My alarm clock is as far away from my bed as I can get it. This is to provide maximum stumbling distance and to promote rapid waking. Otherwise, it's way too easy to reach over and turn the alarm off and never wake up. Also, my alarm clock is from 1988. It has been through countless moves, drops, spills, and power outages and still is the loudest one I have ever heard. It's great.
Yesterday, I set it for 5:28 to wake up early for a commute to Milwaukee. The next thing I know is that I am awake and notice the air conditioner is off. Thinking that it's before my time to wake up, I check the clock to see how much time I have left to sleep. It reads 5:37 AM. Huh? I check the time I set it for: 5:28. Did my alarm clock finally break? Nah. I check the time again, and sure enough, there's a little dot next to the PM. I set it for 5:28 PM. Damn, I'm stupid. But, my internal clock woke me up at the correct time. Or, did the air conditioner shut off, and the absence of noise wake me up and it just happened to be at the correct time?