It turns out I've been a member of the Americal Chemical Society for three years now. How do I know?
They sent me a new mug.
While I enjoy my weekly issue of Chemical & Engineering News -- which, I imagine, most ACS members see as the most tangible benefit of their membership -- I must confess that I really love the mugs.
Last year, for my second anniversary of membership, they sent me a mug with helium (element 2) on it. This year, the third anniversary, it's lithium (element 3). On the first anniversary, there wasn't a hydrogen mug, but rather a pop-up card featuring hydrogen.
So, the thoughts in my mind as I'm opening the package from the ACS that contains the new mug:
- Damn! I totally didn't need to wash those three dirty mugs this morning, since now I have a clean mug delivered to me.
- Hmm. To get a full set of these mugs, I'm going to have to live (and pay dues to the ACS) a very long time.
- Of course, they'll need to hammer out an official name for element 118 before they can produce that mug.
- Given my love of the mugs, I should have joined the ACS years ago.
Kudos to the ACS membership people for knowing just how to reach me.
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Does the composition of the ceramic change with the mug? If this year's mug makes you mellow, think twice about drinking from next year's.
When paying dues, I sometimes feel like I'm getting mugged by professional organizations myself...
Getting mugged is a bit more tolerable if you're also getting a mug!
The Li mug has made no noticable difference in my mood (which seems more dependent on what I drink out of that mug). As well, the He mug didn't give me a higher voice. Both, however, make my shelf of tea and mugs look substantially nerdier than it would otherwise.
I have been a member of ACS for about 6 years now and I never received a mug. My coworkers though, who joined about 3 years a go always get a mug for their anniversaries. I feel really really jealous!
Same here. Never received anything free from the ACS. I recently got a card that says congrats on your 15th yr and I was thinking, "a card???". They should have just saved the paper and postage fee bec the whole thing went straight to the trash can.