Wearing your biography?

A few random thoughts today.

First, I'm very proud of my husband for his hard work on the "stuff" for work over this past weekend. He's the man.

Next, I really enjoyed the formal event we went to on Saturday, even if I was the ONLY Marine's wife there. This was an all-branches event (my first of its kind) so the Marines were the minority, anyway. But I had the added pressure of knowing that I was our only spouse representation so I really had to behave myself! At any rate, over the course of the evening I engaged in some interesting conversations about the various uniforms for each branch of service. I love this type of information. I find it interesting that there isn't more.... well... uniformity. Across the branches, that is. For their uniforms. They are all so different. And some similar-looking items mean completely different things. I haven't done research on this yet because today's to-do list is long and I don't want to get distracted. But, I gathered from one of the soldiers present that the horizontal lines on the left sleeve of one of their uniforms are indicative of the number of one's deployments. Whereas the ones on the right are for years of service (1 "hash mark" for each 4 years, just like the Marines have on both sides). Combining that with the various ribbons, metals, insignia and even (in some cases) lapel colors, an informed person could interpret a soldier's entire military resume' just by looking at his uniform. That's nifty. It's also a lot more specific than in the case of Marines. I didn't get to examine or learn more about the Air Force uniforms, unfortunately. And the Navy's, as I understand them to date, are more general in terms of markings (like the Marines). That's good considering that the Navy has already complicated things quite enough with all of their different titles. For enlisted ranks, they don't just use the rank as their title (like Marines do). Nope. They all have different titles depending on their MOSs. I worked in a Navy facility for 3 years and I still never got it all worked out.

While the soldiers were walking around in their biographies, I wondered if the same held true for some of their dates. I'm going to have to go old school here for a minute, ladies, and offer some suggestions.

-Try to wear formal attire to formal events. Ask yourself "Is it conceivable that I could wear Keds with this?" If so, then don't wear it to a formal function.

-Try NOT to be "that guy's" wife/girlfriend. You know the one. Her dress is 4 sizes too small or it's see-through. If she were half as cute as she thought she was, she'd be America's Next Top Model.

-Go ahead and look hot! It's OK if the others glare at you-- that's a COMPLIMENT. Just make sure you're doing it tastefully. Your guy will appreciate it.

-Don't wear horribly uncomfortable dresses or shoes-- it's just not worth it at the end because you'll spend valuable time adjusting or going to the ladies' to check yourself over. You'll most likely miss the most fun of the evening-- that one silly thing or notable conversation. Then you'll have to live with the shame.

I know I'm getting old. But I was tastefully dressed and yet still got a few choice dirty looks from the other ladies so that tells me that mama hasn't completely lost her game yet. Sweet!

Why do we do that to each other, anyway?! It's so animal kingdom.

Meanwhile, I have finally mananged to get some stuff in the Etsy store (yay!) and I have a new addition to Semper Troops. I think I'm going to order the postcards.

Foiled!

So, I was none too happy yesterday when, for the first time ever, Mapquest let me down. One of the previously mentioned work functions of my husband's that I had to attend was a retirement ceremony for a Senior Chief that my old man works with. I had to drive out seperately as I didn't want to wait an extra hour while the husband was doing the pre-ceremonial work. It was a relatively good distance from where we live and I allowed plenty of time to get there. I had my trusty Mapquest directions prepared.

Mind you, I pride myself on being an EXCELLENT navigator. I have a good sense of direction, I can find things easily, I know that (aside from the Jersey turnpike and a few other ill-planned highways) exit numbers correspond with mileage. Odd numbered highways generally run north/south while even numbered ones run east/west. I've got game when it comes to navigation.

So there I am-- 15 minutes prior to the start of the ceremony. Knowing I must be within mere feet of the destination. All the roads have corresponded with my directions. I have driven the appropriate distance. And yet.... there is nothing in the spot where the building should be. It couldn't be Mapquest-- I must have done something wrong?! And, yet, I hadn't. To make a long story less-long: I eventually found the place and was able to partake in the after-ceremony festivities but I did NOT get to see the ceremony itself.

Mapquest had me turn left about half a mile from where the building was sitting-- right on a main road. It had me drive through a neighborhood and end up on another segment of the sidestreet that that place was located on. I only ended up finding it once I gave up and went searching for a service station (to relieve myself of the large cup of coffee I drank on the way!).

Oh, Mapquest....

It hurts. It hurts deeply.

As a sub-topic I think it's worth mentioning that this was my first time hanging out at a VFW. I highly recommend it! Good times, even better people. I do not, however, recommend doing as I did. Try to refrain from engaging in shot-taking and carousing with retired soldiers and sailors at 2:00 in the afternoon. Especially the ones who grew up in Brooklyn! If you are anything like me, I assure you... you CAN'T hang and probably shouldn't try! =)