Ryan Byrd’s Ramblings

As I am a transient (maverick?), I have had the challenge of moving a number of times in the last few years. Oddly, I have uniquely lived on top floors of buildings. The pain of moving heavy objects up and down narrow flights of stairs has not endeared me to friends who have helped me move. As a consequence, all the few furnishings in my current abode were chosen based on their portability.

This spartan lifestyle might not pay dividends now^*, however it should be a cinch to leave speedily, should that need arise.

One item that didn’t make the bring-it-to-the-new-apartment cut was an alarm clock. I’m a heavy sleeper and have been known to sleep through raging tempests. In fact, I have no less than four alarm clocks which in the past I had hidden around my room. It’s very hard, I’ve learned, to sleep through a scavenger hunt.

Those clocks were left in storage, and so I have had to rely on my cellphone alarm to wake me up. That cellphone hasn’t been particularly reliable. In short, I’m in the market for a better way to wake up.

Then my friend Kevin sent me a link to an alarm clock that caught my interest. This clock “gives you one chance to get up. But if you snooze, [it] will jump off of your nightstand and wheel around your room looking for a place to hide.” Now that’s cool. (Sadly, the clock only comes in pastel colors.)

* For example, I didn’t bring my mattress into this new apartment because mattresses are incredibly hard to move, but, well, sleeping without a mattress sucks