Zach Dotsey

There was a bit of work today, which I had to balance out with tying up a few loose ends in getting ready for our trip to Kentucky.  I had to go to the bank and I had to pick up a power converter (okay, I didn’t have to do that, but I want to be able to use my laptop in the van and it doesn’t hold eight hours of charge).  I also had lunch at Subway with my brother-in-law, Michael Mercer, just because I won’t see him for a week or so.

Amanda was let off work early so she came home and put the finishing touches on getting ready to go.  We’d already packed last night, so we just had to break down Harvey’s cage, get him ready for Don’s and load up the car.  My brother, Adam Dotsey, and Renee Sikes, his fiancee, came and loaded stuff up from their car to ours, including their Papillon, Dobja, and their cat, Tchalla.  T’Challa was in a cage, so we were packed pretty tight heading over to Don’s.  Amanda was driving, I had Harvey’s bed and supplies along with our Chihuahua, Bruce, on my lap.  Harvey was in the back with Adam, Renee and Dobja, with T’Challa in a cage in the middle.

When we got to Don’s Amanda and I took a tour of his house to make sure it was as Harvey-proof as possible.  I think Harvey will have fun staying with Don.  He has an obvious love of dogs and is a very outgoing, active person.  If we ever had to give Harvey up I couldn’t really think of a better person to give him to.  Don loved dogs and has fostered them before, but he has to travel and stay out of town quite a bit with his job, which is why he doesn’t have one.

Oh, I forgot to mention in all this that my baby sister, Andra Sawyer, called and told me she’s having a girl.  I’m very happy for her because that’s what she wanted, but Amanda and I were hoping it would be a boy so we’d have a chance to have the first something on my side of the family.

I got Amanda a small potted rose bush.

Anyway, we headed from Wilmington to Rougemont.  Amanda started off driving but only went halfway and switched when we stopped to get some BoJangle’s dinner, citing her inability to drive and eat a biscuit at the same time.  Bollocks.  We stopped by Aunt Reggie’s place in Durham to drop off T’Challa.  It was the first time I’d been there in years.  We had to turn around after dropping off the cat because Aunt Reggie told Adam she’d left out some rodent poison.

Jackson greeted us as we pulled up the driveway in Rougemont.  Adam had bought him these little figurines of Iron Man and Thor.  We unloaded the car and put most of the stuff in the van my parents rented then went inside to play with the action figures.  A little later Adam and Josh set off a bunch of fireworks.

Zach Dotsey

Today was the last day that Port City Community Church will have met at Roland-Grise Middle School.  It was a bittersweet affair.  Amanda and I arrived early and saw Blake and Stephanie Konny.  They usually go to the 10:30 service, but Blake, a high school science teacher by trade, was working at a fireworks tent, what with the 4th of July coming up and all.  I took a bulletin from a guy wearing a Duke shirt (and complimented him on it) then we waited a couple minutes until the doors to the auditorium were opened.

The bulletin had a place for you to write about a time when the church has been there for you, whether it was a person or an event or whatever, then on the other side it had a place for you to put your address, and it was explained that one day they would be mailed back to you.  Amanda and I both ended up writing about how we had nothing when we first got to Wilmington and started attending Port City Community Church, and the first series was about money.  We started to tithe, and even though we weren’t sure how we’d be able to pay the bills that month, everything always worked out fine.  The next few series all seemed to speak directly to us too.

I also wrote about when Amanda had her surgery and how all our friends were there for us, not only helping us out and feeding us, but also praying for us and asking others to pray for us too. It really spoke to the community we’ve built up around us and the good friends we’ve been blessed with in just a few years.  I also expressed that I hope, going forward, that other people will be able to find friends, community and God like we have.

The music was awesome of course.  The series leading up to today was called Moments, and they incorporated today, a bit of a retrospective and a chance to look forward, as an extension of that theme.  The video bump was modified too.  It showed various people from around the church, including Joey Connelly and Parrish Stikeleather, all talking about some of the things the church has done for them with scenes from Roland-Grise on a screen behind them.  One of the songs sang was Love Song, which is a very powerful song.  When our preacher, Mike Ashcraft, came out he opened quoting a lone from that song: "You paint the sky for me to see."  He got little choked up from the start there, but he recovered and went on just fine.  Mike also had a guy, could have been a comedian but I’m guessing he was at least a writer, stand up and talk about his memories of Roland-Grise.  It was also very bittersweet.

For the main part of the message Mike had four moving boxes labeled People, Process, Faith and, dangit, I can’t recall the last one right now.  Anyway, he had these large labels with words on them, and he would talk about what the word meant and put it into a box.  At the end of the service he packed up the boxes, revealing a related word, then stacked them up and walked off stage with them, as leaving the Roland-Grise Middle School auditorium for the last time.  It was a very powerful image to me.

Of course, it wasn’t the last time he walked off that stage- he did it three more times that day, and Nick Warkentien told us that at the last, special 2:30 service they did something a little special and different.  Mike always talked about how the band wouldn’t let him play with them anymore, but halfway through the song they did at the end, All Because of Jesus, a bit of a rock-out song by Steve Fee, Chris had Mike come out and play guitar with the rest of the band.  Attendance wasn’t very high for that service, but I’ll bet everyone whooped it up when Mike went out there to rock out with the band.

A funny side story about the guitar Mike used.  Nick and Amy had been at a birthday party on Friday and Tim and Duane, two staff members, talked about this pink guitar they had passed around.  Duane was surprised Tim had it and said they had to find a way to work it into the weekend service.  And that pink guitar was the one Mike played on.

There were other really cool things about the service, like a recounting of all the places PC3 has been held up to now and some great memories.  All in all it was a wonderful service, and while I won’t miss setting up equipment at 6:00 on Sunday mornings, I think we’ll all miss a little bit of the guerilla style church we’ve become accustomed to.

So that was PC3’s final service at Roland-Grise.

After church Amanda and I went to breakfast at The Oceanic.  I wanted the French toast.  Amanda had a few bites of it but mainly ate her bacon, egg and cheese sandwich, though she said the bread was a little too buttery for her.  There was a couple next to us with two small kids- one a tiny baby and the other about two and a half years old.  The older kid was talking the whole time, looking out at the beach and commenting on things.  He was a trip to watch and it made me wish Andra had consented to letting us have Jackson this weekend.  We’ll get to see him tomorrow though.

When we finished eating we walked back to Anna and Barry’s, where we had parked.  We were going to go out on the beach, but I was stuffed and being stuffed and sitting out in the blazing sun is not an appealing idea.  So we stayed inside with them for a while then finally went out.  I didn’t surf- I just didn’t have the energy, but I did go jump some waves.  In fact, I had the best wave jumping experience I ever had.  Usually you just let the wave take you, with the foam roiling on your back and over your head.  I caught one wave where my body was literally riding on top of it, above it all.  When I first caught it my natural instinct was to close my eyes and get ready to go under, but I stayed on top until the wave ran out.  It doesn’t sound significant, and it’s hard to really describe, but it was a really cool feeling.

I talked to a guy who was out there with some friends.  He said they’d all moved away but couldn’t stay gone from Wilmington and had all moved back some time ago.  He said something about being from Cary his family living in Durham, so I asked if he was a Duke fan.  He said he was, then pointed to his friends.  He said, "That one’s an asshole, that one pulls for Georgia Tech and that one goes for Maryland."  I told him I could take Georgia Tech, but the other two….

Amanda spent all her time, and has spent a lot of time, reading I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist.  When I told her I was ready to go she even told me she wanted to finish a chapter.  It’s so cool to see Amanda that much into a book.  Not long after we first started dating we both went to a bookstore and bought a book each.  I don’t think she ever got more than a couple chapters into hers.  She just generally doesn’t like to read, but she’s really enjoying that book.

After leaving there we went to Old Navy because they were having a really good sale.  I got a shirt and Amanda got a skirt and a couple shirts or something.  I was so worn out that I eventually went out to the car and waited for her.  Not that she took too long or anything- I just didn’t feel like standing anymore.  After that we went to Target to get some shampoo, deodorant and the like for the trip to Kentucky.  We left there and went to get Baba a present at Airlie Moon then headed home to start packing.

Nick and Amy had tried calling us a few times, so we finally got up with them at home (my phone died, but they had our home and cell phones backwards anyway) and we decided to go eat with them.  We were going to go to this Italian place by Food Lion, up College about a mile or so but they weren’t open.  So we went to try Priddy Boy’s in Castle Hayne and it was closed.  They originally wanted to go to Flamin’ Amy’s, so we ended up going back into town to eat there.

When we got to Flamin’ Amy’s Amanda and I were at the door before Nick and Amy, so Amanda threw her arms out in Amy’s direction.  Amy ran towards Amanda, scooped her up and spun her around, which took Amanda a little by surprise.  It was funny.  We had a good time eating with them, then afterwards we walked to their car because they were going to let us borrow the new Coldplay CD, Viva La Vida.  Everyone was saying good byes and all, and since we’ve hung out with them enough I figured Nick and I were past the handshake stage so I gave him a manhug.  When I was pulling back from that I knocked his cup of water and spilled a little on me, so we decided maybe we weren’t supposed to be manhugging.

On the way home Amanda and I stopped by the new church building.  I’d mentioned to Mike Ashcraft this morning that I hadn’t been in it yet and he said something about stopping by and if people were there we could look around.  Well, we got there and one of the front doors was open, but we didn’t see anybody until we stepped into the auditorium, which was massive.  And then we only found a guy who was hooking up the sound and had no idea who we were talking about when we mentioned Mike Ashcraft (obviously doesn’t attend PC3).  So we poked around a little, although Amanda didn’t feel we should poke around too much so we didn’t stay long.  I took a picture of the auditorium from the stage and a picture of the hall where the Grow Zone rooms will be.  It’s such an awesome building, and we, as a church body, as blessed to have such a place to call home in the future.

Back home Amanda commenced packing.  I put more gook on the back of the faucet and returned the allen wrench to Dave across the street.  While there, I told Bonnie we had some stuff to show her with the security system, so she came over a little later.  She told me while I was there that she was having a cyst removed from her back on Tuesday, so we’ll keep her in our prayers for that.

She left and we spent the rest of the night packing and doing light cleaning.  Karen, Amanda’s mom, called.  Actually, she’d called around 11:00 last night to tell us she was staying in town for the night.  I offered her a bed, but she stayed and slept on Michael’s couch (though he offered her his bed).  They stayed up until 2:30 in the morning cleaning and such.  Anyway, on her way home she hit a bad storm.  Branches were coming down and one hit the car in front of her.  It turns out there had been a tornado right where she was going through.  We’re thankful there was no incident for her.

Well, I’ve got a little running around to do tomorrow then we’re off to Rougemont, then Lexington.

Zach Dotsey
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  We had a good time eating with them.  When we were done they let us borrow the new Cold Play CD then we were all giving hugs good bye

We got up, took showers, ate egg and cheese sandwiches that Amanda fixed then headed over to Michael’s apartment to help with his move.  It was me, Amanda, Phil, Earl and Karen, who showed up with the van after a little bit.  It was so hot and the couches were so heavy that I drank some Cokes and a Pepsi for lack of ice water.  I hadn’t had a soda since we’d finished off all the leftover ones after my birthday party.

After we got most of the stuff moved in Amanda and I stuck around Michael’s place to help organize the living room.  It’s a nice little place- you walk in to the living room and there’s a small kitchen beyond that, then you’ve got stairs going up to a loft to the left.  There’s a full bath and a decent closet upstairs, plus storage space above the bathroom, and there’s a half bath downstairs.

Met Earl and Phil at our house later and figured out the upstairs leak problem, we think.  The pipe that drains the pan the air conditioning unit upstairs was going all the way to the ground was was likely clogged up a bit, backing it up.  Phil cut a couple feet off the two pipes.

The second problem, the leak appearing over the kitchen, was a bit tougher.  Long story short, when you turn the shower on and the bath faucet backs up, some of the water is going out the back because it’s not sealed enough.  Phil had to cut a hole in our kitchen ceiling to figure that out, which I knew would happen.  I started working on it after Earl and Phil left.  I used a lot of caulk, so it was taking a while to dry. 

Then, finally, we went to the beach.  I caught a bunch of my first waves.  Pretty good surfing.  When I got out to walk back down the beach I saw Amanda, Anna and Barry about to head out on a walk, so I went with them.  At about the water tower Barry and I turned around to go catch some more surf.  I caught a few more and got tips from Barry, who was very encouraging.  I rode a few waves all the way in today.

After Barry and I headed in (I could hardly paddle any more!) the four of us biked to Vito’s for pizza and beer.  Well, Barry and I had a couple beers each.  It was a great ending to a pretty darn good day.

Zach Dotsey

Spent a portion of the day working on rollover graphics for a client’s navigation buttons.

They had a cookout at Amanda’s work and they got to leave early at 3:00.  The president of the company gave everyone a $100 gas card too.  How cool is that?  I did my best to finish up early and we left the house around 4:30 to go to the beach.  We hung out with Anna and Barry for a few minutes then went on out.  Amanda sat and read and later walked with Anna and I spent almost all of my time in the water.  At one point when I got out to rest Mike and Kaitlyn walked up.  Kaitlyn was ready to go- she’d gotten a rash guard and everything.

I forgot my rash guard today.  I thought Amanda had grabbed it and she thought I got it.  My ninnies are now raw, so I wish I had gotten it.

The waves were fun, if a bit frustrating, today.  When I first went out surfing the water was pretty choppy.  It did make balancing on my board (well, Barry’s board) actually kind of fun.  Throughout the day the waves were a bit hard to catch though.  I’d paddle my tuckus off only to have the wave swell in front of me a few feet.  There were a lot of teaser waves too.  That’s what I call them anyway, when they look like they’re going to break nicely then roll on a ways ahead.

The waves were big, too.  When Mike "Lars" Boscaljon is standing at 6′7" and the waves are well over his head, it reminds you of how small you are compared to the waves when you’re 5′6".  I did catch a few, one that I was really proud of then a few that I didn’t actually get up on or got up just briefly.  I did have some spectacular wipeouts which, honestly, were kind of fun in a dangerous, exciting way of their own.  I noticed a few times my board was too far out in front of the wave and that it wasn’t looking good for my health, and on those times I’d just sort of throw myself off to the side and just try to stay under long enough for anything that might be overhead to clear out.

I also met Theo today.  Theo works with Kaitlyn, so Mike started talking to him.  He also plays drums at Port City Community Church, which I recognized him from after he mentioned, and he knew the Frazelles already.  Mike, Theo and I were out there for a while.  It started raining but it felt nice since we were wet already, and all the drops in the ocean just looked so cool.  I was about to go in at one point, but I saw as I was going towards the shore that the sun was setting, then I turned around and looked back and saw this great huge rainbow that looked like a giant gateway span all the way across the sky.  I figured I’d at least stay out until sunset after that, so I stood up from sitting in the shallow water and paddled back out.  Once I got out there I noticed that the rainbow was actually a double rainbow.  It was so beautiful out.  During that time I couldn’t help but admire the artistry of God.  I only rode in the waves that I had very little choice in taking in so that I could stay out and watch the sun set from the water.

I went in after the first wave I caught after the sun had gone below the clouds.  Actually it was more like riding in shore break, but whatever.  I headed back to the Frazelles’ house, rinsed off with a shower full of people (Hannah, Christian, Kirsten and Maddie) then hung out on the porch with Amanda, Kaitlyn, Anna and Barry.  Mike and Theo came up shortly after that and we all sat out on the porch as the sky got darker.  Mike, Kaitlyn and Theo left, D, one of Hannah’s friends, came and talked to us, then he left.

Hannah, Kirsten and Maddie were talking about a movie they heard about called Teeth.  It’s about a young avowed virgin who discovers when her boyfriend forces himself on her that she has teeth in her hoo hoo that attack people who get too close to it.  Yick.  So the girls went off to rent it while Amanda, Anna, Barry and I foraged the pantry for food.  We all settled on crackers, cheese and cereal.

Amanda and Barry thought it would be funny if I exchanged my last cheese and cracker with Anna’s bowl of cereal, so I did that.  I felt a little bad afterwards, even though everyone got a good laugh out of it.  Then again, the Frosted Mini Wheats were getting soggy.

I called Michael to tell him we were about to watch Teeth and he was intrigued enough to come watch it.  He had been, as he said, "Watching Wedding Crashers and thinking about packing."  He hasn’t packed for his move tomorrow yet.  Maddie called Karen, Amanda and Michael’s mom, to tell her about it and invite her over.  It was only about 10:30 at that point.

We watched the movie, although portions of it got skipped as Kirsten and her friend, Marley were watching it too.  Michael said he’d have to rent it again to figure out what happened in those parts.  I’d probably watch it with him.  Not that it was a particularly good movie, but we missed out on some graphic gore scenes.

After the movie we dropped Marley by her house then went home ourselves.  The dogs hadn’t been out in about eight hours.  Bruce made a bit of a mess in the bedroom, but it had solidified enough to be easy to clean up.

Michael, by the way, had something interesting happen at work today.  He started watching One Tree Hill this season, just because part of it is shot right  next to his work.  There’s this one particular girl on the show, Nanny Carrie, who he thinks is just so hot (and she is, of course).  Well, she walked into the shop today and was very chatty with him, enough so that the guy working with him told Michael he should have asked for her number.  He said next time she went in he would, since he has absolutely nothing to lose in so doing.  I told him that if he went out with her he’d be my hero.  Of course, he read that she might be engaged, so that might be a hindrance.  He said he didn’t act like he knew who she was when she went in and that she was normal and down to earth.

Zach Dotsey

Amanda woke up at about 5:30 today in a bit of pain.  Nothing too serious- the usual thing around now, but it’s just started off as a bad one for her.  She apologized later for it, as there were some plans which were interrupted, but I told her it was just like having eight cards in Catan and rolling a seven.  She laughed.

Today was quite busy.  I did finally force myself out of the house, and when I did so I stopped by Target and got a beard and mustache trimmer.  Some of my facial hairs were getting a bit long.  I just used it a few minutes ago and it seems to do a fine job.  I’m going to have to figure out how to get the part directly under my nose better though.

Amanda picked up some Little Caesars for dinner and we ate that while we watched the end of a Dateline episode we’d started watching a few days ago.  It was about a woman who’d gone to jail for the murder of her cheating husband then got on when the case was tried again.  There’s a lot to sum up, but I felt, based on what the show presented, that she was guilty.  I think she just had a better lawyer the second time around.

After that we watched Night at the Museum on HBO On Demand.  It was a cute movie.  Mostly predictable, but a good story and entertaining.  There were quite a few people in it.

Michael stopped by briefly to pick up some boxes Amanda got him.  I don’t know if I mentioned this or not, but he’s moving to a single bedroom apartment on Saturday.

Amanda went to bed after Night at the Museum, and while she was getting ready she saw a discolored spot on the ceiling.  I felt it and it seemed damp, which is wonderful.  Probably means we have a leak in the roof.  I’m going to go up in the attic tomorrow to check it out.

Our attic is an odd one.  The access to it is via a hole cut out of the ceiling in our closet.  It’s just covered over by a piece of wood or something to that effect.  I’ve been up there once.  It’s just too hard to get up there to bother doing much with it.

After Amanda went to bed I played Halo 3 on campaign mode with Jason for one level, then Michael joined us for another level.  He was watching the NBA Draft prior to that.  No real surprises.  Sadly I think DeMarcus Nelson didn’t get picked up.  Hopefully someone will get him as a free agent.

Zach Dotsey

Jason’s on Xbox Live, played a little Halo 3 after work before Kyle and Lorin came over.  Lorin cut Amanda’s hair and it looks real cute.  We headed over to small group after that, stopping first to grab some snacks (Pringles) on the way.  We also took the grapes and cheese squares from last week, plus a banana each and an apple for me.

Mike and Kaitlyn were at Anna and Barry’s by the time we got there, but someone else was in the driveway too.  Amanda called to make sure they weren’t going anywhere so we could park there after we drove up the street to find no empty spaces.  Uncommon for a Wednesday evening.

Anyway, the other people left and we (plus Kyle and Lorin, who were also looking for a parking space) all parked and went out to the beach, spread out blankets and talked and snacked.  Mike was going to see a show tonight, one Michael was also thinking of going to.  I’m not sure if he ever actually did.  Anyway, the Boscaljons left so Mike could get to the show and the rest of us left a little later.

Amanda and I went up to talk to the Frazelles.  Nothing really new there, but it’s always a pleasure visiting with them.  Barry said the waves should be good this weekend.

Amanda and I went home.  I watched Deadwood, which I realize after watching one show is like The Sopranos only it’s set in the Old West.  And yes, the show’s been off for quite a while, but by the time I could get around to start watching it the show had been on for a long time and I couldn’t really easily catch up.  However, Jason told me the other day that the whole series was showing in order on HBO and that it had just recently started, so I’ve got the DVR set to record it.
Amanda watched The Bachelorette, which I guess has become a show for her now.  She wanted to watch it bad enough that, realizing she’d missed it last night and hadn’t set the DVR, she decided to watch the whole thing on ABC.com.  Most networks will now show full episodes of their shows online.

After she went to bed I played Catan with Michael and, using my “get a bunch of one or two resources and get the corresponding port” technique, I won.  He won the second game though.  Then he felt like playing Gears of War so we did a bit of that.  I did terrible, but the guys on the opposing team we played with were pretty cool.

Jason was helping his dad do something work related, so he wasn’t able to get on  Xbox Live anymore tonight.

Zach Dotsey

Today wasn’t quite as hectic as yesterday, but I still had plenty to keep me busy.

I’ve posted, now and then, on the Carolina message board, but I’ve been doing it a little more frequently lately.  Why?  I’m not sure.  On the off-topic board the people are pretty cool, and a few people have recognized on the main basketball forum that I’m not a Duke fan who is there to bother people, but to have actual conversations.  Of course there are some on that board who are just so blindly gung ho that you can’t really have conversations with them.

I think the main thing is that it’s the summer and I miss the college basketball season.  At least I’ll be able to watch the Olympic basketball games before too long.  Coach Krzyzewski is coaching Team USA, so that’s good.  I can’t remember if I mentioned it yesterday or not, but most people think Team USA will run opponents off the court like we always used to do.  The only thing people are complaining about is that there should have been one more big guy on the team.

I played Catan with Michael after work.  I was close to winning but I knew I wouldn’t be able to finish it off and he won.  I helped Amanda put up most of the rest of the clothes after that then Michael came over and the three of us played Settlers of Catan.  I won.  My strategy this time, which has come close to winning for me recently, was to pile up on one or two resources and get the port for those.  Michael’s plan lately has been to pile up on the stone and wheat in order to get cities, and that’s been working for him, but I think my plan is a pretty good one too.  I’m not sure if Amanda has any single particular strategy.

Michael stuck around a bit and we all watched Wipeout, an American version of the Japanese show XSE.  I thought it would be cheesy, and it was, but we enjoyed it anyway.  After that a show called I Survived a Japanese Game Show came on.  That one’s a reality show about these Americans who are unwittingly taken to Japan to compete on one of those silly Japanese stunt game shows.  Meh.

Jason called and said he’d gone through the setup process for his Xbox Live account, only to get a message at the end that something wasn’t working (a server issue or something it sounded like) and he wasn’t able to complete his registration at that time.  I guess if he had we’d have been playing some Halo 3 mission or another right now.

Oh, I’m also installing Ubuntu, a Linux build, on the desktop.  The poor thing is so slow now, bogged down with so much crap despite being a decent machine, that I figured I’d test a dual boot on it before installing it on the laptop.  My cousin, David Cherryholmes, installed it on my last laptop, but I never could get the wireless network card to work right, and that’s a pretty big thing for me.  It’s been a while, so I’m hoping that’s now better integrated.

Zach Dotsey