Five Awesome Alarm Clocks

Before diving into some awesome alarm clocks, here's a word of explanation about how this topic came up. I'm currently working at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, doing a CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) internship, and we're getting towards the end of the summer. We're all getting a little tired from how busy the summer has been. Somehow at work today the topic of alarm clocks came up, and, since we're working at the hospital, somehow the hospital's helicopter got mixed in too, getting us talking about unique novelty alarm clock ideas.

Well, apparently there's such a thing as a helicopter flying alarm clock. So, without further ado, here's some other awesome alarm clocks.

Five Awesome Alarm Clocks

5. Coin Deactivated Alarm Clock

This is one of the more brilliant alarm clocks I've seen, and unlike the ones listed below, it's potentially profitable too! The concept of the Banclock is that you have to insert a coin to get it to stop going off. Obviously, you're not going to make much money from yourself by putting in a coin a day, but still, it's a brilliant idea. It could even be a good tool for teaching your kids to save a little money each day. Or, maybe it could work as a tax for your older child who won't get out of bed...think if it required money to press snooze!

Unfortunately, the Banbox looks really difficult to get. It's available on Amazon, but only for a lot of money and from sketchy looking sellers. Ah well. Cool concept.

 

4. Helicopter Flying Alarm Clock

The concept here is simple. When the alarm goes off, the "helicopter" is launched into the air, and you have to find it and return it back to the base station. It's a cool idea, but it doesn't sound like it's implemented all that well. The flying part is basically a cheap plastic propeller, and I don't think (although I'm not 100% sure) that it's powered at all. It's basically like those plastic helicopter toys that you pull a string to launch into the air. This would be a much more awesome alarm clock if it was actually a powered helicopter. Still, it's quite cheap on Amazon, so check it out if you want. Like most of these, I imagine it'd make a great gift. Oh, and it also makes a fake takeoff sound, and a horrible alarm beeping noise that I'm sure would get me out of bed! Here's a video:

 

3. Silent Vibrating Personal Alarm Clock

This vibrating wearable alarm clock concept has some advantages, but like the others, there definitely seem to be some flaws here too. My wife hates being woken up in the morning, and I hate waking her up when I have to get up first, so the idea of a silent device that could wake up just one person would be great. Of course, if it's like a phone set on vibrate, just the noise might be enough to wake up a light sleeper. Personally, I think a wearable alarm clock that delivered a small electric shock to the sleeping wearer would be great, but I can't find that. Maybe it'd be dangerous to people with pacemakers? Hmm...I can tell I'm working on a cardiac unit at the hospital!

Of course, the other flaw with this one is that it'd be really easy to turn off. You don't have to get out of bed to find it. Heck, you don't even have to roll over and reach for it! Check it out here on Amazon.

 

2. Shootable Alarm Clock Target

How could you not want an alarm clock you could shoot? That's pretty much how I feel about my alarm clock every time it goes off! The idea here of course is that you put the clock across the room and have to hit it with your "gun shot" to silence it, and by the time you are able to aim well enough to hit it, you'll be awake. Of course, if I was disciplined enough to put my alarm clock across the room, the mere act of getting up and walking over to turn it off would be enough to wake me up. But then, what fun is that? I want to shoot my appliances! Check out the gun and target alarm clock here. Unfortunately, from glancing through the Amazon reviews, it doesn't look like this clock is all that durable, which decreases its awesomeness somewhat. Someone else suggested setting up a series of mirrors to make shooting the target with your laser gun more difficult. Either way, it's still an awesome concept for an alarm clock!

 

1. Clocky Rolling Alarm Clock

Finally, of course, there's the Clocky Rolling Alarm Clock. This one I'd heard of before today, and I think it's the original of the awesome alarm clocks. Unlike all the others, this one actually seems somewhat durable and practical. It rolls away beeping when it's time to get up, and it's advertised as being capable of jumping/falling off of a three foot high dresser and surviving to go hide from you. This one combines being both fun and practical, since you do have to get up out of bed to turn it off. Obviously, since it rolls around, it's battery powered, which isn't really my favorite thing, but still, this seems like a great alarm clock! Too bad it doesn't have a radio.

 

My Alarm Clock

Of course, I don't actually own any of these. Here's the alarm clock I actually own and use. It's about as boringly common as you can get, but it wakes me up, and I trust it more than I trust my frequently malfunctioning cell phone. So, you know, if anyone wants to buy me a more interesting alarm clock, feel free!

Have other awesome alarm clocks? Share in the comments!

Candidacy Essay

Just a quick note to say that I've posted my ELCA candidacy entrance essay online over at my website. Head over there if you're interested in reading it!

Keyboard Shortcut for Add Comment in Word for Mac

I use Microsoft Word's comment feature (Insert menu → Comment) frequently, both when I'm revising other people's work and when I'm working on something of my own and want to come back to it later. Annoyingly, in Word 2008 (the version I'm using) and presumably in Office 2011 as well, there's no keyboard shortcut listed. I finally did some research, and there is indeed a Mac shortcut for inserting a comment!

In Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac, the keyboard shortcut to insert a comment is: Command-Option-A (⌘-⌥-A). Why? I have no idea. On Windows, the insert comment shortcut is Ctrl+Alt+M, which makes just as little sense. Hope that helps!

Seminary J-Term Project: Effective Church Websites

An update on what I've been up to recently: Just in case you missed it, I'm now a Master of Divinity student at Wartburg Theological Seminary, located in beautiful and hilly Dubuque, Iowa. The school is basically a castle, as you can see in this picture. I've finished my fall semester, and I'm now a week into January term. For J-Term, I'm doing an independent study on effective church websites.

Since moving to Dubuque, Christin and I have been looking for a church, and as part of that, we looked at a bunch of different church websites. Disappointingly, although perhaps unsurprisingly, there are a lot of really bad church websites out there. Many churches don't even have a website, and some that do don't have what I think should be basic information on them, like what time the services are, how to contact the church, or even what city the church is located in! Of course, many churches do have good, effective websites, and frequently, those are the ones that are growing. So, with my interest in technology and ministry (remember, my Luther College degree is in computer science and religion), I'm working on a J-Term project to study what makes church websites effective.

So far, I've visited every church website in Dubuque (approximately 72!), read several books on the topic, and started a website about my project with a blog and tips for church websites. We'll see where this goes!

Fundraising Campaign for He Who Never's New EP

My good friend and ex-roommate, Aaron Rosell, aka He Who Never, is working on a new recording project. The EP, titled "Timing," will be released January, 2013. As he says,

"Since the very beginning, my music has only been possible because of the unbelievable friend base I've had backing me. Because of them, I have entirely avoided the expenses that come with studio time, engineers, producers, equipment, and studio musicians. Here's the kicker: I've never paid them. I've never been able to. And they've never minded."

Now he's looking to raise some money to pay for the project, so check out the EP fundraising campaign here and give him some love!

Update: The fundraising campaign was successful, and the Timing EP is officially out today!

If you haven't heard any of his music before, check it out for free at He Who Never's Bandcamp page.



He Who Never - Timing EP Campaign from He Who Never on Vimeo.

Top 4 Simple Non-Scam Ways to Make Free Money on the Internet

Yes, it is possible to easily make money on the internet! None of these will provide a living, but extra spending money is always nice, and I've personally gotten legitimate money from of them, so I know they're not scams. These aren't work-at-home methods, they're not going to replace your day job, and they won't make you rich, but they do provide something to do in your free time.

So, without further ado, here are my experiences with several different legitimate sites for making easy money online:

1. SurveySavvy
         SurveySavvy is exactly what it sounds like, a site for taking surveys. I've taken surveys for a couple months through them. Your experience will vary depending on your demographics, but I tend to get about a survey every day or so, of which I qualify for about one third. The ones I do qualify for take about 10 minutes and are worth $1 or $2, although I've seen ones for as much as $5. For me, the real money through SurveySavvy has come from being linked to other panels. They occasionally send out surveys for "exclusive online advisory communities," and I qualified for one of those. Through that community, I've made $55 in Amazon gift cards in about 10 weeks with about 10 minutes per week of work. Highly recommended. www.surveysavvy.com

2. Ebates
         Ebates is a site that pays you to shop online. Sound too good to be true? It actually is true. They work by directing customers (you) to online retailers, who pay them a percentage of your purchases as a commission. Many sites do that. However, ebates then turns around and gives you back part of their commission. I've only used it for a couple of large purchases like computers for my family. I keep forgetting to use for little purchases like on Amazon. I've made about $35 through ebates so far. Payment is via check mailed to your house. The definite advantage of this site is that there's no effort on your part beyond remembering to visit the website before you shop. Highly recommended. www.ebates.com

3. Amazon's Mechanical Turk
         Mechanical Turk is sort of a freelance site for jobs that take a few seconds. Called "hits" (human interface tasks), these are a wide-ranging variety of "jobs" for third-parties ranging from performing a Google search, to tagging photos, to proofreading a document, to writing an article, to surveys, to audio transcriptions. Each task completed gives you a small reward ($0.01 - $1.00 in my experience), paid in Amazon Payments credit. The advantage of Mechanical Turk is that there are always many things to do and the payments are faster than other sites. The disadvantage is that you have to be careful because many jobs want you to do things like sign up for newsletters or complete scammy type online offers. These are against the terms of service, but Amazon doesn't seem to very closely police the jobs offered. Again, it doesn't pay particularly well, but it's a great way to kill time and make a little extra money. I've probably only made about $10 from here, but it was all while "wasting" time. www.mturk.com

4. Swagbucks
         I don't know much about Swagbucks yet, but I have a friend who's made $20 or so in Amazon gift cards without too much effort. You get points for things like filling out surveys, or for buying products or services through sites through them (similar to ebates). www.swagbucks.com

Good luck! Please post your experiences and reviews of sites!

Kevin Max Joining Reunited Audio Adrenaline

If you haven't heard yet, it's official! Kevin Max, formerly of the great dc Talk will be the new frontman for Audio Adrenaline. I saw rumors last week, but both AudioA and Kevin Max linked on their Facebook pages to this article on Billboard. Sounds like recording has been happening, so I'm looking forward to the new recordings! I've never been a huge AudioA fan (although I do have their Adios CD), but I love Kevin's voice, so it's exciting to see him get back into mainstream Christian recording!

AudioA of course broke up in 2006 due to frontman Mark Stuart's vocal issues. I remember when I last saw them (I think it was in July, 2006), it was painful to see how much he was struggling to sing. Since then, they've been devoting their time to the Hands and Feet Project, a children's village mission outreach in Haiti.

And of course, you can't mention Kevin Max joining AudioA without comparing it to Michael Tait, also of dc Talk, joining Newsboys 3 years ago. Here's hoping that Kevin and AudioA will have as much success as Michael and Newsboys!

Here's a video that AudioA recently posted before the announcement hinting at their re-formation.