Zach Dotsey

Duke played Loyola at 4:00 and continued the nation-wide record of non-conference home wins (65 games) with a 92-51 win.  Nolan Smith injured his knee early in the game, which is some cause for concern, but from what I’ve read afterwards it was just bruised and it shouldn’t be a big deal.

Gerald Henderson continued to do well, and Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer (who, with Smith out, played point when Greg Paulus was on the bench) both scored in double figures.  So did Brian Zoubek, for that matter.  The second strong didn’t look too great, but at least they got some good in-game time.  I really hope Paulus’ arm will hurry up and heal so he can get his three-point shot back.  The Devils might need it later in the season.

We were invited to a few different New Year’s Eve parties and were going to try to make an appearance at a couple different ones, but we ended up just going over to Blake and Stephanie Konny’s.  I’m glad we did because they had a nice spread, but we were the only ones who ended up being able to make it.

We mostly just sat around and caught up, talked about life for a while.  Blake happened to have bought Settlers of Catan with some Christmas money, so we all taught Stephanie how to play.  We took a break late in the game to watch the ball drop then, with the next roll, I got what I needed to win the game.  It was a pretty close one throughout though, and Stephanie came in second.  Not bad for her first time playing.

So here’s something interesting.  Time Warner Cable and Viacom, the company that owns MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and other stations, are having a disagreement and come tomorrow we might not have any of those channels.  The only one I’d really miss would be Comedy Central (and VH1 when it’s time for The Pick Up Artist), but with the baby coming I’m sure we’d start to miss Nockelodeon as well.  We’ve been wanting to cut back on our cable package, so maybe this will give us the excuse to do that.

So, that’s it for 2008.  Amanda had surgery, we got pregnant, America elected a black president and the economy is in the crapper.  Here’s to a bright 2009!

Zach Dotsey

Not too much to talk about today.  Work was really busy and the dogs were driving me crazy.  They kept running around and tussling with each other while I was trying to get stuff done.  I’d let them out but then Harvey would start barking and Bruce would join in.

Other than that, Amanda and I played some more Little Big Planet (or Little Big as I like to call it).  I made a pregnant grocery run for Amanda when she felt like having a sandwich.

Zach Dotsey
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This week little Pistachio is about the size of the palm of a hand and weighs about five ounces.  It’s getting baby fat, though it’s still pretty skinny and the skin is still mostly translucent.  Pistachio is also practicing sucking and swallowing in preparation for breathing and feeding.  The heart beat is also regulated by the brain by now.

Back to work today.  The morning was paticularly busy.

Amanda and I spent a portion of the evening playing some more Little Big Planet.  I think we caught her up just about all the way to how far we had played separately yesterday.

Georgetown beat UConn, which is great news to me.  My least favorite team is the Carolina Tar Heels, but my second least favorite team is the Connecticut Huskies.  The Hoyas won 74-63 at Connecticut.  Yay Huskies!  Now Georgeotwn just need to lose at Duke in a few weeks.

I tried to watch some Deadwood tonight, but as usual I fell asleep halfway through.

Amanda said today that she thinks she might be able to feel the baby moving a little.  She read that it can feel a little like a rumbling or growling in the stomach.

Zach Dotsey

There was no church this Sunday and Amanda and I ended up playing Little Big Planet for the vast majority of the day, although we did take a walk at one point.

We were going to meet Polly and Dace Clawson at Brixx, a new brick oven pizza place across the street from the movie theater at Mayfaire.  Before we went there though we stopped by Best Buy and used up my gift card plus a little more to buy an extra PlayStation 3 controller since Amanda liked Little Big Planet so much.  Those controllers are not cheap!

We had a good time meeting with Polly and Dave.  We talked about all kinds of things- church, small group, kids, pregnancy.  We really enjoyed the food, too.

I played a bit of Little Big Planet with Michael Mercer after Amanda went to bed.  We worked on doing some of the things that you can only accomplish using two players.

Zach Dotsey

Amanda and I stuck around Richlands one more day because Phil’s sister, Ona Pickens, was coming to visit with Peter, her husband, and William, her younger son.  Stanton, the older son, was going to be in Las Vegas as we’d heard earlier, but it turns out he’d been out partying the night before and had to get ready to head to Vegas.  Where’s the love, Stan?

Anyway, they got to the house for lunch.  The grown ups ate in the new sun room and us kids (thirty years old and I still think of myself as a kid?) ate in the kitchen.  After that Michael and I showed Will Left 4 Dead and he and I played it on split-screen in the living room while we hooked up with Michael, who was in the sun room, via Xbox Live.  Amanda watched and the older folks hung out outside or in the shop or someplace.

You know, after years of playing online gaming on TV screens measuring 42 inches or larger, it’s hard to adjust to split-screen.  Oh, it was all good when we were playing Goldeneye or MarioKart 64 with four people on a 19 inch TV, each person getting about a four inch square to play in, but we didn’t really know any better at the time.  Yet another way we have become spoiled by modern technology.

The Pickens crew left after a bit and I got Amanda to take up Will’s spot in Left 4 Dead, but she didn’t play for too long.  Truth be told, the computer AI was a bit better than she was, not that that’s any knock on her.  It’s not like Amanda’s had much practice at playing first person shooters.

Amanda and I decided to go after a bit, but after packing up neither one of us felt like driving.  A deal was eventually struck and we were about to take off, but then we couldn’t find the dogs.

Amanda’s grandparents had come by to return some stuff they borrowed for yesterday’s shindig, and in all the traffic inside and outside and walking around, going to the shop and such, Bruce and Harvey were let out, despite Amanda telling people not to let the dogs out, and nobody kept an eye on them.

It wouldn’t be a huge deal, but Bruce likes to run off and doesn’t always listen when you call him.  Harvey’s a lot more obedient but hasn’t been there very much and was likely to run off just checking out new smells and such.  Amanda nd I frantically looked for them, and everyone else helped too.  I heard some barking that sounded vaguely like Harvey’s across the field in front of the house so I set off that way.

Harvey, it turned out, had been shut up in the shop.  I’d called for him back there and we assume he was trying to come to the people calling him because someone eventually heard him trying to get out.  Bruce had taken off to go visit the neighbors.  So it all turned out okay, but the sun was starting to set and Amanda and I were really apprehensive about trying to find the boys in the dark.  We were, honestly, a bit upset about the whole thing.  I tihnk people know we love our dogs, but sometimes don’t realize just how much.

When we were leaving, Karen said something about how it’s even tougher once we have a kid.  Obviously we’d be more concerned about losing a child, but I think people would be mor ecognizant of letting a kid outside, plus a kid would know to answer back when you’re calling for them.

Anyhoo, all that aside we had a nice Christmastime with both of our families.  We got home (I drove) and vegged.

Zach Dotsey
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Michael Mercer and I were up pretty late playing Left 4 Dead and Resistance 2 last night.  This morning I stayed upstairs for a while as Amanda and Karen got a few things ready to take over to Amanda’s grandparents’ house for the annual big family day after Christmas get together.  It’s thrown every year and is supposed to be hosted by a different family of the grandparents’ generation every year, though oddly this was the first year since I’ve been around that it was hosted by Peggy and Earl Lemons.  Amanda and I appreciated the fact that we didn’t have to go to Raleigh or Oxford for it this year.

I mostly stayed upstairs for the morning.  Amanda and her mom have one thing in common in that they both talk a lot and they’re both loud while doing it.

We went over to the Lemons’ house to help get things ready, although by the time we got there it was pretty much all set.  We had a nice time visiting with the extended family, but there’s not a whole lot to write about in detail.  Caileigh, if I’m spelling that right, Jon and Denise Greene’s baby (Denise had to work and couldn’t come today), has gotten much bigger since we last saw her on for Labor Day weekend.  Of course, babies grow and develop a lot at that age.  She’s walking now and starting to talk.  She’s a beautiful little girl and I had fun playing with her once she warmed up to me.  Of course, Amanda and I are going to steal baby of the family honors in a few months.

Amanda, Michael and I were leaving with Amanda’s dad, Phil, who had come over earlier than the rest of us to help with the pig cooker.  He got stuck in the damp ground, but fortunately Jon Greene had driven his truck and had a chain in it, and, as fortune would have it, was parked right in front of Phil.

Later in the evening we watched the Batman: The Dark Knight Blu Ray movie that Amanda got me for Christmas to go along with the PS3 Blue Ray player.  Phil didn’t make it all the way through, Michael saw it before but couldn’t get into it, I think because he can’t see past the superhero part of it, but Karen said she liked it.  Amanda and I of course had already seen it and liked it a lot.

Everyone else went to bed and Michael and I played some more video games.

Zach Dotsey