New Alarm Clock
Jan. 22nd, 2014 09:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fenchurchA number of years ago, I figured out the key to waking up, at least for me. It's the sort of thing that would have made life through high school (and college, for that matter) a WHOLE lot better. What it comes down to is that the absolute worst way for me to wake up is to sound (seriously, my brain hates it so much that I would actually get up in the middle of the night and, while still asleep, turn off my alarm clock so I wouldn't have to hear it in the morning) and what I really need is light. In particular, a nice full spectrum light!
I'd cobbled together my own alarm clock and it worked quite nicely. Ott-Lite produced a nice full-spectrum CFL grow light that would fit in a regular bulb socket, so I put that in a desk lamp attached to a plug in timer... and it would come on in the morning, starting somewhat dim and slowly getting brighter (as is the nature of CFLs). Unfortunately, when we went to stage the old house to sell, I had to pack it up, because it wasn't exactly pretty. I still haven't found the components for that alarm in the unpacking I've done (apparently, we didn't do as good a job of labeling as I thought we had) and even when I do, the folks at Ott appear to have quit making the bulb I've been using. :-(
I managed pretty well over the summer (there was enough light coming in the windows at both the old and new houses to wake me up) and even into the fall. But lately, it hit me that I've been dragging around in the mornings and having a harder and harder time getting up at a decent time. On one particular morning a few weeks ago, I groggily got up around the timerackham was heading out to work and announced that I *had* to find the cobbled-together alarm clock to use until I had something better, because I was sick of being tired all morning... and he just grinned and said I was in luck and to go check Woot that day. Such perfect timing... they had a full spectrum light alarm clock for sale, with good reviews and a price that didn't make me cringe. I paid for expedited shipping and it arrived a few days later... and it's been marvelous!
That's it on the left... the round globe looking thing. It comes on about half an hour before the time I have set and slowly builds in brightness (Note: 9:30 is not when I get up... that's just when I decided to take a photo). It's also got options for playing the radio or playing nature sounds, neither of which I have turned on (because, well, I *really* don't like waking up to noise if I can help it). And it's made such a huge difference! I hadn't realized how much I was getting dragged down by the lack of light in the mornings... I've got tons more energy during the day in general and have been getting so much more done!
In case anyone is curious, the little ceramic thing between the two lamps is a Gum Parker in the shape of a little cat. I picked it up when I was nine years old while my family was on vacation on the island of Saipan (we were living on Guam at the time, so it was just an island hop away) and I've had that thing at my bedside ever since. I even still use it, from time to time.
Crossposted from my Livejournal.
I'd cobbled together my own alarm clock and it worked quite nicely. Ott-Lite produced a nice full-spectrum CFL grow light that would fit in a regular bulb socket, so I put that in a desk lamp attached to a plug in timer... and it would come on in the morning, starting somewhat dim and slowly getting brighter (as is the nature of CFLs). Unfortunately, when we went to stage the old house to sell, I had to pack it up, because it wasn't exactly pretty. I still haven't found the components for that alarm in the unpacking I've done (apparently, we didn't do as good a job of labeling as I thought we had) and even when I do, the folks at Ott appear to have quit making the bulb I've been using. :-(
I managed pretty well over the summer (there was enough light coming in the windows at both the old and new houses to wake me up) and even into the fall. But lately, it hit me that I've been dragging around in the mornings and having a harder and harder time getting up at a decent time. On one particular morning a few weeks ago, I groggily got up around the time
rackham was heading out to work and announced that I *had* to find the cobbled-together alarm clock to use until I had something better, because I was sick of being tired all morning... and he just grinned and said I was in luck and to go check Woot that day. Such perfect timing... they had a full spectrum light alarm clock for sale, with good reviews and a price that didn't make me cringe. I paid for expedited shipping and it arrived a few days later... and it's been marvelous!That's it on the left... the round globe looking thing. It comes on about half an hour before the time I have set and slowly builds in brightness (Note: 9:30 is not when I get up... that's just when I decided to take a photo). It's also got options for playing the radio or playing nature sounds, neither of which I have turned on (because, well, I *really* don't like waking up to noise if I can help it). And it's made such a huge difference! I hadn't realized how much I was getting dragged down by the lack of light in the mornings... I've got tons more energy during the day in general and have been getting so much more done!
In case anyone is curious, the little ceramic thing between the two lamps is a Gum Parker in the shape of a little cat. I picked it up when I was nine years old while my family was on vacation on the island of Saipan (we were living on Guam at the time, so it was just an island hop away) and I've had that thing at my bedside ever since. I even still use it, from time to time.
Crossposted from my Livejournal.
