Cut the crap!

Once upon a time ten years ago, I had my own lovely office with a door in a famous NYC landmark skyscraper on the 33rd floor of 550 Madison Ave, a.k.a. the Sony Music Bldg. What came with the office was a fab Sony A/V player and I had the leisure of playing music all day long with the free CDs that were supplied monthly, courtesy of Sony Music! Man do I miss New York! Well, lately in my open-air Silicon V-style cube; where even our founders sit in similar cubes; it's nothing but distraction as I have no office door to close and a bunch of sales folks in the next aisle on the phone chit chatting away. Grrrrr! I can't concentrate and neither can my colleagues. The remedy? Noise-cancellation headphones are now a must-have on our team.

So here's the Steal, Splendid and Splurge recommendation for things that work like magic when you just want to shut out the world.


STEAL: Silicone Ear Plugs - if you don't want a headphone, just get this.
I've blogged about this before so check out my post titled "Zzzzzz" in the archive on May 30, 2008.
For ten bucks, this will do a decent job.

SPLENDID: Sharper Image Noise Cancellation Headsets - ON SALE around $49.99
Poor Sharper Image is no longer sharp but bankrupt. The brand will live and products will be carried as a B2B wholesale biz, but since they're closing the retail chains, every Sharper Image store is having a BLOWOUT closing sale. I came across their noise cancellation headsets this weekend and for the price it's going, this is a fantastic product. The online store is closed so get to the store before they sell out!

SPLURGE: BOSE QuietComfort® 2 Acoustic Noise Cancelling® Headphones $299
BOSE = Quality... what more can I say? The brand speaks for itself and this compact, well designed piece is the master of all headphones. It's comfy, portable and does the job well! You just have to pay the price ;-) The re-chargable battery will last 25 hrs. so it's definitely the Rolls Royce of all and well worth the investment.

Happy noise-cutting!