Beep. Beep.

It’s an all-too-familiar sound for a college student – an alarm clock – but some students have found unique ways to wake themselves up.

Michael Smith, freshman in liberal arts and sciences-open option, is a self-proclaimed technology enthusiast and actually starts his waking-up method when he goes to sleep at night.

“When I fall asleep, I play technology podcasts throughout the night, and then I wake up to [metal band] Killswitch Engage,” Smith said. “I’m just used to falling asleep to something in the background.”

The habit started when Smith fell asleep in the computer room at his home in Fairfield. He had been listening to podcasts earlier in the day, so he decided to try to listen to them while he slept. The transition worked out a lot better.

As for alarm clocks, there are some cool innovative alarm clocks that may make the wake-up routine easier.

RedFerret’s Jigsaw puzzle alarm clock wakes you up normally, but you have to complete a four-piece jigsaw puzzle on the top of the clock to turn it off. It should take long enough to get you awake for the upcoming day.

Swiss designer Hayat Benchenaa’s hanging alarm clock is a ball that dangles from the ceiling by a string. Every time the ball goes off, you can activate its snooze feature by hitting the ball. The catch is that, every time you hit it, it retracts closer to the ceiling.

The latest alarm clock invention is ThinkGeek’s helicopter alarm clock. When the alarm clock goes off, the top spins off like a helicopter.

The catch: To deactivate it you have to get out of bed to go find the top, put it back on and press it down.

Some students, rather than acquiring high-tech gear, try to use common technology in an innovative manner.

John’ta Jones, freshman in biochemistry, gets up close and personal with his alarm clock since he has an 8 a.m. class every day of the week.

“The alarm clock goes as close to my face as possible. It usually does a good job of waking me up,” Jones said.

Jones is such a deep sleeper that if the alarm clock were any farther away he wouldn’t hear it go off.

He adopted this routine when he started at Iowa State following some alarm clock trouble during high school.

“I went through 10 alarm clocks throughout high school – I just got to used to the sound, so I had to start putting it closer to me,” Jones said. “Otherwise, for as late as I stay up, I wouldn’t make it to any of my classes.”

Although Jones’s alarm clock isn’t far from his ears, he said it still doesn’t work sometimes.

“Sometimes my neighbors actually have to knock on my door to wake me up. My roommate is even getting used to the sound.”

Jeff Nesvik, freshman in engineering, lets the soothing sound waves of the radio wake him up – sometimes, anyway.

“My alarm clock goes off as a radio. If I feel like waking up, then I get up – but if I don’t, I just keep sleeping through the sound,” Nesvik said.

Nesvik can also adjust to the abrupt change in sound – it just takes him a little longer to do so.

Another reason for Nesvik’s choice is that isn’t too fond of the normal alarm clock sound.

“I hate the sound of the buzzers on alarm clocks – even when I walk by somebody’s room and one’s going off, it drives me nuts,” Nesvik said.