[How many of my posts can I begin with "back in the day, at Dell"? Anyway...]
Back in the day, at Dell, I bought my first pair of noise-cancelling headphones, and I thought I had died and gone to nirvana. I was reorg-ed out of building 8 to building 1, just below Michael Dell's executive office. And there was something definately wrong with the HVAC noise level there. It was like the entire building thrumed and throbbed right on down to your bones. There was no escape. It wasn't a white noise, it was like suppression fire, overbearing.
And then I switched on my JVC headphones with no music. It was an instant state of meditation. The biggest feature was the sound of my own breathing. Usually you have to concentrate on the breath, and bring the focus back over and over, to the breath. But these headphones were like an instant lotus position with benefits. I still don't know how I would've made it for the 2nd year if I had not discovered and then celebrated my phones.
So sometimes it's a silence cone you are looking for. Othertimes, even with noise-cancelling on you still need a bit of music to drown out the obnoxious or intrusive noise. And music can be a wonderful tonic to late afternoon doldrums. A cup of coffee is good too.
I eventually exited Dell's building 1 for the last time in January 09, but the powered cone of silence or cone of tone continues to travel with me. (At this moment, in fact.)
@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/cone_of_tone
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