Rise and SHINE!

Why is it so hard to find a good (insert choice word here) these days?

I have heard that statement ring true for many things over the years: a man, a pair of jeans, a television sitcom, a steak, a job ... But, right now, the good thing that I'm looking for is a dual alarm clock.

My husband and I have been using his old alarm clock since we got married, and he used it for many years before that. It is obviously a hand-me-down, and it has seen better days ... But it works. You can't fault it for working. However, with us both waking up at different times on weekday mornings, it just makes sense to "update" and get something that will only have to be set once, rather than pressing our luck each morning as the alarm is groggily set for the second, and third (my husband has a weird morning routine) time.

The main problem here is not the clock itself, or even the features that the clock must have to be considered a good purchase. We are easy with that. The problem comes in the display itself ... No, too big or too small is not an issue either (I can't see anything that's more than in inch in front of my face without my glasses, anyway) ... The problem is the brightness with which the numbers are illuminated.

I have found, in all my years of alarm clock using, that red numbers are the only way to go. Green numbers are like having a neon sign next to your head and blue numbers are like the reflected rays of the sun as they would appear under an inch of crystal Caribbean water.

So, why on earth would I agree to getting a blue-numbered alarm clock?

"It has a dimmer feature," he said. "It should be just fine," he assured me.

Not so much.

Even with the dimmer turned on, half of our bedroom was lit up like the streets of Las Vegas! We actually had to cover the thing up in order to get to sleep ... It was seriously that bright. What kind of light bulbs are in these things, anyway?

Maybe I'll have to just break down and buy the red-numbered clock I saw online and shell out the $5 shipping cost. Yes, it will be more than if I just purchased it in the store (where it seemingly does not exist), but if we must update to a dual alarm, it might as well be something that we can live with.