UNIX_TIMESTAMP() returning incorrect timestamp

[celibate54]

notes: lastLoginDate defined as a timestamp(14) column

for example: i will store a date in there such as 20040528051725 (which is what the date/time was at that moment)

when i pull it back with

SELECT UNIX_TIMESTAMP(lastLoginDate ) FROM <table name> WHERE idNumber="whatever my number is"

it comes back with 1085746645

but if i do a mktime() and echo that I see that right now it is:
1085790247

the difference of the two times is 43602 which is 12+ hrs

it should be well under 10 minutes if even that

i've read multiple threads on time/date issues (as well as dev.mysql.com/php forums/mysql forums) and I feel, now, that asking this question is valid and not me being lazy

thanks!

[nemonoman]

From the mysql manual:

A.4.6 Time Zone Problems

If you have a problem with SELECT NOW() returning values in GMT and not your local time, you have to tell the server your current time zone. The same applies if UNIX_TIMESTAMP() returns the wrong value.

My guess is that PHP thinks it's in one timezone and MySQL thinks it's in a different timezone.

for example rather than compare to mktime(), compare UNIX_TIMESTAMP(timestamp) to UNIX_TIMESTAMP()

UNIX_TIMESTAMP() should tell you what time MySQL thinks it is.