My clock conundrum

Lately, I've been spending a lot of time pondering the important things in life. Like whether I should get a new alarm clock.

To the right you see my wonderful chicken clock. It's my favorite. I've used it faithfully ever since I've been living in Maryland. From the moment I turn my computer off at night to the moment I turn my computer back on in the morning, this clock is my only source of information about the time of day. You can see by the scratches on its face that, like the Velveteen Rabbit, it has been well loved.

You can also see that it says the time is 3:24--even though this photo was taken at approximately 9:50. The problem with this cherished clock is, when its battery starts to run low, its timekeeping becomes inaccurate. This clock has made me late to work on several occasions.

Now, the simple solution would be, when I see the time on my chicken clock is wrong, not to continually reset it to show the correct time only to have to reset it again half a day later as I do, but to replace the battery. The problem is that this chicken clock currently holds the last of my AA batteries.

Now you'd think that the simple solution would be to buy more batteries. But I have been to the store and can find no solution to meet my needs. I don't want to buy any more single-use batteries. But rechargeables don't come in a package smaller than four. Nothing else that I own uses AA's (except for my camera, which has its own set of long-life rechargeables), so I'm wondering if it's really sensible to invest in a set of four, when I will only be using one of them at a time. And let's not get into the inconveniences of rotating batteries and storing them and keeping track of which ones are charged and which ones aren't.

Plus, I've also been thinking it might be nice to listen to the radio from time to time. Now you'd think, that since I actually have a clock radio that's been in storage for several years, that just might be the solution to all my clock/radio problems! But when I think about actually using the clock radio, it feels all wrong. I've gotten used to, and enjoy, sleeping through the night without knowing what time it is. Since I never have to get up before sunrise, I have a near-failproof method of knowing when wake-up time is approaching. I don't need a clock constantly projecting the hour into my eyes. Plus, in my room, pretty much the only electronic device is my computer. I'd kind of like to keep it that way. It's supposedly better for you to exist in an environment free of electromagnetic fields. Plus, in the event of a power failure, an electric alarm clock is totally useless.

So, what to do, what to do? Well, right now, I'm using my cell phone.