The last time I bought an alarm clock was in late Jan/early Feb of 2005.* That alarm clock cost about 5.99 and did nothing but buzz at a set time. The other alarm clock I've been using is, I'm pretty confident, more than 10 years old. I'm pretty sure I owned it in Longview. Anyway, the 5.99 Walmart one crapped out a few weeks ago, and the one I bought from the Chinese 'everything' shop the other day turned out to not actually keep time--which would seem to be the basic requirement for an alarm clock.
So I went to Target to buy a new one and--lo and behold--oh the things alarm clocks do now! Alarm clocks these days include features like: automatic time-setting via . . . radio (?); most of them allow you to dock your iPod and wake up to it, and a few have a generic audio input--just in case I wanted to plug my computer up to my alarm clock; several project the time and/or date onto a wall or ceiling (freaky); some played CDs (so old-fashioned!).
I think I must have spent at least 30 minutes staring at this array before deciding on the three** features I wanted, in priority:
(1) An alarm that automaticaly resets each day w/o my needing to turn it on (i've never had such a feature before, but cool!).
(2) Smallish size (all those features take up mucho room, and I have a small nightstand).
(3) Not-red LED. I definitely prefer green or blue.
Anyway, I found a new alarm clock. It was decently cheap. On the downside, I visited target, which never never leads to anything good. Especially since I was in the electronics section. I totally want a Wireless-N router. And a Wii. And a printer . . . .
* Yes, there is a reason I know exactly when I purchased this alarm clock. On a related note, I've noticed that one pleasant side effect of moving regularly is that it's easy for me to place the timing of events. The other day someone said American Idol had been on for 10 years. I pointed out that couldn't be true because I remember talking about it when it was a new thing in Maryland--so Winter/Spring of '04.
** There is actually feature (0)--that it plays radio. I've recently discovered that waking up to NPR is bad ass. It engages my mind in a way that is similar to talking to someone, which is useful for waking up. Also, the New York NPR station is *also* badass. Anyway, I didn't list this feature because there wasn't a single alarm clock that didn't have a radio.
* Yes, there is a reason I know exactly when I purchased this alarm clock. On a related note, I've noticed that one pleasant side effect of moving regularly is that it's easy for me to place the timing of events. The other day someone said American Idol had been on for 10 years. I pointed out that couldn't be true because I remember talking about it when it was a new thing in Maryland--so Winter/Spring of '04.
** There is actually feature (0)--that it plays radio. I've recently discovered that waking up to NPR is bad ass. It engages my mind in a way that is similar to talking to someone, which is useful for waking up. Also, the New York NPR station is *also* badass. Anyway, I didn't list this feature because there wasn't a single alarm clock that didn't have a radio.
