my_queue = new MyEventQueue();

     for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
         MyEvent *event = new MyEvent();
         event->set_start_timestamp(); // now time
         event->set_execute_timestamp(); // time to execute from now
 
         my_queue->push_event(event);
     }

    if (my_queue->count() > 0) {
        MyEvent *evnt = my_queue->top_event();
 
			// is_expired() is how i was doing it, but didn't work
        if (evnt->is_expired()) { 
            execute_event(evnt->id());
 
            my_queue->pop_event();
        }
    }

class MyEvent
{
	...
 
    public:
		...
        bool is_expired();
        struct timeval start_timestamp();
        double execute_timestamp();
};
 
struct EventPointerCompare {
    bool operator() (MyEvent* lhs, MyEvent* rhs) const {
        return ( lhs->_execute_time < rhs->_execute_time );
    }
};
 
// this is my priority_queue wrapper
class MyEventQueue
{
    private:
        priority_queue<MyEvent *, vector<MyEvent *>,
            EventPointerCompare> event_queue;
 
	public:
		check_queue();
		has_events_of_type_x();
		...