Well, almost.

In any case, I found something interesting(well somewhat)

Code:
//echo #chan online time: $duration($online) | //echo #chan mIRC uptime: $uptime(mirc,1)


Yields this output:

online time: 2days 18hrs 39mins 58secs
mIRC uptime: 2days 18hrs 38mins 22secs

How is it possible I have been connected longer than mIRC has been running ?

Also,

Code:
//echo #chan  normal uptime: $uptime(mirc,1) | //echo #chan duration uptime: $duration($uptime(mirc))


Above should(unless I am mis-reading) provide identical output.

Yields:

normal uptime: 2days 18hrs 46mins 49secs
duration uptime: 397wks 3days 12hrs 19mins 1sec

In any case, $uptime is not the solution to my original question.