Dawn had lunch Wednesday with Pete, our company’s insurance broker, at a midtown restaurant frequented by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. She’d hoped to get a photo of him and, sure enough, there was a “sighting” just as Pete had all but promised.

Now, it probably goes without saying that Arnold doesn’t enter through the restaurant’s front door. No, the restaurant owners built a special room at the rear of the restaurant for the Governor’s private use and he enters through the rear entrance. But not before his security detail — the guys with the telltale earphones and whispering into their sleeves — walked the room checking, I suppose, for suspicious and unsavory diners.

But try as she did, Dawn was unprepared for Arnold’s brisk post-lunch exit and her big photo op. First, she’d forgotten her camera. But, quick thinker that she is, she grabbed her iPhone, fired it up, and got a shot of Arnold as he was leaving the restaurant. He walked right by her!

Unfortunately, by the time she got the iPhone cranked up, he was nearly out the door. Determined to get a better photo, she ran outside and grabbed this shot of Arnold’s SUV… speeding away.

She, of course, didn’t want me to post the photos. I, of course, couldn’t resist. But she’s been a good sport about all the teasing - “Are you sure that’s Arnold?” - I’ve heaped upon her. “Next time,” I assured her.

Who knew being an underpaid (but much loved and appreciated) paparazzi would be so difficult?