Five days a week. Forty-six weeks a year. (“Forty-six weeks?” you ask? Fifty-two minus four weeks vacation, and two weeks worth of holidays.)

6:19: beep beep beep beep <smack>. And it isn’t a polite beep, like that of a microwave or oven, but more of an annoying “brap” type “beep”. Hit the snooze once or thrice. Yes, the stupid thing broke a couple years ago and I don’t get the joy of music in the morning (it was set on WMGK out of Philly, but only because Preston and Steve on WMMR doesn’t tune in).

Weekends are free-sleep, but I usually wind up getting up by 7:00. Not quite as early as during the week, but not the 8:00 or 9:00 that one might expect because, well, the alarm clock wasn’t set.

After crawling out of bed, you know the routine (if not, check my other post on Schedule). But the point is, what will happen to the alarm clock in the future? I predict it will still be used, but only for the occasional early appointment. Or while on vacation so as to not sleep the day away instead of sightseeing. Or to get-up for an early flight for another trip. I don’t expect to use it every day after retirement. It will be the exception, not the rule.

And yes, I use an actual alarm clock, not my phone. My phone makes too many other noises to usually keep it bedside. I know, I know – I can mute the phone. But that one night I forget to, I’ll be awoken by some stupid chime because some company sent out an e-mail at two in the morning.

But while on vacation, I actually DO use my phone as an alarm clock, depending on where we are. As I’m adept at setting them on most clocks in most hotel rooms. But when we took our cruise a couple years ago, there was no alarm clock – which is when I did use the phone daily (but it was also continuously silenced for the entire trip, so that wasn’t an issue [and for those that may be unsure, the alarm will override the silent mode on a phone {at least my phone}]). Now when I use the alarm as a reminder for a conference call or to do something, the alarm reminds us of being on our trip. And over the last two years, since April 2019, due to timing and the COVID lock down, the only trip we did take (overnight stays notwithstanding) was said cruise.

Right now it is five days on, two days off. After retirement, the inverse is what I predict: five days off, two days on. And those two will be a stretch.