It all started on a very windy day earlier this month. I was about to cross the street down on first avenue, near Pikes Place market, when I was stopped in my tracks, rather abruptly on the corner, by an "End Nuclear Proliferation" rally. Quite a small traveling protest really; about a city block long, but a quarter as wide. Well I slid my highly precise, expertly attenuated Sennheiser PX100's to perch upon my neck, instead of arching across my dome as should be; in order to hear the half-hearted but well intentioned yells and oft outrageous mumbly chants of the protesters as they strolled down toward the water; with their motorcade of Seattle PD motorcycle brigade; svelte attitudes preceding them by half a block; the harleyed procession pointed more sharply than a nuke pointed at cold war Russia, cut me off. Barred me from crossing the street and avoiding the tie-died masses who struggled to maintain their worried alarmist signage in the gale-gusting on-shore wind of the otherwise beautiful spring day.
Once on the other side of the street, and after having a witting chuckle at the abstruse profundity of the event that now mulled along far below me; I slid my Super lightweight, High energy driver system for maximum performance, headphones back on to my lobes, and to my great dismay, the Foam piece was missing from the right side muff. I figured, no problem, this has happened before, the foamy muff is simply resting, nestled in the nape of my neck between my collar and skin. Well after almost completely disrobing my upper half and shaking vigorously my shirts and jacket, that soft, sweet, cushiony layer that gently caresses my folded lobe rings was naught. Presumably swept away in the tail of the nuclear missile that jettison it's way past in a whirlwind of, well, really strong wind.
I come to find out that the ONLY retail store to actually sell and stock these headphone ear foam replacements is Radio Shack. Meh! I've dealt with these last century dullards before. Don't get me wrong, Radio Shack is abuzz with neat transponders and receivers and hundreds of useful adapters and doodads aplenty, that are altogether necessary and needed at any given point in a technological lifestyle. In fact, I commend Radio Shack in part for being the harbingers of yesterdays adapters, its catalog, a myriad of thing'a'ma'bobs and wazoos from three centuries of technology, and counting. Granted that with so much to keep up with in the modern world, and only a limited amount of space on those crammed shelves, has spurned a great generalization and banality to their low ended goods; but I had to figure that with the proliferation of the iPods and headphones in this modern society; every other person on the bus rocking to the beat of a different drummer, immune, or at least shut out from the rattles of bumpy city roads; that surely a deeper selection of earphone foam would be prevalent. This speaks strongly to our throw away culture. Given that Generally it has been the interaction with Radio Shack employees with which the mind bending extrication usually arises, i was surprised that it was a manufacturing/distributing issue.
In this case, Radio Shack offers so nicely for your consumption, a pack of four pieces of foam, one larger set , for the larger around ear cups, and one set of smaller ones, approx. 42mm for the low low discount price of, $7.00 USD+tax, for what must be about .04 cents worth of foam, and it even looks like the scratchy kind of thin strainer-like Brillo muffs that cling to gas-station headphones; free with any $15 dollar fill-up on Wednesdays.
In my exhaustive search for "the Foam", I went to Toys R' Us and actually found an entire pair of headphones with the right sized muffs to boot for $6.50 (damn you Radio Shack), but alas this too seemed wasteful, unnecessary, still too expensive, and of the same low quality foam of a disposable culture.
After asking a Radio Shack employee, and being lied to about the very existence of the nearest "big blue" electronics super-giant, I thought for sure BestBuy would carry such a simple thing, but I was sent to three different departments by tan kakied men, before coming up with nary a puff.
Well as it turns out, the Internet abounds with ear sponges of all types, shapes and millimeters.
So I will wait a week, to go with a silent or sore ear, while the Internet delivers my ten pack of proper cushioned goodness for $3.80 +$3 shipping. If there is a lesson here folks, it's to hang on to that original ear foam for dear life! I refuse to let Radio Shack win this time!!!
