Hey, that rhymes, doesn’t it? …Al Gore at the Apple Store
Of all the days to run out of the house dressed in ratty Lululemons — constructed from the WORST fabric in the entire world. They’re a powerful magnet for all the lint and dust in Southern California and seem to attract more grime than my vacuum.
I stopped wearing them as workout garments ‘cos they’re not very comfortable and they have a nasty X-rated propensity to outline my reproductive parts for everyone at the gym. NOT a flattering look. At least they weren’t the see-though kind. Click here to read my post about THAT.
Now that you know more TMI that you probably needed to — picture me in those Lululemons and an oversized “I Hiked Angel’s Landing at Zion National Park” t-shirt with a black hoodie wrapped around my waist. Oh, and my hair was tied up in a scrunchie — yes, you heard me. A SCRUNCHIE. Shhh. Don’t. Don’t say anything. I’ve heard it all before, “Ring, ring…1983 is calling.” Heard it a zillion times. In my defense, I have longish, very curly hair and a scrunchie is the best method to tie up my hair, OK?
I had a 1:00 p.m. appointment at the Genius Bar of my local Apple Store in La Costa at the Forum because my MacAir was on life support with the dreaded black screen of death — basically flatlining — and it needed a major resuscitation. And in case you’re wondering (and marveling) at my handiwork, I most certainly lovingly applied each and every sparkle to the darling apple with my own little fingers.
Keep reading; this story really is going somewhere, albeit in a meandering kind of way. Stick with me, OK?
Did I mention that I didn’t have on any makeup? I was in a rush to get there because how can you live without a computer — a rhetorical question, ‘cos of course it’s impossible.
I checked in with one of the many blue-shirted Apple employees and was directed to take a seat at the Genius Bar to await my personal technician. There were several available stools and I chose the second one from the end. THIS WILL BE VERY IMPORTANT SOON.
I settled in and took my Mac out of its totes adorbs Hello Kitty case (I hear you snickering and I don’t care. I’m proudly 13 going on 60).
My tech, Clinton, came out for a moment to discuss my issues — well, not MY issues exactly, I mean, my MacAir haha — and whisked my laptop off to the mysterious Back Room with the invisible silver doors.
Leaning against the sharp-edged corner of the Genius Bar with the ubiquitous badge around her neck defining her status as “Manager”, I overheard her whisper to another employee, “I’m saving this seat”.
She placed her iPad down on the round stool to emphasize her statement.
“Saving it for whom?” I thought to myself. Is this like junior high where we saved seats for our BFFs? Was that the best seat? Should I have demanded to sit there? Is there anyone more important than Princess Rosebud? All these questions were swirling around in my brain.
A couple of other employees gathered around the manager and exuded nervous anticipation. “He’ll be here soon”.
My radar began to pick up on the buzz. Hmm. Who were they saving a seat for? A celebrity? An Apple bigwig? A VERY IMPORTANT PERSON?
I sniffed the air. I smelled a story. One of my former incarnations was as an investigative reporter wannabe and my curiosity was aroused.
Something was going on.
A man and a woman were ceremoniously escorted to THE SAVED SEAT.
The man sat down next to me.
His stool was so close to my stool that I could feel body heat emanating from his softly worn jeans-clad thigh.
The woman stood next to him at the end of the Genius Bar. They were both casually dressed, nothing too remarkable about jewelry — no huge diamonds or Rolex watches — just a couple of regular people.
They both shook hands with the manager. She thanked them for coming into the store. WTF was THAT all about? This was certainly different than my experience. Not that I wasn’t treated courteously, but this was a bit overly polite and way more attentive.
Now there were three employees plus the hovering manager. The woman took her iPhone out of her handbag and handed it to the manager. I noted (with my laser focused investigative powers) that her phone was encased in a J.Crew leopard print cell phone cover. Nice, but not Chanel or anything. I could see that because another employee appeared from the mysterious back room and snapped off the case, enabling me to sneak a peek of “J.Crew” printed on the inside.
Too much detail? I’m building up to the good part. Don’t leave me now!
The man was doing a lot of talking and I was only half paying attention to WHAT he was saying because I was trying to place the voice. It was a very distinctive voice, something that I KNOW I’ve heard before — a bit of an elegant and classy Southern kind of drawl, a deeply resonant sound that I found to be VERY SEXY.
For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out who it was. I ran through all the names and faces of celebrities in my head – nope, nope, nope.
At this point, I was openly staring at him. He has beautiful eyes. I think they were blue, but I’m not sure even though, I swear, I was inches away. Poor guy, he prolly thought he had a stalker next to him. He could prolly smell my bad breath as I thought to myself, did I even brush my teeth that day? and surreptitiously opened my handbag and slipped a cinnamon Altoids between my lips.
I totally blanked (senior moment, perhaps?) and decided it must be someone who worked at Apple, maybe someone from San Francisco or something. Whatev. No biggie. I looked around. No one else seemed to be staring in our direction, no one was taking pics or coming up for an autograph.
Except for the voice. I KNEW that voice. Was it driving me crazy? You bet it was. I told you how close we were. I could have reached out and caressed his unshaven cheek and stroked his dark blonde/silvery hair. Nice hair.
Do you wonder who it was? Can you guess?
Finally, my tech came back with the good news/bad news that my laptop needed to be purged and the OS reinstalled and all would be better, but it would take a few days. Best news of all, the repair was free.
Mostly though, I wasn’t paying attention to anything he said ‘cos I was going nuts trying to figure out who was practically sitting in my lap, but I gathered up my stuff and prepared to walk away, still puzzled.
I hopped off the stool, turned, and walked a few steps away. I really did.
But the story doesn’t end there.
Another Apple employee walked up to me, laughing. She said I should see the look on my face. Huh? Oh, I guess I looked perplexed.
She said, “Don’t you know who that is?”
I replied, “I know the voice, but my brain won’t come up with the name to match it.”
She whispered, “Al Gore.”
Damn. OF COURSE. Stupid me.
AL GORE. Vice President and almost President but for a few hanging chads; Nobel Prize winner, author, and filmmaker.
What would you have done? Kept walking out the door? Missed an opportunity?
Not THIS girl. No way.
I turned and walked back to the stool where AL GORE and his girlfriend were still chatting with the manager.
I interrupted their conversation as I stuck out my hand to shake his, and told him I couldn’t believe I was sitting there all that time and I hadn’t said anything and it must have been because I didn’t think I was seeing correctly and that he was who he was (brilliant conversationalist, right?) because I just had laser surgery to repair a torn retina and he was like (I said “like” a LOT). Don’t you like like how speedily I turned the conversation to my favorite subject, ALL ABOUT ME?)
His GF was really nice and asked me all sorts of questions about the surgery and seemed to know quite a bit about it, and how painful it was. Finally, we talked about my broken computer, and Al (see how I call him Al now that we’re besties?) asked me if I was being treated right at the Apple Store and duh of course I said yes, but secretly I was thinking to myself, “not half as good as you were treated”, and there wasn’t much else to say after that, so we shook hands again. My parting words were something stupid like, “I hope you’re enjoying my little town of Carlsbad”.
So lame.
And so lame that I didn’t snap an Al Gore-Princess Rosebud selfie, but I thought it wasn’t appropriate — so alas, no photo.
But I swear it’s true.
He’s lost a lot of weight and I think that’s why I had a hard time identifying his voice.
Wow. Now I’m thinking if I had actually touched him, the Secret Service would have had me down on the floor and I’d be writing this from a federal prison OR you’d never hear from me again.
Did I ask him about climate change? Nope. Did I thank him for inventing the internet? Nope. Did I mention that my Yale professor son would really like a tenure-track position at Stanford and could he help make that happen? Nope. Did I mention that I voted for him (which I had)? Nope. I talked about ME. ME. ME. ME.
Me in my ratty camel-toed Lululemons with zero makeup and my hair in a curly scrunchie ponytail. Good one, Princess. Good one.
Whatever anyone might think of his politics and/or personal life, I can verify that he is VERY SEXY up close and that’s really all I cared about at that moment. And he smells good, too! Yum.
His girlfriend is Liz Keadle and in an interesting it’s-a-small-world-six-degrees kind of thing, Liz Keadle was formerly married to Lyle Turner, founder of Invitrogen, a huge biotech company in Carlsbad, famous for their vertical integration. My son used to intern at Invitrogen (when he went to UCSD and initially majored in Molecular Biology) and met Lyle Turner on several occasions.
Crazy random connection right?
P.S. I learned my lesson. When I went back to pick up my now functioning MacAir, I wore white skinny jeans and a tunic top with just a hint of cleavage and four-inch wedges. Makeup perfect, hair blown straight. Didn’t see anyone at all. I was in and out of the Apple Store in less than five minutes. A total waste of time.
*Sighs*
Let me introduce my new best friends, Liz Keadle and Al Gore.
#AppleStore #AlGore #Famouspeople
seem to have this crush for Al Gore !
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I think it’s more of being starry-eyed at the power. He was almost our President and powerful men are very sexy! (like Captains LOL)
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I love famous run-ins! And it ALWAYS happens when you’re not feeling like you look your best. Although Rosebud, we must talk about this scrunchie in public issue. Perhaps we can try wearing it only around the confines of your house walls?!
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HAHAHAHA not you too?? I’ve had girlfriends actually throw my scrunchies away when we’re in public. I hear what you’re saying but they are the best thing ever to not leave a mark in my hair. But I promise not to wear them when we are together and out drinking, OK?
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YES! As long as you don’t wear while we’re out drinking I’ll be fine. But I’m also going to be on the hunt for something more chic for my Chanel carrying Princess!
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I would LOVE to not wear those things, so I’ll be excited to hear what you found so I can try it.
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I wouldn’t recognize a famous person if they sat down next to me either. I worked on Martha’s Vineyard one summer when I was just out of college and there were always famous people out and about. Did I see notice ANY of them? Not unless someone else pointed them out to me! Can you say oblivious?! What a fun experience though! Very cool that you saw Al Gore!
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Oh no! I think I lost my comment here! I am completely oblivious to famous people. I wouldn’t notice if one sat down next to me either. I worked on Martha’s Vineyard one summer when I was just out of college and there were famous people around fairly often. Did I notice anyone? Not unless they were pointed out to me! Pathetic, I know. How cool that you met and talked to Al Gore though?!
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Hi, I got your comment, no worries, and thank you! It’s funny how different they look when they don’t have 5 pounds of makeup on and they’re close up. Martha’s Vineyard sounds awesome, we’ve been to Nantucket and Cape Cod but didn’t make it to MV.
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I never meet anyone famous. Ever. Perhaps I need to step up my game. Any suggestions? Visit to the Apple store? Live somewhere other than the armpit of Iowa? Well,,,,,you know we do get all the politicians here but that is not my cup of tea, really. Even if Mr. Gore was VP he has other claims to fame. The internet for one. Congrats on the brush with celebrity and good for you for seizing the day in your lovely Lululemons —I am sure you made quite a splash.
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Yes, I’m sure they’re still talking about that crazy-haired crazy person that scared the crap out of them at Apple. Living in SoCal, we get our fair share of celebs, but I’m not usually excited by them when they act all entitled and everything. Al and his gf were so casual and nice, nicer than you’d think they would be. That’s what I admired about them, plus the whole internet thing lol
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Hey— the hubby says Mr. Gore is on the Apple board…. Might explain!
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Wow, no wonder he asked me how I was being treated and were they taking good care of me and probably why my repair was free-I wondered about that since it’s not under warranty anymore. Thank your hub for this great info!
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He is Mr Factoid. 🙂
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I love facts!
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This is a way better experience than when John Mayer glared at me on the street….
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Oh, I’d love to hear more but I’m not surprised, JM seems like a big baby.
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I had a good meeting in Soho and I was on the street telling my boss about it over the phone. I was smiling and he was walking towards me and just glared at me! Excuse me for being in a good mood!
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Oh, he’s an idiot, this just confirms what I always thought about him. Smiling at you wouldn’t have cost him anything! Big baby.
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No kidding!
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Oh my friend. I’m just going to say hello and not comment on your taste in this particular man.
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In my defense, I DID post a disclaimer…”Whatever anyone might think of his politics and/or personal life, I can verify that he is VERY SEXY up close and that’s really all I cared about at that moment. ”
Powerful men tend to have aphrodisiac-properties or something, that’s what I was trying to convey…LOL. uh, guess you’re not a fan?
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Haaaa. Politics aside. I do not find him attractive. Nope no way
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That’s the thing. I never would have thought so either, but with the weight loss, it’s really made a difference, and trust me, he’s not my type either!
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