Ryanware

Several years ago (3? 4?) I wrote a tiny little Windows application that plays an MP3 file at a specified time of day. That’s all it does. Nothing fancy. You have to select an MP3 file, type the time of day precisely (eg. “6:00 AM”), and check a little checkbox. I’ve opened up to 50 instances of the little app at a time and set them all manually to play some MP3 file at different times to ensure I’ll wake up. It works.

There are many applications out there that do alarms much better than this little thing, but I recently got an email requesting it so I thought I’d share. Heck, notwithstanding all the fancy alarm apps out there I still use this excruciatingly simple thing. The simplest solution isn’t always the best solution, but is often the most used.

Download the self-extracting exe file - 288 KB

Kirk: “Mr. Scott, do you always multiply your repair estimates by a factor of four?”
Scott: “Of course sir. How else to maintain my reputation as a miracle worker?”

I realized today that saving the world doesn’t mean doing some hugely important act worthy of fame or some huge prize. It’s doing some little thing for somebody that saves their world, even if it’s just for a moment or two.