Tiny Wonders
I have ridden motorcycles for over three years now. It was only a couple months ago that I was introduced to ear plugs. A friend asked if I had some ear plugs as I was leaving his house and I (somewhat sheepishly) said “No.” I then admitted that had never used them while riding. Without having given it much real consideration, I thought that my (high-quality) Arai full-face helmet was enough (or as good as it gets . . . ).
I put in the simple foam earplugs he offered (I remembered them from some target shooting I did as a kid) and headed north on my motor-bike. Oh. My. Goodness. What a difference! It was so much quieter, and so much more pleasant.
Let me tell you the point of this post. I really enjoy having my morning coffee at Starbucks. I don’t get the fancy, expensive drinks, just good fashioned drip coffee. And I really like their coffee. Anyway, the one thing I don’t like about Starbucks is that the house music is usually a little loud for me. Often-times I will ask them to turn it down, but in my (current) favorite Starbucks, the volume control is really touchy and they can’t really turn it down to my preferred level.
So, what to do? Well, I have been toughing-it-out and staying as long as I could stand. But then I thought: what if I tried some ear plugs? I have a bunch that I bought from Amazon . . . why not give ’em a try?
To make a short story not so long, I did (just a few minutes ago . . . ), and what a difference! I can still hear the music, but it is so much quieter. I can still hear conversations, but they are muted (and I could still hear someone speaking to me if need be).
Problem of too-loud-music at Starbucks: solved.