i secretly thank my dad for being in the Marines

Even though my dad had been out of the Marines for a good 10-15 years by the time I was born (I think he went to Vietnam once), I sometimes think he's the reason that I'm attracted to Military men, especially the Marines, and secretly, I thank him for that. I don't know if there are in pictures of him in his uniform (our old house was fire bombed twice and a lot of things were lost, including pictures), but if I find any, I'll scan and post it. He was a good looking man in his dress uniform (from pictures of pictures I've seen).

Fleet Week is my kind of Playground! I was watching CSI: NY and a Marine was killed in Central Park during Fleet Week. That got me interested in looking up when and where some Fleet Week events were being held.

Oct 8-13, 2009 in San Francisco was the only exact date I could find. I'm penciling that week as a vacation week!

I saw that San Diego, New York (duh) and Seattle all have a Fleet Week of some kind, but no dates listed. I will check back for those.

My ultimate thing, though, is to attend the Marine Corps Birthday Ball. I love playing dress up so that would be tops. But to be apart of/witness a celebration of the branch of the US Military that has been around for 233 years (234 yrs Nov 10, 2009) is wow. I want to be apart of something that big and well know.

And then there's my brother. He's been in the Air Force for 22 years (23 yrs June/July 2009). I don't come across many people in the Ari Force though. I think California is a big Marines & Army place.