MISSION: Fuel for the Body, Fuel for the Brain

Affiliated Agent M is at it again, folks. Three missions in one day! *high five*

Date: Sunday, 27 June 2010

Time: Afternoon.

Locations: Aldo Coffee in Mt. Lebanon, Tazza D'oro in Highland Park, and Coffee Tree Roasters in Shadyside.

Gifts: Quotable cards and a Barnes and Noble gift card

Affiliated Agent M tells us of his adventures:

If I had something of a food weakness, it'd be coffee. Good coffee, not the stuff that drips and stands in a pot for hours and hours on end, but a 'grind the beans, press the grounds, and serve it to you all made to order' espresso drink.

Then it's not really a surprise that the majority of my previous missions involve coffee in some way, shape or form. The mission on Sunday continued this fine tradition, but with an added bonus.

It may be a stereotype, but give me a good book to go along with a fine drink, and hours could go by before I look up from the page. There is something about saying, "I have so much to do, watch, and see, that I am going to deliberately set a few hours aside to just sit down, sip a drink, and read. Nothing more, nothing less."

And it was this slice of mental clarity I was hoping to spread with this mission. Maybe you're out to meet friends at a coffee house. Maybe you're out to get away from the busyness of your surroundings at home. Maybe you just kipped in to escape the frequent roaming thunderstorms of the greater Pittsburgh area. What ever the reason, you're out, sitting down, and boom, there's a card from an affiliated agent, commanding you to open it up, that the goodies within are for no other being in the universe but you. There's a puzzled look on your face, like, can this be happening to me? Is this a joke? Should I open this strange card; obey this written directive?

Let's open this card together, to share the experience, shall we?

Inside you pull out one of the Quotable cards that Secret Agent L and her agents often use. It's heavier than most cards, higher quality. The quote fires off a small spark of inspiration deep within side you; the fire burns to embers quickly, but inspiration and hope work better as slow coals, not a violent Bruckheimian explosion.

You open the card, and a tag falls out. You grab for it, while reading the silly note this stranger left in the card. A chuckle may escape your lips, it may not.

You look around trying to believe this is true, this is happening and not the set up for some vicious prank. Your friends pull the card from your hands, eager to read the cryptic message, when your attention turns back to the envelope.

It is heavy. Too heavy...

Inside there is something else, forgotten in the initial excitement until now. You reach in, a golden ticket moment if any. Your reward, if you so choose, may grant you access to a chocolate factory, but that is only one of an infinite set of options: a gift card to Barnes and Noble. The only question that remains is if you can choose just one wondrous thing to read.

Simulation over.

It was my intent that this scene, or something similar to it, would play out at three different locations across Pittsburgh. These places happened to match up to some of my favorite coffee shops in the city.

The first was Aldo's Coffee in Mt. Lebanon. Inside I took the table closest to Aldo's own library, as seemed fitting for the mission. The crowd there was steady, and it took some time to find the right moment to leave my card behind and make my exit.

Not that I minded, it simply meant I could get through a few more pages.


The next was Tazza D'oro in Highland Park. If Aldo had a steady flux of people, Tazza D'oro had what amounted to a full house. One of the few tables left was hidden by a small Christmas Tree and Virgin Mary statue.

It really seemed fitting to have some higher power watching over this little gift of mine, so I took it for the sign it was.


The last was the Coffee Tree Roasters in Shadyside. I personally love how they'll open an entire wall during good weather so the boundary between inside and outside is lessened, and given the length of the shop it can generate a nice, constant breeze.

Sadly, the photos of this last gift in the wild did not take, but one of the small tables near the back had a surprise waiting for the next person to sit there.


A good day for coffee, a great day for reading, and it's my hope that three Pittsburghers choose a book they've been thinking about for a while and now have no excuse left; that the instant smile generated on a hot Sunday afternoon is constantly fed every time they flip through the pages and continue the story.

MISSION: Mega Mission Follow-Up

Last week, Secret Agent L posted about an email she received from one of her trusty Affiliated Agents regarding an upcoming mission of Significant Size and put a call out for all those interested in participating in this Flash Mob of Kindness. Well, she recently received another email from that same Affiliated Agent in which more details about said mission were revealed. Here are the details from Affiliated Agent M's latest email:

"From the looks of it, SAL, it sounds like there's a lot of interest. If people want to get a hold of me at affiliatedAgentM@gmail.com or DM me on Twitter, I can start sharing the details for this mission.

"If people are wondering, it will take place somewhere in downtown Pittsburgh. If people are still interested in helping out and being a part of something awesome but don't think they'd be able to be "dahntahn" for what ever reason, they can still get a hold of me.

"The plan is for this mission to cheer up some people in downtown Pittsburgh, but the doesn't mean there can't be small armies of people all over the place doing synchronized acts of kindness...anyone interested regardless of location can e-mail me, and I'll swing through the comments of the first post and poke some of the people there as well.

"Thanks for helping out with this, SAL. It's gonna be awesome!"

Yes, yes it is, Affiliated Agent M. Secret Agent L can hardly wait.

MISSION: Frick Park Shenanigans

I'll tell ya what: this has been a very busy weekend of kindness! My Affiliated Agents, along with myself, have done a bunch of missions! But this one from Affiliated Agent M really stands out, so I thought I'd post it first:

Date: Saturday, 3 April 2010

Location: Frick Park, Pittsburgh

Time: Not Specified

Affiliated Agent M describes his mission:

Smiles. That's what this is all about. I got to see a recipient of today's mission discover their tiny trove of terrific, timely treasure, and mere words cannot convey the joy streaming from them.

But allow me to try.


I had purchased bubbles on sale some time ago, thinking they'd be perfect for a mission in the future. Seeing how beautiful the weather was for early spring, and figuring not only would people be out and about because of the 80 degree weather (27 Celsius for Secret Agent L's metric friends) but because of the Easter weekend, with family in town and what not, Saturday seemed a perfect day for a mission in the park.

Frick Park, in particular.

The bubbles became part of a 'Spring Park Enjoyment Kit', which contained a bottle of bubbles (for kids of all ages), a pen and notebook, and a deck of cards. And inside each kit was a card that read:

A spring day full of cheer and sun
A random gift to make you smile
The goodies held within this bag
Will take your day the extra mile

A deck of cards for games with friends
Some bubbles for kids both young and old
A pen and notebook to jot your thoughts
Hope these gifts turned your day to gold

-Affiliated Agent M

Sure, it was a bit windy today for cards outside on one of the many picnic tables and what not in the park, but it was a flip of the coin.

Bags hidden safely away in my backpack, I made my way to the park. The idea was to walk along a trail, dropping the bags when a given location spoke to me. They were, in order:

-On a bench over looking the creek, or stream--whatever you want to call it:


-Among a bed of flowers starting to poke up:

-On a sign for the Firelane Trail:


-Perched on a tree near one of the higher points of the park:

After placing the last one, I continued on my way down the trail, but I was starting to get a bit exhausted and dehydrated. Not knowing how much longer the trail went before it looped around, I decided simply to turn around.

It didn't dawn on me that I'd passing the scene of my locations until right when I came upon the bag I had perched in the tree. Except that it was no longer in the tree, it was on the ground, and a young couple were bent over an open blue card, reading it.

Whoa.

Affiliated Agent M did his best to act nonchalant as he walked by, but let me tell you, it was hard. I so wanted to exclaim, "I know, is that cool? I do it all the time! I hope you enjoy it!" but I just walked by, giving the couple the non-committal nod I'd given others passing by on the trail.

But over hearing just a few things, "This is so neat" and "Wow", and seeing the shocked smile as they read the card before I could look away and act natural...it had to be the Platonic ideal of merriment.

Feeling happy that 25% of the mission was a success, so that 100% of the mission was a success, I came around the sign where I had hung the third package, just as a bunch of joggers were turning up the path. Right as I passed it, I saw one of the joggers break from the pack, reach down, and examine the bright red bag. I dared not look back as I moved on.

Package 2 was as yet undisturbed as I passed it. Well, you can't win all of them.

The path that would have taken me back past the bench with package 1 and the origin parking plot meanders parallel to a creek, as mentioned above. Taking in the sight of a lovely spring afternoon I noticed a couple sitting on one of the benches with a certain red bag. A bench that was not where package 1 had been left. (That bench had a small family sitting on it, with dad and a toddler playing in said creek. There was no visual on the package when I went past.)

All in all, a really good mission.

Yes, Affiliated Agent M. Yes it was.