Wake Up Call

I'm not a morning person. Sure, I can get up whenever I need to (I did work in morning drive radio for years, after all) but I would just rather not have to. Admittedly, I don't start out with a good mindset. When my alarm first goes off I am not thinking about all the wonderful opportunities that may be about to come my way on this new and exciting day, but more like how much I want to kill whoever made it unfashionable to show up to places unshowered which is what is making me get up an hour earlier than would be necessary otherwise. Because of my slow-going nature first thing in the morning I have tried various methods to make sure I actually get out of bed on time. I went with the two alarms for a while, but they lost their shock appeal quickly. Instead I have found the best way is to put an alarm clock across the room, because once I am standing that is pretty much it for the day.

The other good trick is to vary my wake-up siren. If I hear the same song, buzzer or ring too many times it begins to lose its effectiveness in knocking me out of whatever dream I am in. If my brain knows what is coming, all that will happen instead is suddenly my dream will be filled with people singing and that makes me even less likely to wake up. So, lately I've been using my iDock to get me out of bed, which is the best of both worlds - it is across the room which makes me get on my feet and every song is different, which means my brain doesn't know what to expect and demands I wake up and investigate the noise. But, here's a free tip to anyone thinking of using this method: the night before you may want to take a second and double check what song in next on the list, because some songs are not nearly as pleasant to wake up to as others.

The songs you really want to watch out for are the ones that begin with some sort of sound effect or strange noise. While you might think that a bizarre noise is just the trick to make someone hop-to it first thing, believe me when I tell you that some noises you would rather not hear first thing in the morning. The problem is I have a lot of heavy metal and rock on my iPod. I know that sounds as though it would be more effective in getting me up versus some quiet ballad, but those guys love their sound effects to start their songs and a lot of them lean towards the violent and destructive side. That means this morning the first sound I heard was that of an air-raid siren going off at the start of a Disturbed song.

Sure, with the benefit of several hours in which your brain has been comprehending what is going on around it, you might find the thought of an air-raid in 2011 preposterous. Frankly, I do not even know if my town has an air-raid siren at the ready. But, try telling that to someone who has been asleep for several hours. Seriously, for a frightening half-second, I thought we were under attack. It was not a good start to the day. I need to get out of bed, not be scared someone is on the rampage. So, if you are looking for a better way to make sure you don't miss your morning train I can tell you the iDock across the room is a very effective way to do it. Just make sure to check what song is coming on next, because terrified is no way to begin the day.