Return of the Rooster!

As an early teenager, I had a paper route. (Didn't everyone?) Somewhere along the way, as part of the paper route, I qualified for some sort of prize. The reason for this escapes me right now. The prize I chose was a very fine alarm clock.

What made this alarm clock nice was that it talked. It talked loud. When the alarm went off, it would tell you the time, in a very loud voice. You had the option of doing a 'beep-beep-beep' with this time announcement, or have it crow like a digital rooster. I choose the rooster as the default ring. (Of course.)

The drawback to this is that I slept right through the crowing and announcing of the time. The thing just kept going and going, hoping I would respond to it's incessant racket. It didn't bother me any, but it bothered people around me.

I am sure Drew could comment of the rooster, sharing a bedroom with me. (I don't think he reads this blog, otherwise he'd say something.) We were in a bedroom in the basement, the noise of the rooster wafted up to the second floor through the heating ducts. I am sure my family has not very nice things to say about the rooster...

Working summers at the local scout camp, I worked in the kitchen. This meant I was supposed to be up before the rest of the staff. The rooster lived out there as well. Having the rooster at the camp was helpful, because everyone around me was so willing to get me up out of my cot in the morning so that the alarm clock didn't keep going. Some of the camp staff had more colorful things to say about the rooster than my family might share.

I am sure the rooster made it to my Freshman year of college. Rob, do you remember the rooster? I had an 8am class. Made it to class three times. The rooster kept crowing and crowing, but Chem 113 went on without me.

The rooster went with me on my mission. This is where the line starts to blur. I wrote home in the middle of my mission to let them know that I augmented the rooster with a second alarm clock. This is the last place I can seem to track the thing down at. I'm not sure where it went past that.

Anyhow, things haven't changed much in 20+ years. I still sleep right through alarm clocks. Sometimes Tara lets me, other times she makes me get up and 'turn that thing off'. (I've used some pretty annoying ringtones on my phone in the past to try to get up in the mornings.)

Last night I set the alarm on my new phone for the first time, and what did I find? The phone has a rooster alarm setting! It came with the phone, honest. I woke up this morning before the alarm went off, and to be nice, disabled the thing before it started crowing. Tomorrow morning I have to be up at 6am to get to work early, I plan to let the rooster rip, bright and early...