--- a/python/utils.py	Thu Dec 07 23:31:54 2017 -0500
+++ b/python/utils.py	Wed Dec 13 14:06:20 2017 -0500
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
 from datetime import time, datetime
+from argparse import ArgumentTypeError
 from math import sqrt, ceil, floor
 from scipy.stats import kruskal, shapiro, lognorm
 from scipy.spatial import distance
@@ -24,6 +25,17 @@
     lowerWords = [w[0].upper()+w[1:].lower() for w in words]
     return ' '.join(lowerWords)
 
+class TimeConverter:
+    def __init__(self, datetimeFormat = datetimeFormat):
+        self.datetimeFormat = datetimeFormat
+    
+    def convert(self, s):
+        try:
+            return datetime.strptime(s, self.datetimeFormat)
+        except ValueError:
+            msg = "Not a valid date: '{0}'.".format(s)
+            raise ArgumentTypeError(msg)
+
 #########################
 # Enumerations
 #########################