The Aerie
At one point I had three Bruegger's Bagel's mugs. I kept one at home, one at work, and one in the car.
Somewhere along the way, I lost two of them. I'm not sure where or how, but of course I lost the ones at work and in the car. So I was down to one mug, which I guarded carefully.
I like the Bruegger's mugs for a number of reasons. I have a little four-cup coffeemaker at home, and a carafe emptied into it perfectly. It kept drinks really hot, for along time. The lid usually stayed on when it was dropped. When I had my Geo Metro, and before that my Ford Escort, the mug was just the right size to wedge between the front seats. I'd had these mugs for ages and the logos had long since worn off.
But today was the end of the line. As I walked to work I failed to lift my foot high enough when stepping onto the sidewalk. My toe caught the edge of the curb and I pitched forward...
...I threw my hands out to catch myself, and the bottom of the Bruegger's mug smashed into the ground.
I was grateful. It was a hard fall, and the mug absorbed a good portion of the impact. Plastic shards flew everywhere. I was stunned for a moment, and as I gathered my wits I watched coffee glugging out of the spout of the mug. Despite an impact hard enough to shatter its outer shell, the interior cup was still intact, and the cap had stayed on.
After a moment I realized that I still had coffee in the mug and tried to straighten it, but the bottom was too broken for the mug to stay upright. So holding it level I slowly and painfully climbed to my feet. My left elbow was in a lot of pain, as was my right wrist, but my right elbow had been saved from damage by the mug. I took a sip. Most of the coffee was still there.
In the office I finished my coffee and regretfully pitched the remains of the shattered mug into the trash.
I'll have to go check, but I don't think Bruegger's has been selling these mugs for a while. They have some absurd deal where you're supposed to pay $100 for a mug and then use it for the rest of the year, free. They claim you'll save all sorts of money and maybe one might, but if I wanted to save money I'd brew the coffee at home.
So no more Bruegger's mugs probably! Too bad!
[Edit]Okay, so it turns out they're still selling the Bruegger's mugs.
I was under the impression that they'd totally replaced the original mugs with the magic $99 free-refill mug. And certainly from a marketing perspective that seemed to be the case. But when I asked at the Brueggers where I get my daily fix, the woman behind the counter disappeared into the back room and returned after some considerable time with a dusty replacement mug.
Still, it's not the same. I'd had the mug that broke this morning since I worked at the University of Minnesota 'way back in 1991. I'd driven up to St. Cloud in winter with that mug wedged steaming between the front seats, down to Albert Lea in summerwith icy tea clattering around inside.
This new mug has yet to accrete a sedimentary layer of dried coffee and memories. Still, it will be interesting to see what builds up. Will I by 2121 be a grandfather yet? Will I still be alive? Will the space aliens have finally shown up and offered me a chance to move to Mrgblx-7? And if I go, will they let me bring the mug?
Time will tell!
Posted by Albatross at January 13, 2006 9:56 AM | TrackBack