Mostly Harmless

I thought I’d share the fact that I’ve lost all track of time. I haven’t had to go to work for 3 days and have stayed up very late for 4 days; now the clock says 10:40pm but to me it feels more like 5ish.

All the more reason to make sure my artificial daylight device is engaged for Monday morning. This device consists of a small 40-watt desk lamp and a 24-hour timer — the timer turns the light on for about an hour in the morning at approximately the same time my alarm clock goes off.

The point of all this fabulous technology is to increase the odds that I will get out of bed sometime before 9am, preferably 8am. It works pretty well.

You can buy a lamp with a built-in timer and dimer that simulates dawn and dusk for about $200. I felt that my free solution (since I already had the timer and lamp) was preferable, even though it can be a bit harsh when the light clicks on in the morning.

The expensive lamp with all the dimming finery can be faked with about $80 worth of X-10 equipment if you are of a mind to do that.