body clock update

I take back anything questionable I ever said about the new alarm clock. We figured out its wily ways this morning and the thing is pure genius. It eases you into wakefulness using increasing light over a period of a half hour, then a few minutes before the targeted wakeup time, it fades out to black again. Then, right on the nose, it goes fully bright, snapping you out of bed like a spring twig. While still tired from not enough sleep, we both found it easy to get out of bed and get going, and remembered lots of dreams as well. (I had one about a virtual world where all of the Web was represented in a city grid. My friend Fellas had been "living" there for over a year and making a fortune in the virtual real estate market.)

Meanwhile, at 8:40 a.m., it's pitch black outside.