Wherein My OCD Saves Me
Yet again.
Last night before hitting the old waterbed, I looked at my night stand and sighed. I'm finally losing it. There sat not one, not two, but three devices set to wake me tomorrow morning.
I wasn't always this bad. Back in the day, one clock radio was sufficient. Then hubby started working weird hours so I bought a clock that had two alarm settings. Of course just my luck, the radio on it sucked. Sucked hard. Think static with an irritating tinny undertone. But it was the only model I could find that had the double alarm option. So I kept it AND the older clock radio with the better speakers.
Okay. So I had two clock radios. It seemed a tad like overkill, but it worked.
Then last week I awoke to my stereophonic blast as usual, only to have both radios cut out two minutes later. Since I was still lying in bed reviewing my options for not getting up my wardrobe for the day, I jumped up and found both clocks were also black. No power.
Crap.
I turned on the bedroom light... hmmm. Power there. Then, in a successful attempt to scare the sh** outta me, both radios blasted on again and the clocks began flashing 12:00. Okaaaaay. Must have been a temporary power outage. So I reset both clocks to the proper time and reprogrammed the alarm settings too.
A minute later it happened again. Both clock radios go dead.
Crap! Crap!
But my bedroom light reamined on. What the hell??? Then suddenly the possessed machines returned to life again... grumbling, I go through the aggravating process of resetting them both once more.
The third time it happened in less than ten minutes, I began to swear profusely, causing one of our cats to shoot out from behind my bed. Grrrr... the mischievous feline had been sleeping on the power bar both radios were plugged into and must have been pressing the on/off switch.
I moved the bar, but just to be sure nothing like that happened again, I started leaving my Blackberry on the night stand as a backup alarm.
Yup. THREE devices to wake me up at 5:30 each morning.
I nearly came to my senses last night and turned off the Blackberry... really, Maureen this was getting ridiculous, I told myself. But myself was tired and left it there for one more night.
Good thing too. Because this morning I was awakened to the ringtone of Bach's Fugue in D Minor on the old Smartphone.
Strangley, no music was streaming from either clock radio. The clocks were working, but no sound of my usual morning show could be heard.
Now what???
Forty-five minutes later, the station finally kicked in, with the DJ apologizing for the outage; their main antenna had been knocked out. So I guess my OCD saved the day after all.
But now it's got me thinking; what if my Blackberry battery runs low...
Anybody know where I can pick this up?
Cheap?
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I know you think the cat accidentally pressed the power bar to your alarm clock. I know the real truth. But I will not tell. We cats must stick together.
I can hear your cats now...
...heh heh, and then I did it a 3RD TIME! I tell you... And they think DOGS are dumb!
Uh-ummm... my bet is that the kitties are working on a solution to that Blackberry going off as well.
Before you know it, the kitty will find the "off" button on your phone - so I say, get another gadget!
And if you find that little robot dude, I'd like a large Earl Grey with a blueberry scone, please :)
If those cats are so smart, maybe you can convince them to wake you up in the morning. Of course, they will demand a hefty payment but it may be worth a shot ...
Funny! Saved again! :-)
That sounds like our place, sans cat. Cat has been ousted from the bedroom. Maybe he's secretly designing a tripping device for the top of the stairs.
Hubby uses his iPhone on Tuesdays and Thursdays and we have a 5:00 a.m. beep,beep,beep to wake up the dead and then a 6:30 a.m. music blast to wake up the still dead (me).
You're right. Sometimes OCD isn't a bad thing
I have the solution to your problem: DON'T WAKE UP AT 5:30 IN THE MORNING! Good God, that's early. You're a writer. Writers stay up late drinking, and sleep in late so they'll be refreshed for another day of drinking. No alarms--or robots--necessary. Glad to help.
Don't get the robot! It shall overpower ye and join forces with the other bots to take over the world! I saw it in a film once.
Do you have a dog? Mine gets me up at exactly 7AM every day. Better than any alarm clock.
Daisy: How did you know I was thinking of you when I posted this? I think I need to hire Harley to do some investigative sleuthing.
Jeff: Ha! You are probably right!!! Doh!
Sistertex: Oh crap, I never thought of that. Damn those finicky felines...
Toners: Sounds good. That's TWO large Earl Grays and two blueberry scones. I'm joining you. I wonder if I have to learn Japanese to work Asimo.
Pinklea: Unfortunately, the cats only wake me up early on the weekends and my days off... it's like they KNOW.
Jill: Which only reinforces my sickness, unfortunately.
Reforming Geek: Well, with three cats, one of them is bound to be trouble at all times. And yes, your arrangement sounds eerily similar to mine. Which I am so sorry to hear. ;)
Mike WJ: I'm a writer? Really? Nah... I'm a mediocre story teller at best. So I guess I should also be a mediocre drinker too. Hey! I have that part nailed too! ;) Welcome, by the way!!
Hindleyite: OMG you're right... oh crap - no robot? But yes, we also have a dog (who, unfortunately is severely outnumbered by the three cats). And the only time SHE wakes me up is AFTER she has puked on carpet in the middle of the night. I know, I live in paradise, no?
Crap, I forgot...
Welcome Hindleyite too! ;)
Hahahaaha! I'd rather have a Data! ;)
For some gadawful reason, my internal clock won't let me sleep past 5:30 am. I'm instantly awake and not going back to sleep. I wish I could blame my cats.
I have a radio controlled alarm clock with two settings and it works fine on electric power, but we don't have many outages here. Underground lines and wires. At least it resets itself to the correct time every hour and the alarm is irritating enough and has a snooze. You could have a battery operated one. The batteries last a long time and you could get rechargeable ones and change them regularly.
Heh. I'm lucky that I rarely need an alarm to wake me up, but when I do, I'm just as OCD about it as you are. And I barely get any sleep, checking the clock every five minutes.
I have one of those clocks that shines the time on your ceiling, and my cats are always "accidentally" moving the little projector thing so the time shines on the bed, the floor, my face.
Oh, 3 devices isn't so bad. One of my friends in college had something like 10 alarms set in various places around her dorm room. And she would STILL sleep through the alarm. :-)
You'd probably be better off having the clocks plugged directly into the wall (cat issue resolved) or sticking to the blackberry and making sure it's completely charged before bed (radio black out issue solved).
I use my cell phone for my alarms. I can set up to 5 alarms for different times, days, etc. It helps when your kid gets out one hour earlier on one day a week and the same time the rest of the week, or decides to join something after school, which means a whole different time and alarm setting.
I found I no longer need alarm clocks with dogs. The dogs wake me up well before it is time for me get out of bed, so they can go outside and do their business....after that, there is no going back to bed....and you can't turn off the dog.
When I worked mornigns and had to get up at 2:30 Am I would set my alarm next to the bed, an alarm across the room to make sure I got up to turn it off and an alarm on my phone. And I STILL mamanged to oversleep sometimes. SO gald I no longer need to get up to an alarm. Working nights is awesome!
LOL - and you may be able to ask Mickey for one of those - just saw it in Disneyland; he looks mighty handy! :)
Jay: Oh I KNEW you would!!! ;)
Tara: Some mornings I awake just before the alarm goes off, but this particular morning I was startled awake... I am sure if I didn't have that Blackberry, I definitely would have been late for work.
The Green Stone Woman: Believe it or not, one of those clock radios is supposed to have a battery back up, but I don't trust that the battery will still be okay the one time I would need it.
OMG JD: I can just SEE the image of your face, with 4:56 flashing on it in red! Good thing you don't get a burn from those things. That could be a tan difficult to cover up with make up! Har!!!
Janet: Holy crap! TEN??? Okay, I bow to their obvious serious OCD.
Chelle: Oh yes, I would have had them plugged directly into the wall, if they reached, and if I had more than two outlets. With my side table lamp, I HAVE to use a power bar. At least it isn't laying down flat anymore; but geez, in all the years I've had cats and power bars, nothing like that ever happened before.
Bruce: My dog only wakes me up in the middle of the night... many mornings I have to get HER up (well, she is elderly now).
Vegas Princess: You sound like hubby in the mornings... he is horrible to get up some days. If it weren't for me, he would have been late soooo often.
Carol! No way!!! Okay, I am DEFINITELY getting back to Disneyland. And soon!
Yeah, it's always confusing when an irrational fear turns into rational fear, or when a compulsion turns out to make sense somehow. Oh well.
Lady Banana: Ha! Yes, but MY cats only seem to want to wake me on my days off...
Jill: Yup. I live most of my life that way, it seems.
You have OCD need an alarm clock? I have OCD so DON'T need one. When it's really important I be up on time, I set one just so I can sleep. Yes, to sleep. If I don't set it, I will be awake every 3.6 minutes all. night. long. I get cranky when my husband's alarm goes off at 4:45 or 4:50. (Why can't he be awake, waitng for it, like I am.) I force myself to stay in bed until 5:30 so I can at least be resting, certainly not sleeping, so I won't crash at 11 a.m. and be a b!*&# the rest of the day. But the robot would be nice. Could it drive the kids to school, too?
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