I’ve had cause to go out and explore what’s out on the Internet to a degree I haven’t since I was freelancing in the late 90s. Even school thus far has been mostly about finding papers than widgetry. While I wait for some large files to transfer in the background, I have a success story I’m going to share.
I’m not good with time. Specifically, the pieces that keep the time. Wristwatches, digital or analog, tend to stop on me. Amy pulled up some documented cases where this happens elsewhere to other people, so I feel less weird about it, but the bottom line is: no watches for Kevin. I go to a school that doesn’t have any form of wall clock in our main department buildings. I live with family members who struggle at times to stay asleep, so loud wake-me-up-at-3am alarms are not desired. I’ve tried all sorts of things, including using the alarm on my cell phone (I hate both: the alarm and the cell phone), and the best system I had come up with for overnight work sessions was rhythm sleeping — where I figured out I naturally wake up a bit at 3 hours and 45 minutes — and the beeping alarm on the kitchen stove. I have to sleep close enough to hear it, of course, which means a lot of in-semester cat naps on couches and chairs between studying.
That was the best. Until now.
OK, I still have to distance myself from my family when I have a long night of work sandwiching a sleep cycle. But I came across this little gem while trying to avoid going upstairs to get my cell phone — I was that tired. I’m not the first to find it, but I have to add my testimonial to how well this works.
Alarm Clock features includes:
- Set multiple alarms (i.e. need to wake up in 3hrs 45min but also anticipate that meeting tomorrow afternoon)
- Repeating or one-time alarms
- Wake up to to iTunes!
- Wake up peacefully to sounds that gradually increase in volume over time (all user configured)
- Can wake my computer from sleep (although I found out the first time it doesn’t log in if the screen saver requires authentication)
- Snooze (works with the apple remote, too)
Snooze is always dangerous, of course, but that “easy wake” is very effective.
Kudos, Robbie Hanson, wherever you are. If I weren’t an impoverished graduate student trying to keep myself in school and my family from living under an elevated train somewhere, you’d get my money as a thank you.
