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Alarm Clocks... Set 'Em Late?

seawolf17 Aug 09 2005 11:39 AM

When I was a kid, my dad's alarm clock was always set about 25 minutes later. I never understood it, but yet now I set mine about ten minutes later also. It actually works to get me out of bed earlier, even though I consciously know what time it really is. Does anyone else do that? Am I crazy?

cooby Aug 09 2005 11:45 AM

Oh yeah... My son has his clock set 20 minutes fast so that he doesn't have to get up as early for school, so I set mine for that time too, plus a little battery operated clock in the kitchen. That's why when my alarm doesn't go off because I have it set for pm instead of am, it's not quite as bad as it sounds

metirish Aug 09 2005 11:47 AM

Mine is the correct time, I like to set the alarm 45 minutes before I get up so I can hit the snooze button 3 times, it's worked for years.

Edgy DC Aug 09 2005 11:47 AM

Yup. I'm so stupid I can fool myself.

Yancy Street Gang Aug 09 2005 11:55 AM

I rarely set an alarm. I seem to have an internal clock that wakes me up about ten minutes before I need to get up. It almost never fails me. And when it does, I figure I needed the sleep, and deal with the consequences of being late.

seawolf17 Aug 09 2005 11:58 AM

Glad to see I'm not the only one. Peanut is really the only alarm clock I ever use -- the dog wakes me up at 6:00 almost every day, but when I'm not home, he'll sleep until noon -- but when I'm on the road, my wife uses it and my setting it forward drives her nuts.

Willets Point Aug 09 2005 12:00 PM

Why bother, I'm just going to slam the snooze button eight times anyhow.

Rockin' Doc Aug 09 2005 01:20 PM

We keep all the clocks in the house set to as accurate a time as possible. I generally wake up 10-20 minutes before the alarm is set to go off. I will generally wait until a minute or two before the alarm will go off before I roll out of bed and turn the alarm off. I seldom get to hear the alarm go off.

Frayed Knot Aug 09 2005 01:49 PM

I never understood the concept of "fooling yourself" with clocks set-ahead. I'd either always know how wrong they are and make the mental adjustment rendering the whole experiment moot; or, assuming I'm one of those who claims that the charade works because they're never sure exactly how fast the clocks are, I'd wind up wasting a lot of time. No, all timepieces in my place are set as close to the real time and to each other as reasonably possible and if the clock/watch has a 24-hour feature I use that too to avoid any possible AM/PM mixups. If I know that my walk to the train station takes 7 minutes I'm not about to leave 12 minutes early 'just to make sure' or guess at what time I need to leave only to wind up being early and standing there on the elevated platform for 10 minutes with a 30 mph wind blow up my skirt in January. And if I'm going to watch something on TV at 9:00 I want to know when it's 9:00 not 'somewhere around 9' because I don't want to sit through the closing minutes of the show I purposely skipped, plus several minutes of commercials and promos, simply because I'm only kinda sure what time it is.

metirish Aug 09 2005 01:53 PM

This is how I set my clock/watches..I'm a bit obsessive about time. http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/time-zone/usa/new-york/index.htm

Willets Point Aug 09 2005 01:56 PM

I never realized that Frayed Knot wore skirts.

Frayed Knot Aug 09 2005 02:01 PM

Fortunately I have the legs for it.

Edgy DC Aug 09 2005 02:12 PM

You know, I suddenly realize I've seen you on the LIRR platform.

KC Aug 09 2005 02:30 PM

At home, the clocks coincide with the cable boxes. I hate looking at a clock that says 10:31 and a cable box that says 10:33. Messy messy. My watch was seven seconds off from metsirish's link. (I fixed it) I've always been time obsessed. I actually remember my friend Alan's father had all the clock in his house set twenty minutes fast and he always said that it was so they'd never be late anywhere. I always said that was dumb even as a child. I also generally can tell you what time it is within about 7-8 minutes without looking. Try me sometime.

metsmarathon Aug 09 2005 02:36 PM

if you want to fool yourself with teh time, you need to set the clock forward a non-easily arithmeticked number of minutes - like 17. you can't subtract 17 minutes terribly easy when you're tired.

ScarletKnight41 Aug 09 2005 02:54 PM

I set the clocks for the exact time, except I set the clock in my car about two minutes fast, just to keep me from dawdling on my way somewhere.

Vic Sage Aug 09 2005 02:57 PM

i keep all clocks and watches as accurately timed as possible. I hate being late for stuff. here's how i wake up: -the dogs wake my wife at about 6:30 -she lets them out, lets them back in, then tries to go back to sleep till 7 or so - she wakes me and my daughter about 7:30 - i wake my son at 8. on weekends, nobody is allowed into our room until at least 8... but at the stroke of 8, both kids run in and jump on top of us, with the dogs following. I wish they understood the concept of weekends.

Johnny Dickshot Aug 09 2005 03:04 PM

I used to set my clock ahead but have made great progress in recent years. Now it's only 1 minute fast. I'm getting better at waking early, but I think that has to do some with going to bed earlier.

Edgy DC Aug 09 2005 03:19 PM

Mets head west. Fans will miss rest. Eyes must stay open.

cooby Aug 09 2005 03:22 PM

Not me. Tonight I am planning to make a BIG pan of popcorn, pour what's left of the weekend wine, and be asleep by the third inning.

SwitchHitter Aug 09 2005 03:24 PM

My watch and all my clocks are set to match my computer, which is set to match my server, which allegedly gets it's time from the US government site in Colorado. I say allegedly because I didn't set it up, nor would I know how to. I have two alarms on the clock by my bed. One is set to 7:00am all the time because that's when I need to get my kids up for school on school days. The other one I set as needed for whatever time. When I lived alone, I did the snooze button thing (setting my alarm early and giving myself four snoozes). That drives my husband up a wall, so I don't do it now.

Johnny Dickshot Aug 09 2005 03:26 PM

Movie theatre popcorn used to be good. Now it sucks. What's up with that?

Willets Point Aug 09 2005 03:30 PM

And thus Dickshot began the all-purpose non-sequitor thread.

cooby Aug 09 2005 03:33 PM

No, I believe he was sharing my popcorn