This morning on the ferry, I was chatting with Nathan and enjoying the morning sun on the deck when out of the corner of my squinty eye I see an Outdoor Drink-Thru Bottle in the strong hand of a motorcyclist. Classic, nearly perfect, Stanley guy. Kind of like the dogs in "UP" when they see a squirrel, I stop in mid sentence and blurt, "Stanley. Outdoor Drink-Thu bottle. 3 o'clock."
"Well take a picture," Nathan suggests.
"But he put it on the ground. I can't get a good shot - he hid it behind his foot."
Motorcycle Guy feels us talking about him and looks up at me; offers a thin-lipped smile in return for an end to our weirdness. Sadly we do not comply.
"Go ask him to pose with it." (My boyfriend is super helpful at mug spotting and has lots of suggestions.) "He smiled at you; he'll do it. You're cute."
"Sorta, but he won't think so when he realizes I'm some mug-crazy girl who wants to put his picture on a blog. I sound psycho. You go ask him."
"No. You."
"No YOU."
This continues while I wait with my blackberry, poised, ready for any sign of mug, pretending to check very important emails. I take this photo. You can ALMOST see the shadow of his mug next to his right foot.
"This would be soooo perfect," I whine. "Pick up your mug pick it up pick up the mug..."
"You could walk around the boat and get your photo from the other side," Nathan says.
"You could walk around the boat."
This goes on for at least ten minutes. Then something amazing happens.
Another guy, in a salmon colored polo, comes walking toward us. In his hand is an iPad and a Recycled & Recyclable Mug, color Green. A Stanley mug AND an Aladdin mug in the SAME PICTURE with Seattle in the background and the sun shinning - it is too good to be true. This is going to be the best blog post ever!
I frantically try to unscroll the zoom on my camera phone (I had been trying to zoom in on Motorcycle Guy's feet to see if I could get a photo of the mug even if it was partially obstructed) so I can get Salmon Polo Guy and Motorcycle Guy with their mugs in the same picture. Nathan, caught up in the excitement of the moment, is urging me to "hurry hurry!" because I'm "missing it!"
This is the photo I end up with. You can see Salmon Polo Guy's shirt in the upper left side of the photo. You still cannot see Motorcycle Guys mug.
I am bereft. A failure, I turn to Nathan with big, doe eyes, hoping for consolation. He has to turn away to avoid blatantly laughing in my face.
"Babe, how did you miss that?" he asks.
"It was my phone." I sound pathetic. "It has a delay; you can't just hit the button and take a picture right THAT SECOND. I wish people would just stand still for me."
"You should have just asked Motorcycle Guy to pose for you 10 minutes ago."
"I have no balls."
"Well," Nathan says thoughtfully, pausing to pat my knee, "that is why you work on Aladdin stuff now."
I punch him in the arm. And miss my only other shot at a picture of Motorcycle Guy's mug when he starts collecting his things to get off the boat.
"We're at the Children's Museum and on the way to get our "all access" hand stamp. There is a dad in front of us with a Starbucks paper cup. The smiling attendee lets him know that disposable cups are not allowed in the museum but reusable ones are. She then directs the dad to a display sign that shows the right and wrong way to transport beverages. The "NOT ALLOWED" side was his Starbucks paper cup, and the "ALLOWED" side is no less than our Aladdin Sustain Recycled & Reusable Travel Mug.
I loved that it was free advertising for Aladdin to all the mom's and dad's that go in and out of the museum, and also that our mug is probably sitting on the desk of the employee tasked with making that sign and they loved their mug enough to share it as an example of "WHAT TO DO" when taking hot beverages to go."
