My Clock Radio

I bought this Sony clock radio from (I think) a Best Buy back in college and it has always performed reliably when I'm not unconsciously fiddling with the knobs. I found that I was oversleeping because it was far too easy to turn the alarm off in the morning without actually waking up and thinking about doing so, so to avoid this I took two plastic caps off of the heating vibrator device (the grey non-phone-shaped thing in the background) and taped them to the on/off buttons and the volume dial.

Periodically, I have to re-tape the plastic caps (which I call molly-guards) so they stay put. For the past several months, this job has fallen to Erica, who Sleeps on the Side With the Alarm Clock. It's an important job. I trust her to do it. She doesn't trust me and she's right to do so, because by the time I get to bed, I'm usually far too exhausted to even think about messing with a homebrew contraption of my own design.

I remember a feeling of maturity when I bought this alarm clock. I was becoming an adult. I had to have been, because kids don't buy alarm clocks unless they bear the image of a cartoon character. I was feeling as grown-up as the day I bought my own stapler.