meanwhile, back at the ranch....

29 years ago, i received what some would perceive as an odd gift -- a radio alarm clock. i didn't request it and i have no recollection of how i got up before i had it, but i do remember using it.

as previously covered here, i didn't know all that much about what you'd call popular music. the first day that the radio alarm went off, it was playing longer by dan fogelberg and i thought to myself, "welcome to the world of popular music!" what kind of dork relies on a radio alarm clock to change their musical life? yeah, don't answer that.

right before the alarm goes off, the device makes this sort of low popping sound. when a pencil was dropped and the eraser end hit my grade 10 biology class floor, it would make the same exact popping sound. same exact sound. same. exact. it's not like i tested this out -- one day a pencil dropped and made the sound and i just about jumped out of my chair. hearing the sound of your alarm during the normal course of the day can make one jump.

the clock went with me from high school to college and on into Real Life. when i'm on holiday, i don't use an alarm, but nearly every day for nearly 30 years that low popping sound followed by wildly blaring music or talk has been my wake up call.

for the past couple years, the device has been wearing down. the volume only works at one setting and the radio only reliably brings in one stations, so we wake up to blaring talk radio. my old man has a fancy-schmancy alarm clock radio with cd player, but it's so complicated that we've never been able to rely on it because we're never sure we have it set correctly. [yeah... no need to comment there.]

this morning, the clock on my faithful alarm clock radio is portraying only the minutes, no hours. the time is currently ":31". the ":" is still blinking off the seconds like it should. the one volume setting still works. the one radio station still comes in loud & clear. but, no hours. i have given an inordinate amount of real thought to how i might be able to use the alarm with no hours, but i am having to face the reality that it's simply not going to be possible.

it's kind of weird the things that make us sentimental, isn't it.