Does your alarm have a volume option? It can really take the bite out of the beep. I sometimes use the radio option, but be careful it not always wakes you up it just gives your dreams a corny mexican song soundtrack.

something funny about my alarm clock is it is a little old and tired, so sometimes you can't turn it off by hitting it once, there have been times where I thought it was a false awakening so many times this past week, when really it was faulty electronics to blame.