<p>D called late last night to say there was a blackout in her quad and she wa afraid that she would not wake up on time for class the next day without an alarm–and would we phone her. She wasn’t sure the alarm function on her cellphone would work.</p>
<p>Do they still make alarm clocks that you can just wind up? I know there are battery operated ones, of course.</p>
<p>I saw some at Target yesterday. They are good for traveling and I picked up one for about 10.00. Blackouts fall under the “you just can’t think of everything” catagory!</p>
<p>I have found the alarm clock on my cellphone to be very reliable. I depend on it more than any hotel wake up call or alarm clock when I’m on the road.</p>
<p>But if she doesn’t feel confident that her phone is loud enough to wake her, there are many good electric alarm clocks with battery backups (usually a 9V). With standard LCD displays, the battery should be good for 2 or 3 years. I like them becuse power isn’t always reliable where we live and it is a pain in the keester to have to reset your alarm clock a couple times a month.</p>
<p>pyewacket, it’s not only our kids who use us as alarm clocks. H frequently travels to the west coast. Sometimes, if he has a very early return flight, he’ll ask me to call him when I wake up to make sure he hasn’t overslept!</p>
<p>alarm function on digital watch.H uses it every morning,home or travelling to wake himself up. No chance of power outtage or low battery charge like the cellphone.</p>
<p>I am not the H of cathymee 
but I use my Timex Ironman watch alarm (it has 5 alarms) to wake me up daily. I have also used my cellphone when I need a louder alarm. I bought a windup alarm clock for my son, with 2 metal bells on top of the clock but he refused to use it because the TIC TOC TIC was too loud! My wife claims to know other moms who call their college kids every morning to wake them up!</p>
<p>I find the cell phone alarm VERY effective–the alarm + vibrating makes quite a racket & did wake me when hubby is away traveling & not waking me on a daily basis. :)</p>
<p>btw, with power outages, its a reminder to get a battery radio, and to charge cell phone</p>
<p>I have an inexpensive travel alarm (uses an AAA battery) which I use at home when I absolutely have to be up at a certain time. Even though I have an electric alarm clock radio with a back-up battery, I feel more comfortable having the separate travel alarm to use as my back-up alarm as we never know when we might have a power outage. </p>
<p>I don’t want to rely on H to wake me as we view time differently. I like to be early, and he likes to be on time. I like to factor in traffic and other potential delays and he likes to assume that things will run normally. So when my son is deciding on when to leave the house to get somewhere new, he checks to ascertain “mom’s suggested time to leave” and “dad’s suggested time to leave” and he averages the two.</p>