Amber & No Alarms and No Surprises

I am still feeling very positively about 2011, despite some threats to burst my optimistic bubble.  The largest threatening pin popper was a disastrous rug thing that happened to a friend involving a dog with digestive problems.  Something like that can really set a tone, you know, even if it doesn't happen to you directly?  But, it can also result in the aquisition of new appliances, which is a shiny silver lining if ever there was one.

But, I'm still a bit shaken that my friends at Apple also have attempted to break my new year stride by failing to wake me up at the desired time for three days running.  (You will recall my regular alarm clock is ILL.)  Now, the first day, I thought I had managed to sleep through my only (accidentally) purchased ring tone.  It is sort of soothing, and I have been known to sleep through even greater challenges.  And the second day, I thought my phone was broken.  But last night, I discovered this article in the New York Times which pointed the finger of blame on some kind of very belated Y2K issue.  And Nick sent this confirmation that the phone should have worked today.

Well, it didn't.

But unlike the folks who wrote in to the Times to complain about missing flights, jobs, morning talk shows, etc., I had set a back up in the form of...

(Photo by Jimmy)

Woody.

Not surprisingly, that one worked like a charm.  Very reliable, that guy.