MPG, but won't make the car any faster off the line. You need to increase the fuel delivery (richer mixture) off idle, which is done by fiddling with the ALDA. Removing the pump to "re-clock" it is only required if the pump was not installed correctly in the first place, and the timing is way, WAY off! He doesn't know what he's talking about, IMO. I wouldn't let that guy touch the pump, and I'd have reservations about letting him do the valve adjustment too.
Link to an MB document with ALDA adjust info (turn 1.0 turns CCW though, not 0.25).
http://www.meimann.com/docs/mercedes/Bosch_ALDA_adjust.pdf
