Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go
It's official I'm an old geezer. It's not a bad thing... it's just official. I came in last night for a training session with our graveyard sales consultant at 2:00 AM after working my normal daytime shift the day before. Back in my younger days I could have easily done this... not so much anymore. My eyes hurt, my muscles ached, and the loud bass coming from the cars on the road at 1:30 this morning drove me crazy. "Turn down your stereo sonny! There's no need for all the boom boom boom!" After my insane drive into work I came in to find there is a whole different world running while I'm in bed.
Our graveyard sales consultant was bright eyed and bushytailed and working the day without complaint or moving at a speed that can only be compared to Droopy Dog. I came across a whole new group of customers that I’ve never been introduced to before. People actually are awake after Conan O’Brien! My wife likes to call them creatures of the night.
After putting in my ten hours I sluggishly drove home to find myself ready for bed. But I had a problem. My son’s tap class was in a few hours and I needed to wake up in time to get him there. “Just set an alarm!” You might say, but that won’t work. I know when I’m tired I can sleep through anything. If our neighboring Mount Rainer ever blew it’s top while I’m sleeping I’d be in trouble.
Generally in the morning my alarm would go off and my wife would give me a swift hit with her elbow to my gut, waking me up and leaving me gasping for air. She was off teaching the children of the world so what can I do? My dog would not be smart enough to wake me up. So rather than having my dog channel Lassie I had an X10 moment.
I ran (probably more of a delirious speed walk) to my den to setup a macro and timer in Activehome Pro to flash my lights, and run my WinAmp player to blast Buckcherry at heart stopping volumes on my sweet sound system in my bedroom. It worked! After a few hours sleep I was able to get to my son’s tap class in time! While at tap class I had another moment. I realized that ten toddlers tapping would also wake me up. I’ll have to remember that next time I need an alarm.
Check these out if you want to do this yourself!
http://activehomepro.com/
http://www.x10.com/products/x10_ak11a.htm