Alarm Clock
After sleeping in a little too much recently, I decided I needed to rectify my alarm clock situation. Too often , was sleeping right through my alarm clock. When I had the same problem back at BYU, I set up my computer (along with the relatively nice speakers currently loaned to Bobby) so that it would play Chumbawamba’s Amnesia (“Do you suffer from long-term memory loss? I don’t remember“) at a fairly good volume. It always worked, and my roommate was good to put up with the brief morning noise for such a good cause as getting me up.
I hadn’t really considered this approach for a while because my current desktop is a little louder than oasis was, and I really didn’t want to be leaving it on all night (its also a very warm and bright machine, which combined with its noise might interfere with some sleep). However, I finally decided that waking up was too important, so I went about setting it up on Monday morning. While doing so, I came across a very cool feature in the Windows task scheduler: a check box that reads, “Wake up computer to perform this task.” Well, this was news. Apparently, I could put the computer into standby mode, where it is quiet, dark, and cool. Then it will wake up and play music at me in a loud manner at the appropriate time. After a quick test found the system to be working, I set it up. The system has been working progressively better. A couple of days ago, I tweaked the system for separate MWF and TTh wakeup times. Waking up early has made it easier to do so, so the effect is self-reinforcing. I even made it to CSE 143 section on time yesterday, something I hadn’t done since the second day of class.
Furthermore, I’m getting more sensitive. Today, I awoke not to blaring music, but to the click my desktop made as it revived itself from sleep. I was able to act quickly enough to turn the volume down to a good listening level before the startup completed and the music started. It was actually a quite pleasant way to wake up.
October 22nd, 2005 at 12:15:05 am
I remember back when I had my computer hooked up to my stereo system. When I really needed to wake up, I had a clip I’d taken from Toejam and Earl, where when you idle for a while Earl will fall asleep and Toejam will scream, “WAKE UP!”. I’d play that at an exorbitant volume, and it would wake me right up, usually with my hair standing on end.
October 26th, 2005 at 02:31:57 pm
Always wanted one of those alarm clocks which get brighter and brighter untill you get up… or one of those Jetson deals where the bed stands up and tosses you out.