My clock radio has been a few minutes fast–and gaining–for a while now. I finally fixed that problem.
I got a new clock radio.
Seems like a drastic or foolish solution when a current gadget does a somewhat decent job of telling the time. However, if you have followed my blog for a while, you recall that I hadn’t replaced a clock radio in about two decades until my old unit’s LED clock face went out (see “The Half-Dead Clock Radio,” 3/21/10) and I braved a heavy rain and power outage to find a new one. I bought a Sony, because I rely on brand reputation. Over the past three years (nearly to the day), the new clock has gained minutes steadily until, upon its recent retirement, it was ten minutes fast. I tried replacing the backup battery and unplugging it, hoping to get it to reset itself, with no results. It’s determined to be fast, though I wonder if, just because we are in one time zone, we are really all supposed to be observing the same time. If each time zone represents an hour forward or backward, wouldn’t the half-way point along the latitude or time zone lines be a half-hour? Maybe that old gadget is smarter than the rest of us.
It doesn’t matter. I could just keep reminding myself that I have ten minutes to snooze in the morning, but my military training won’t let me. I went back to the old standby store, BestBuy, to find a new clock radio. What a culture shock. Most of the units on display were designed to dock I-Phones(R). I don’t own an I-Phone(R). The prices, however, were the same. Many of the boxes had been opened and, therefore, discounted. I decided upon a slim modern version from a company called Insignia, with a blue digital readout and priced about the same as I paid on my last trip. The cashier gushed over my purchase, saying, “You know, a few of my customers today bought this model.” That may have explained why the shelves were emptied out except for one box, mercifully unscathed by curious shoppers who don’t believe the picture on the box is what comes inside it. Also, they obviously didn’t want something that wouldn’t dock an I-Phone(R).
The first night felt rather strange, being bathed in a blue light as if fairies were hovering in my room. Since I was on vacation from work, I didn’t have to use the new alarm yet. What surprise awaits me on Monday morning?
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