Wakey wakey

I'm a sound sleeper. A very sound sleeper. It's rare that I'll wake up in the middle of the night, and even on those occasions, I'm back out in a couple of minutes.

The downside is mornings -- the ability to sleep through just about any noise combined with a terminal case of night-owlism is a recipe for disaster. Every job I've had in my post-collegiate career has had "that" talk about morning punctuality at some point(s).



My current routine consists of cracking the blinds (not too effective this time of year unless I'm seriously sleeping in), setting alarms on two cell phones (one's not active, but the alarm still works) as well as a beeping clock alarm, all set for various times in the morning. The system works well enough (unless I'm in bed for less than four hours, then all bets are off) but c'mon, it's stupid. Three or more alarms? Stupid.



I had been searching a while for a loud alarm that would have a bed shaker, and possibly some way to trip a light. I found all three in a Sonic Boom alarm clock. The alarm is exceptionally loud, and fortunately adjustable (I'm probably only at 1/3 maximum now). The pitch of the alarm can be changed too, which is good since I'll start sleeping through new alarm sounds after a month or so (brain reacts more to novelty?). It'll be interesting to play with that pitch over time.

The woman at the store said that most people put the shaker between the fitted sheet and the mattress, which I tried first. Now I don't like anything under the sheet that I can feel -- tags, those heavy "buy me!" feature labels, etc -- and having a hockey puck between the pillows just isn't going to cut it. Plus, the vibration wasn't all that impressive, especially if my head was near the edge of the bed.

So I tried squeezing it between the mattress and the box spring and set the alarm. Now THAT'S a wake-up call! The vibration is transferred to the frame of the bed and you get a serious tooth-rattling, no matter where your head is at. Coupling this with the alarm going off and the bedside lamp flashing on and off (the shaker and the lamp outlet can be set to steady or pulse) and I have high hopes for mornings.

As an added bonus, the big yellow button toggles the outlet on and off for normal use (which is connected to a lamp with the lousy rotary click-click-click switch of a standard bulb being in a 3-way socket).



A very cautious checking out of the odd noises emanating from the bed. The two flash photos each caused her to jump back a good foot.



I'm curious as to what my reaction will be to this thing going off for the first time. If trying out the snooze was any indication, it will be a waking of the Startled-The-Shit-Out-Of-Me variety. But I'll take that over the HolyCrapI'mAnHourLateAndHaveToShaveShowerDressAndGetDowntownYet kind any day.