I got a new alarm clock today.

This is not earth shattering news.

This isn't even blog-worthy news, really.

Our old alarm clock sucked, so a friend gave us his old one when he got himself a new one. What he failed to make us understand was the fact that the display on his old alarm clock was BRIGHTER THAN THE SUN. This makes sleeping difficult if you are facing the alarm clock even a little bit. It was bright enough that you could just about read by it. I already have trouble sleeping at night, so this new celestial body next to my face did not help. And, for the record, we kept it on the less-bright of the two settings. There was a setting that was EVEN BRIGHTER!!! It lit up the entire room, no exaggeration.

Some diabolical alarm clock designer somewhere must have decided that one sun was not enough for this nice planet of ours. So they made a second one, trapped it in a nice looking piece of electronics, and only had it be noticeable while unsuspecting people were trying to sleep. There is no other reasonable explanation.

Anyway, Joe and I finally bought a new alarm clock. It's blue, which makes me happy. It plays and charges my iPhone, which makes me happy. And the display has three brightness settings, the darkest of which is juuuust bright enough to make out the time in a dark room.

Unfortunately, it will still wake me up way before I am ready, and on a daily basis. Oh well. Necessary evil.