Last Commute

Last Commute
Originally uploaded by 365 Things

What: Commuter mug that has lost it's seal.
Origin: The need to banish the image of hundreds of papercups and cardboard sleeves going into a landfill at my behest.
How long kept: I think I got this around Christmas of 2006, and have used it almost daily.
Why kept: It was green, so Might Be Useful. (And until recently, it was Perfectly Good. See confession.)
Destination: Sadly, trash.

Confession: I believe that any dish that can be washed is dishwasher safe, otherwise it does not live in my house. Recently, the seal on the outside of the cup was compromised -- probably due to the dishwasher -- and water leaked into the space that made this cup "thermal".

Confession part deux: I probably would have kept using this cup. Heckfire, It Was Perfectly Good! But out of the blue, the good people at my Starbucks gave me a new cup one day last week, as a gift. They were very excited, and it made my day.

Confession, cont: I was actually thinking of replacing this cup with a metal cup. Both on the dishwasher safety angle, and trying to eliminate plastics from my life. But then I'd never be able to return to this Starbucks again.

As I believe the Dalai Lama says, when you're a guest in someone's home, it's better to eat meat than to refuse it on grounds of vegetarianism and offend your hosts. It looks like I'm signing up for 4 years of plastic.

Bonus: It's a nice cup! It's green -- and I don't mean all "earthy and granola" green, but green in color.   And I don't think that this is a coincidence -- the young woman who spearheaded this gift told me that she couldn't wear red because of her religion. It turns out that she's a practitioner of Santeria.

Only in New York.