THE GREATEST APP RECOMMENDATION OF ALL TIME: Wakie

Brace yourselves for the greatest app recommendation that you may ever receive:

Wakie, the world's first social alarm clock. 

The new app, available on iPhone and Android, replaces the generic alarm clock with a friendly wake-up call from a stranger somewhere around the globe.

Simply sign up, submit your phone number and register as either a “Sleepy” or a “Wakie” – depending on whether you want to do the waking or be woken up. Then set an alarm for the time you want to get out of bed, and within five minutes either side of the time requested, a stranger – who may be on the other side of the world  – will call with a morning message.

Since I began using this app last month, I have been awakened by a child in Germany, a woman in Essex, England, an Australian farmer, an Irish mother, and others in the US and abroad. Sometimes it's a five second call and sometimes it's a five minute conversation.

Either way, it's amazing. 

Admittedly, it's a little challenging to use if you have a spouse in bed who is intent on sleeping past 4:30 AM. When the Wakie alarm fires off, I must launch myself from the bed and flee to the bathroom in order to conduct my conversation, so I don't use it everyday. 

But those morning that I do are joyous.

Sometimes it's a person reading an early morning greeting.

Other times it's a person intent on knowing where I live and what I do for a living. 

The other day, a man from the United States ask, "So? You awake?" When I told him I was, he said, "Then get moving! You'll be dead before you know it!"

That man understood my soul.

I've had conversations with people in England, Italy, Germany, Australia, and all over the United States. It's been amazing. 

A couple weeks ago I ended up in a conversation with a woman in Oregon who learned that I am an author and pre-ordered my upcoming novel (which you should all do, too).

Forget your alarm clock. Mindless beeps and buzzes are for losers. Give Wakie a try. Make your first interaction of the day a mysterious, interesting, unexpected, and perhaps even profitable one.