MerrinDonahue.com

Is staring me in the face. Perhaps that’s why I am refocusing my awareness of global socio-political issues, as well as the restructuring of my own existence. While January 1 is usually just another day for me, this year I find myself taking time to reevaluate what’s going on in the world and the effect these events have on my little life. As a jumping-off point, courtesy of Metafilter, I checked out the most underreported news stories of 2002. I have once again realized that I am, indeed, a liberal. Thank God. All of this turned my thoughts to how I have lived my life over the past year, and while I was mostly upstanding, there is the lingering possibility I’m headed for hell due to some less-than-propitious behavior. In addition, I have not done much to better myself on an intellectual level. While it has been nice to skate through the previous 364 days with stagnant brain cells, it’s time to grease up the grey matter.
In short, here are my New Year’s Resolutions, both noble and base.
1) I will pay more attention to my husband, even when I’ve worked non-stop for 18 straight days.
2) I will volunteer my time at local organizations.
3) I will take better care of myself, including curbing my intake of Chick-Fil-A and Dr. Pepper. Okay, okay, I’ll cut back on the Coor’s Light, too.
4) I will learn one new word every day, thus expanding my already extensive vocabulary. I will not use these words in order to humiliate and/or degrade others for their stupidity. Much.
5) I will increase my level of tolerance for other people’s chosen lack of intelligence. I will not point out that they are stupid because they refuse to educate themselves or broaden their narrow views of humanity/world events/domestic policy/political stances.
6) I will expand my knowledge of programming so as to dispense with the necessity of asking Kevin to help me design stuff.
7) Finally, I will be a better friend to those who have stood by me through thick and thin, and who I tend to overlook in the day-to-day grind which is my reality. This includes writing thank-you notes, sending sympathy cards, and remembering birthdays (on time!).
Thanks to everyone who made this year so great for us. With a little practice, and a lot of patience, next year will be even better.

I should think that given the choice between a Russian prison or a Russian psychiatric hospital, I’d personally go for the prison. Luckily, this guy wasn’t given the choice, and he will now be making new friends in the asylum

Okay, so I know we haven’t exactly been informative lately, and a lot of you are thinking that we’ve fallen off the face of the earth, so let me take a moment and fill you in on our lives over the last week. First, we got a late-night phone call from Corey last Sunday, asking what we were up to the following day. Why, nothing, I said, and so she came to pay us a visit Monday and Tuesday. Then it was Christmas Eve (Corey headed back to Plano at 6:00ish), then Christmas day, and then she came back on Friday! Hooray! In the middle of all this, I also spent time with Allen and Mom and Grandma and Dad and the Vickis and their husbands. Whew! We’re pretty tired, and the work has to really start now! FemBot Mom came over again today to help pack some more stuff, and I gotta tell ya, we have A LOT of stuff. Kevin has sworn that he’s planning to tackle the garage this weekend. If he doesn’t, I’m headed up the nearest clock tower. Meanwhile, if anyone has any Valium or Diazepam, feel free to share.
72 hours till I’m off for six glorious days!!!!

I’m pretty sure. When I left for work this morning, only the china cabinet was packed. When I got home this afternoon, my entire kitchen was in boxes, labeled according to my color-coding system, thanks to the FemBot who is my mother. Go ahead and mock the color-coding—-you will all thank me later when you realize how well it works. Anyway, that’s two rooms down and five to go (plus the closets and the garage, which will be Kevin’s own personal hell). I guess we really are moving in three weeks!
On another note, only 96 hours until I get a whole week off!

Read why here. This is a huge loss for the photography world.

Kevin set the alarm clock ahead one hour, so all this time I thought it was 10:00, and it was really 9:00. This wouldn’t be so bad, except I could have justified staying in bed another hour! I got up at 7:30 and opened the front door for Corey-who is, as we speak, snoring in the guest room-then I promptly returned to bed. So I wake up, look at the clock, and thing it’s later than it is. I then resign my post as the Mayor of Sleepytown, and here we are.
On the agenda today: Let Corey sleep until 2:00 (cut her some slack–she’s an ER nurse at Parkland), then get ready to go to the new Modern with Mom, and basically just hang out for the rest of the day. Oh yeah, I’ll probably poison my mind with some TV, too. I hear the Love Boat is on soon….

Well, another Christmas has come and gone, and I’m very glad that I have 364 more days to get ready for the next one! We had a blast at Dad’s, Grandma’s, and Mom’s, but after getting up at 3:30 this morning to go to work, I sure am exhausted. Thankfully, I’m off tomorrow, and Corey and I are planning to go to the Modern. Only 7 more days till I get a week off! Hooray!
Thank-You notes will be forthcoming, but in the meantime, I want to tell everybody how much we enjoyed our gifts! Most especially, thank you for thinking of us. We love and appreciate everything you do for us! In the meantime, we’re gearing up for New Years’. Right now, though, I’m going seepy.

It’s gonna be a girl!
Congratulations Brian and Courtney! I’m so happy for y’all! Dresses and dolls and frilly things are fun!

Yes, Christmas is drawing ever closer, and that means more opportunities to quote Clark and the rest of the Vacation gang (“Can’t see the line, can you Russ?”). Fortunately, it also means that I am that much closer to a day off. In fact, I only have to work tomorrow and Tuesday, then I have 24 blissful hours of peace. Meanwhile, Kev is bearing the brunt of my bitterness, since he does not have to work until Thursday. We’ll see who’s mocking whom when I get my 5 days in a row (that would be in 12 days). HA!
In other news, Mom is coming over tonight, as it’s Sunday, even though when I called to confirm our standing date, the following conversation ensued:
Mom: “But there’s nothing on TV!”
Me: “Is that all I am to you? A TIVO?!?!?!?”
Word to the wise: Take advantage of our proximity now, ‘cuz we’ll be too far to do this every week!

Santa better get a really early start if he’s gonna get a green card in time to deliver presents Tuesday night. Fortunately, he is out of custody now. :tongue

Or at least in Kevin’s office. Weird bumps and thumps keep emanating from the general vicinity of the desk, but as I cannot see Kev, I can only assume that the gods that inhabit the computer desk have kidnapped and eaten him, or maybe they’re just demanding a sacrifice. Oh wait. There are his feet. Needless to say, things are being moved and networked, and all that. He has already (re)named all the computers, christening them after varieties of chile peppers, although I have no idea why. So until my husband surfaces (which should be 3 or 4 days), I will be holding down the Donahue fort with the help of my faithful sidekick. Four days till Christmas, y’all!

I’m so glad that Kevin is finally in the Christmas spirit, even if it does mean the burden of blogging falls solely to me for a little while. Let’s face it: He’s been slacking off lately, anyway. We’re in the home stretch now with (oops…make that) days to go, and I can’t wait for next week to be over so I can have some time to spend with my friends and family (even though we all had a blast the other night—even Kev, who unfortunately, went to bed early and missed the real fun). Until tomorrow (oops again–later today), happy thoughts to you all!

You heard it here first. Don’t be mean to Trekkies. They’re just peaceful, fun-loving people like you and me. Now, Number One. Take us to Warp 3.

There’s a reason that people shouldn’t drink to excess, and I always forget what it is. Until the morning after. My head hurts. Hell, even my hair hurts. I have not had a hangover in so long that I had almost forgotten what it felt like. Somehow, this is all Mom’s fault. Somewhere between speaking German, a late-night phone call to Vicki Corbett, and making grand plans for the next two weeks, we managed to imbibe two bottles of wine and many, many Coor’s Lights. Kev took it all in stride, though. That’s right: He hid in the office all night. Pictures are forthcoming, but I can’t guarantee their clarity or content. I’m gonna go take some Tylenol now.

I am the clumsiest person I know. Even as I sit here typing, I’m bleeding all over the keyboard. So what was it this time, you ask? I was moving a candle (no I’m serious, a candle. Really.), and I managed to slice my thumb open. Kevin constantly worries that people will think he abuses me, since I am endlessly covered in bruises, scrapes, nicks, scars, bumps, lumps, and cuts. It’s not that I’m not careful, it’s just that things sometimes sneak up on me. I often have bruises that I don’t even know about until two or three days later. Crap. This one’s definitely gonna leave a scar.