Ok, now that I’m awake and after watching the USA lose to Canada in the Gold Metal Game of Olympic Hockey , I’ll give you all an update on the last couple of days.

The Radiothon for CMN went good. We raised $225K and still have the largest radiothon per capita in the US & Canada.

But at the tail end of the Radiothon I was on my last legs.  As we were finishing up the show, a wood plaque and a dry erase board fell from the mini castle we were broadcasting from in the South Plains Mall knocking me dizzy.

After the show was over, since I had been coughing up green phlem and some blood, my darling wife Joanna and co-worker Amy got me to the ER.

I have a tradition of being the first at the Radiothon and the last out.  I couldn’t do it this year.

After CAT-Scan and X-ray’s and other tests the doc told me the following :

Mr Donahue, you have a hole in your left eardrum (which would explain my lack of balance the last three days), you are dehydrated, you have a concussion , you are exhausted, your blood pressure is higher than normal and you have a case of severe bronchitis (which would explain why I have no voice). You need to rest.

So after getting medication and waking up to watch hockey (tail end of third period and OT) and now to tell my mom not to worry. I’m heading back to bed.

I’m probably going to be there till at least Tuesday.

Thanks to all of you for your calls and texts.

I’m ok, just did what I usually do, pour my heart into my work.

Some of you may be asked to help me with a special project.

It’s about cheering up a friend of mine going through a tough time.

Be prepared.

Tonight I actually played some poker. See http://www.instanttragedy.com for all the details and dirt.

I’m finding that it is harder and harder to find people that understand what I do in my career.  Recently I was asked if I would consider moving to Montana if there was a radio gig there.  It’s not the daypart that I work that’s important, but the people I work with.

Thus, it would have to be an opportunity to do something amazing or something that would get me closer to Indiana so I could see the kids more often.

I laughed today as Jo came in and actually took a nap while I made dinner.  She’s not used to working 8 hours a day. Silly student. I think that once she gets into the swing of things that she is going to love this job.  There is still a possibilty of a better gig opening up for her.  I wish her nothing but the best.

She brought up today that I don’t have pictures up on here or on facebook of me and her.

Simple reason, I’m normally the one behind the camera.

Today, I went out and bought a whole bunch of stuff that I’ve been needing at the store but haven’t had the time nor the money for.  It just had to be done.  In Joanna’s mind next stop, new pants and shoes. Hold your horses little missy.

I’ve finally caught up reading the 2100 posts that were stuck in bloglines today.  I kinda missed reading my friends and have been so caught up with my projects at work and home that I haven’t had time to read, play or do anything fun.

That changed tonight.  If I don’t make the changes that allow me to enjoy some time, I’ll end up miserable. But as for now, I am excited and pumped.
Good things are coming my way!

I first met her at the hotel at which my, at that time, girlfriend worked.  I had no idea who she was, but she was in “MY SEAT” and I wasn’t going to have any little missy give me any lip.

“Hi, nice to meet you, can I sit down next to my girlfriend,” I said with venom hissing out of me.  Who does this woman THINK she is?

“That’s nice, no you can’t sit on the floor,whoever you are,” she said with an equal amount of venom.  We both hissed and marked our territory with her, being my girlfriends best friend.

I had no reason to talk to her as we ended every discussion with a fight.  Meaningless little fights as small as who was the last to spend time with the girlfriend.

One day my girlfriend told me that “her” would rather favor women than to ever see me.  I responded that I would rather knaw my arm off than spend one moment with her.

We didn’t talk again for a year.

Whenever we did it was snarky, rude just venom filled hate. I still don’t remember why we hated each other so much. But we did.

So a couple of weeks ago, as I left a promotional appearance for my job, I was honked at.  I didn’t know who the person was that honked but gave the standard “Hi, thanks for listening wave.”

She sent me a message that said, ” you know, when you see someone that you know in the convenience store, you should say hi…even if you absolutely despise that person…lol…”

I was pissed, I waved, Great, it was HER and I had to respond.  What did she want. We had not talked to each other in over a year and it was the best year of my life. I mean the last time I talked to her I told her ”
Just take the nightstick out and realize that we (The Current Girlfriend at the time and I) think you are great, though we are worried about your desires to handcuff men to your bed. Luv ya, mean it sd”

So I was polite and responded, ” When did I see you? I don’t despise you at all, Call me sd” because I really didn’t despise her, just didn’t understand why she chose to always be nasty to me.

She wrote back, “you’re a dork…and i don’t have your number….lol…i sasw you the other day at the gas station at frankford and 19th.”

And then it all clicked. THE HONKER! Well crap, what did SHE want?

It couldn’t be easy, it had to be difficult, ” better idea…why don’t you call me.”

Games, always had to be games with her.

I called her that night and we talked.

And talked, and talked. Until 4, yes ladies and gentlemen FOUR in the morning.

I found out that she NEVER did hate me, just wanted to be a pain in my ass.

So I had already had gone out on Friday to run some errands after staying late at the house and headed back in from (what I found out later was her side of town) when she texted me. [Come meet us for dinner].  Her friend Megan and her were at Moe’s eating dinner. I wasn’t able to since at this time, I was letting mugsy out of his cage so he could use the restroom and walk around each night.  I had to put him up so the tile guys who were putting down the new floor, wouldn’t have mugsy jumping up and down on them while they tried to work.

So I let Mugsy out, and headed to the date that would change the way I thought about her.

I met her friend Megan and her at the New Buffalo Wild Wings and we watched the opening ceremonies and she and I tried to play trivia without boxes.  I schooled her and we just started to talk.  All of the sudden, Megan excuses herself and she and I are alone. We talked about our hopes, our dreams, our wishes. And then it clicked.

She had to get ready for her two week trip to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh for visiting her best friend and her cousin’s wedding. I wished her luck and walked her to her car. As we got to the front door I tried to hold open the door.  And she walked right past me opening the other door and then she turned back.  I must have had a look of shock or disappointment on my face because the look on her face was priceless. I had kicked her dog, smacked her face and peed in her post toasties. She knew she had screwed up.

When we finally got to her car I gave her a hug, telling her the night was still young. But it wasn’t meant to be. She opened her truck door and got in. I turned to walk to my car and go away, but I had to do something.

I walked up to her and in my mind said ok. Make your stand.

“Honey, if I don’t say this I’m going to hate myself forever. But after talking to you and thinking, I realized one thing. Maybe all this time I was dating the wrong girl.” And I kissed her, tenderly, passionately and it only took a tenth of a second for her to kiss back. It was wonderful. She went home to pack and I went home to crash, but it didn’t happen. That night we talked to 2 in the morning and I had a remote and she had cleaning to finish before she left so I went to bed thinking. “What in the hell did I do tonight?”

The next morning I went to my remote and she called me telling me that we wanted to come and see me before my remote was over. But she never did and as I was leaving for the station she called me asking if I could come see her. I went over to her apartment and as I called for directions (I’m like that, I really need a GPS unit) she laughed and directed me in.  Now Megan was supposed to take her to the airport. But as the clock got closer and closer she got more nervous.

“How about I just take you to the airport hon?” I asked trying to help her out.

“Megan has to get my keys,” she said as she vacuumed nervously. “She has to feed my fish.”

So we waited until we couldn’t wait any longer, I started to help her take her stuff to the car. “You can drive my truck if you want Sean,” she told me.

“Nah, let me use my car,” I said as I started loading things in.  I really don’t drive other people’s vehicles, all I drive is my company car and my car.

As we started to pull out in came Megan and her various assistants. SHE gave the keys up, and I got her to the airport.  As I unloaded the bags I gave her a hug and a kiss on her forehead.  I didn’t try for a kiss on the lips. I wanted to play this slow.

She left and I didn’t think another thing about it, till I got a call from her telling me how much she appreciated me.

We talked on and off all the way her trip to Philly.

Every day the next week, we talked to 2 or 3 in the morning. We explored our friendship with each other and I had to pass several tests, including the “best girlfriend test”, the “friend who is a psychologist test” and the “Talk to my mother test”

I guess I passed.

So I told you that I would be making a small announcement here, so here it goes…

(more…)

I have to be blessed with the coolest, sweetest friends.

They just live way far away from me.

But I’m about ready to meet two of them for lunch here in the Hub. I can almost always count on Dalby for anything.

***Pagerank Smagerank***

My PageRank according to my friends have gone down on Google, but I’ve pretty well have written off
Google as well as Internet Explorer. My browser of choice is now and probably forever will be Firefox. I listened to my SEO advisor and see what that got me. I’m probably going to take down soem of the superflorous ads and just never look at IE again.

Life blog down from a 5 to a 3. Poker Blog from a 4 to a 3. Hmm. Fuck em and feed em fishsticks.

***Continuing of life changes***

Mom is coming in to inspect the damage that I have done and approve tile selection. I tried to get Dad up here so we can do some painting, but he is “busy working on projects”. His loss. Mom and I will go out to eat on him!

We’re going to meet my friend Jeff Krueger from Carpet Solutions and he going to help us get tile at a reasonable rate. I really don’t care about what it looks like except no burnt orange or maroon. Those are automatic vetos.

***Writing ***
I’ve been writing offline just jotting down ideas and concepts for new books and short stories. I’ve found my best stories come from sitting and just watching the world around me. Damon and I saw a fight of a boyfriend and girlfriend out in the parking lot of the Cotton Patch Cafe and without a beat I just started to tell Damon what they were saying even though we were across the street inside Chick-Fil-A. It’s just something I do. Sometimes it works, sometimes in the words of Surflexus… I’ve got nothing. BUt Pushmonkey72 has sent me some books to help my character development process along.

***McG better watch out***
Last night I worked with some software to put some of the photos and movies I took from Okie-Vegas and The 2008 Ferlin Husky Memorial Drinking Festival together. Still working on just making it look good. Nothing to note as of yet, but it is good to try and develop skills and talents I’ve never tried before.

*** A special note to Bam-Bam ***
1. Because you live in Canada.
2. Your heart is always in the right place.
3. Because you’ve found the true love in your life and you spoil her.
4. You never give up.
5. Just Because.

Thanks

***On the movie kick***
I’ve seen Hancock, Hellboy, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Batman in the last two weeks. I go through these kicks where I just want to sit and watch movies and be told a story. Then I’m off to not watch a movie for 10 months. Weird huh?

***Kids***
I’ve come to the conclusion that it is too late to move to Indiana to be “Daddoo” in the sense that the kids have grown past certain things. However I’ve come to the conclusion that I will be changing the things that we do when I go and see them or when they see me. Thus more science museums for Shelby (who can’t get enough science) and more parks and baseball games for Ryan. Also I am going to work and find ways to get Shelby to come see me and give her some one on one time with Daddy with Ryan starting when he can fly by himself.

***Misc***
Finances Have been tight lately as I finally paid off another bill and I am investing into paying off the house.
I’ve been reading an Andrew Tobias book before I goto sleep at night and I see the mistakes I have made in the past.

I’m trying to improve myself and my surroundings. Thus I am going on a kick of pruning my possessions. If I haven’t used it in six months or have no desire to give it to the kids will be either sold, donated or thrown away.

***Final Thoughts***

I’m changing, and it is slow. But I see the mistakes I have made and I see that some of the five things that my friend told me are true. I just have to make the changes to fix what I can. I’m opening up in some areas while shutting others down.

Before I took care of others before me because I thought that in the end I would be taken care of by others. That was a mistake on my part. Now I take care of myself first in the pursuit of helping others. That way we are BOTH covered.

Lunch with friends, working out tonight trying to bike another 10 miles on my way to biking a marathon.

sd

I wishi I could understand the endorphines that run through my body. I wish I could control the ones that allow me to fall love so easily.

(more…)

Continue on to read what I wrote two years ago and now.

(more…)

have been tough on me my friends. I’ve had to deal with work, personal, family and financial issues.

I’ve had to make tough decisions.

I think I did what was the best.

(more…)

Then remember that you could be doing something you love instead.  Make a move, take a chance, make a difference. 

The only difference between hating and loving is attitude.

My attitude has sucked lately and it has come out in my card playing , my work everything.

So I am going to try and take all the evil and anger that I have for those who I think have wronged me and instead change it to positive motion.  I am going to try and be more realistic than pessimistic.

I have to do this so I won’t be so darned mad for the opening of stupidity that I allow myself to fall into.

I have to love me and my surroundings first before I can love anyone else.