Telling time on the road...

Did you know there must be about 823,479 makes of alarm clock in the world? I think there must be because as I've traveled around the world from hotel to hotel I think I've been a victim of all of 'em.

Take the place I'm in now. It has a clock radio that has about a dozen buttons on the face of it, none of which seem to control the clock in any way. Featuring two alarms, I somehow was able to set both of them to go off repeatedly throughout the night with no clear way to either stop them or turn them off, the first night scaring me so badly I nearly bolted from the room.

Doing an online search on how to manage this thing I discovered something chilling: this clock radio has a support page. Yes, a support page. Lemme just make a common sense observation and say that any clock radio that has that much online angst has to be a bad choice for a home let alone a hotel.

My vote for best clock radio had to be the one I had at a Hyatt earlier this year. Not only did it have an iPod dock but the controls were actually easy to use. I wanted to take the durn thing with me, I was so impressed with it (don't worry, I left it there).

Sure, I can hear some of you wondering why I don't just use a wake-up call from the hotel.

And to you I say, "Wimps!"

- Farmer Ted