I checked my vacation balances last week and the output that contained my vacation information also showed my length of service as 13.333333 years. I’m glad to know that the city is keeping track of my employment to the minute.

I had a visit today and after a little discussion I see the error of my ways. I should not have refered to the United States Postal Service as “snail mail”. I was completely wrong and, if anything, the Postal Service represents swiftness and dogged determination. Sorry Lance.

Also today a bunch of us received the inaugural Chief’s Award For Awesomeness Excellence. I didn’t really do anything, but I did show up to help take the credit and shake hands with the Chief. Here’s a picture of how I looked getting my award with the part of me being played by five-time Academy Award nominee Mikey the Spear.

Practice that penmanship! Use an analog word processor! Cheer up a real American hero!

My shipmate, Jesse Carrillo, gave up his slot on the team and the life of leisure that goes with it to join up with his old company and go do the hard work of spreading freedom. Jesse is now training in 29 Palms and doesn’t have access to a computer, but he can get the snail mail and I’m sure he’d appreciate it.

RCAX9-13 3rd BN 25th Marines SSGT. Carrillo, J.C.  S/S PLT. M/S Co.  Box 788700 MAGTF Training Command 29 Palms CA 92278 

That’s the part you write on the front of the envelope, don’t forget stamps!

It all started out two Valentine’s Days ago, was on -two years ago on Valentine’s Day I happened to drive by the Lamme’s Candies in the 5300 block of Airport Blvd.

Let me tell you about the 5300 block of Airport Blvd: They got a few used car lots, some pawn shops, some shops with letters and languages I can’t comprehend, a pool hall or two and a Lamme’s Candies store and it’s a quiet little street, but on this Valentine’s day there was such a traffic jam in the 5300 block of Airport Blvd. that I ended up just turning around. As it turns out I turned into a pawn shop and ended up with a red Fender P-Bass that I have to this day, but the gist of the story is that the traffic jam seemed to me to be the biggest thing to happen to the 5300 block of Airport Blvd in the last 50 years and one day, if I really wanted to, really wanted to feel like the -the all-American kid from Austin, Texas I should, one day, go to the Lamme’s Candies there on airport on Valentine’s Day. So I did.

Now I’m not normally the sort to get into the whole carnival scene, but this was something special. There we were waiting in line at the Lamme’s Candies store: All kinds of love-sick Romeos, wanna-be Cupids and probably, just maybe, a few brave souls trying to make this the best Valentine’s day ever. And there we were in line, snaking around the shop. Talking about pralines and divinities and chocolate covered nougat and all kinds of sweet things we were talking about in the line there until I came to the front of the line. I mean I was the number one guy, the numero uno, just out of the on-deck circle and into the fire and the woman there with the apron looked me up one side and down the other and she said to me: “Kid, do you want some strawberries?”

And I went up there and I said, “I want strawberries, I wanna eat over-ripe, under-ripe, fell-off-the-truck rejects. I want stems and seeds in my teeth, juice dripping on my shirt. Man, I wanna eat the box the strawberries came in. Strawberries! Strawberries! Load me up with those things!”

And so she piled my arms high with chocolate covered stawberries and then she rang me up.

And that’s the story of my big trip to the Lamme’s Candies there in the 5300 block of Airport Blvd. It doesn’t have a big punchline, and I don’t think I’ll make this pilgrimage an annual event or a movement of some kind, but I think I learned a little something today and that’s that sometimes; not all the time, but sometimes, maybe the road more travelled is more travelled because those darn strawberries are so delicious.~