Zach Dotsey

What a great night, and there are so many things that were great about this game.

I’ve been amped about the Carolina at Duke game since yesterday.  Going into it, I knew that Duke should win the game handily, and that it could be a blowout, but I figured we wouldn’t be that lucky.  I thought Carolina would hang around for a bit.  In reality, Carolina scored the first single point then Duke killed them from there.

• Michael Mercer, my brother-in-law and UNC fan, told me he was giving me two Duke wins over Carolina for my birthday.  It was a nice touch for him to make the margin of victory on this one the same as the age I just turned: 32.
• The worst loss Roy Williams has ever had was 33.  So close!
• I said beforehand that if Duke beat the largest margin of victory in the series (37, by Carolina many, many years ago) that I’d shave my face.  I thought it was going to happen, but it did not.
• Duke scored more in the first half (53) than Carolina scored the entire game.  That means Duke could have not scored at all in the second half and still get the win.  Think about how crazy that is.
• In the first half, Brian Zoubek had more rebounds by himself than the entire Tar Heel team.
• This was Carolina’s worst loss since 2002 (to Maryland) and the fewest points scored in a game since 2003 (to Duke).
• This was the worst loss by a defending NCAA champion since 1990.
• Duke set a school record for home wins in a season with 17.  All but one of those was by double digits, and the one that wasn’t was an out of conference game.
• Duke tied Maryland for the ACC regular season title but is the #1 seed in the ACC Tournament next week.
• Carolina has secured a #10 seed for the ACC Tournament, their lowest ever.
• Duke is being discussed as being the probable fourth #1 seed for the NCAA Tournament.  It helps that Kansas State lost today.
• It was Senior Night for Jon Scheyer, Brian Zoubek and Lance Thomas.  Coach K was emotional during the Senior Day celebrations, which they showed before the game.
• The Presbyterian fan who was kicked out of a Carolina game by Roy Williams for mild heckling was in attendance.

So it was a good night, as you can see.

We started the day going to Cracker Barrel for breakfast.  Actually, the day started earlier than that.  Bruce kept getting up and going downstairs to bother Karen and Milly woke up and cried a bunch around 1:00.  Maybe she’s teething again, because she was very fussy today.  She didn’t like being put down for naps, and when she did nap it wasn’t for long.  She wasn’t a fan of going to sleep tonight either, although she seemed to go out (or at least quiet down) pretty soon after I shut her door.

Anyway, Cracker Barrel.  We went to Wal-Mart after that to pick up a few things and Karen took off when we got home.  Amanda actually napped on the couch, which is very much a rarity.  I went out to pick up some chicken for our enchilada dinner tonight (we forgot to get it at Wally World) and to drop off the recycling.  I took a huge amount of paper recycling that had built up over a few years.  There were some slips of paper at the bottom of it that had been used for Balderdash, and I can’t remember the last time we played that.

Around 5:00 Amanda started getting things ready for tonight.  Blake and Stephanie Konny came over around 6:30 for dinner.  Since there was time, we went ahead and introduced them to Puerto Rico.  It didn’t go well for me and Amanda.  Blake won, followed by Stephanie then Amanda then me.  That’s okay though, because the game came on before we finished and I’ll admit I was a little distracted.  (Not that that’s why I lost.)  I did DVR the game, and I plan on watching it again.  It really was fun.

Zach Dotsey

Milly was generally happy today.  A little clingy, but pretty happy.

Work went pretty well, except for one snag involving an exception to my first sentence there.  I’d just gotten off a pretty long phone call and had just gotten Milly up from a nap.  She was wet and in need of a diaper change.  I needed to call a couple people back, and there was one of them that I knew wouldn’t be bothered by hearing a little bit of Milly in the background.  At the same time, Kevin Millard was coming by to bounce some website ideas off my head.  I’d told him I’d probably be on the phone and to just come on it.

So that was the scene.  I was on the phone wiping Milly when Kevin walked in.  Bruce, as he will sometimes, but not usually, do, started barking like mad at Kevin.  I asked the client on the phone to hold on, put it on mute and went to try to calm Bruce down.  He ran away.  At the same time, as I was going to get Bruce Milly, I guess because I left her, started crying as if something had bitten her.  I tried to calm her down while talking to the client, and Kevin told me he’d have finished the diaper for me but he didn’t know how our diapers work or which was dirty and which was clean.  He was kind enough to put her in the pack & play as I went after Bruce again, since he came down the hall to remind me that Kevin was there.  I finally got him on the steps and put him outside.  At this point though, Milly was still really upset, even with me holding her, so I apologized to the client and told her we’d have to talk later.

Whew!  I was Mr. Popular for a time there, about 40 minutes or so spanning that first phone call, what with missed calls, visits and people wanting my attention.

All that aside, Milly was really cute today.  Amanda’s remarked lately how much better she can crawl around and get to her feet now.  She also drank most of six ounces of formula every feeding but her last.

After Milly went to sleep Amanda and I watched How I Met Your Mother, after which she watched some of The Bachelor.  She was in bed for that, but during the show they announced the contestants for the next Dancing with the Stars, one of which, she told me, is Erin Andrews.  That might get me to watch that show at least a little.  Well, at least as much as when they had Stacy Keibler on there.

Oh, happy birthday to Kristen Barriner, by the way!  I meant to call or email her about that.  Guess it’s not too late yet to say it on Facebook at least.

Zach Dotsey
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Tonight Amanda and I watched Duke take on the Golden Hurricanes of Tulsa.  Coach K scheduled the game with the projected top team in Conference USA (though it hasn’t panned out that way for them) to give his team a late-season look at the type of game they can expect early in the NCAA tournament.  It was actually a very close game in the first half but Duke stepped it up in the second and won by 18 points.  The freshmen got a lot of burn too.  Andre Dawkins was in a good bit, it seemed, though I’m not sure if he scored.  He kept trying though, which is good.  He started off the year shooting very well, but he’s been through some tough, personal issues.  Coach K said recently that Dre is about to break out, so hopefully it’ll come at tourney time.  Zoubek had a double-double and if he keeps playing like he has the past few games there’s no telling how far Duke can go.

You know, I just realized that I forgot to mention that Carolina played Florida State and lost by 10, though the game wasn’t even as close as that makes it sound.  They’re now tied for last in the ACC with NC State.  Some polls show the Heels as being ahead since they beat the Wolfpack twice, but some have the Pack ahead because they have a better overall record.

Amanda spent a good portion of the day picking up, cleaning and vacuuming around the house in preparation of the arrival of the Lambeth clan.  Ben, Jessica, Graelyn and Mack got here around a quarter past nine.  Mack and Harvey spent all night playing out in the yard while Bruce hung out inside where Amanda and I introduced Ben and Jessica to Puerto Rico.  Amanda won.  I scored seven less than she did and Ben and Jessica tied with one point less than me, though Ben won the tiebreaker since he had more money.

We got to hang out with Graelyn a bit before that though.  She’s five months old now and so cute.  It’s funny how light she is, and yet she’s a sizable baby for her age.  I’m just so used to holding Milly, you know.  She interacted with me some and gave me a few smiles.

Harvey won’t leave his infected paw alone.  He was able to lick it even with his cone on, so I ended up electrical taping his bandage and gauze onto his foot and Amanda went by Dineen Animal Hospital to get a larger cone.  It’s so funny how he bumps into everything when he’s got it on.

I woke up a little late this morning.  Usually I’ll hear Milly making noises if I sleep in some, but she slept in too.  My morning was a mad scramble which wasn’t helped by my baby’s unwillingness to drink much of her formula.  It’s funny- she’ll drink hardly any formula but she’ll eat all of her oatmeal.  She wolfs that stuff down these days.

It was very cold today.  I even heard reports of a little bit of snow being sighted (though none accumulated at all), but it’s supposed to warm up tomorrow.

Zach Dotsey

Amanda got home a bit later than usual from work today.  They went out to lunch for Charity’s birthday.  She called to make sure Milly was manageable first and asked if I minded.  She also stopped by the grocery store on the way home to pick up a few things, which is good because I’ve had cereal for breakfast, lunch and dinner a fair bit lately.

I asked Amanda a couple days ago what she thought about making it a point to make a cleaning schedule for each day she gets home early.  She started today, cleaning up the kitchen and putting up a couple loads of laundry.

Speaking of laundry, I discovered this morning that Bruce had peed on Milly’s play mat, and as I was loading it and some other stuff into dryer, I noticed that the stuff in the dryer smelled funny.  Apparently our cat, Cobb, who used to pee on clothes in the closet until we made it so he couldn’t open the sliding door to get in there, found that there are clothes he can pee on in the dryer if the dryer door is left open for him.  So I had to wash a recently-washed load of towels to boot.

Kirsten got here a little bit earlier than usual to babysit the Millster.  Milly was playing in her fortress when Kirsten got here and was excited to see her.

I’m enjoying small group.  We don’t always have the best discussions, but I really enjoy the people in it.

After we got home Amanda went on to bed and I watched the second half of Carolina getting stomped at Georgia Tech.  Carolina has 21 points in the first half, compared to Georgia Tech’s 41.  I think at some point in the second half the Heels had more turnovers for the game than they did made shots and were shooting somewhere around 20%.  The Yellow Jackets won 68-51, which was nice to see.

After that I watched Kentucky beat Mississippi State in overtime.  I hate to say it, but there were some game changingly bad calls.  UK won 81-75 with a little bit of free throw inflation.

Zach Dotsey

Amanda, Milly and I left this morning around 9:00 on what would turn out to be the longest trip to Rougemont, normally about a two and a half hour trip, ever.

First we stopped off in Clayton at about 11:30 to see my boss, Scott.  We used the GPS to get there.  Anyway, Scott hadn’t met Milly yet and Amanda hadn’t even met his younger daughter, Ava, who is now… two or three?  Scott, Ava and his wife, Ann Marie, were all there.  Addie, the older daughter, was in school.

After that we met up with Erin at Southpoint for lunch.  We were there for a bit before she got there, then we went to look for a birthday present for her.  Since the dogs were in the car, I ended up taking Milly and heading on out while Amanda and Erin shopped.  We did get Milly her first ever Duke hat.

On the way to the Rouge I called my old buddy, Jason Revill, to update him on my goings-on, since he was going to try to meet up with us.  He was helping prepare some stuff with his parents at Aldersgate Church, so Milly and I ended up stopping by there to see them.  Nearly eight months old, and she finally gets to meet my best friend and his parents, who were like a second set of parents to me.  We tried to get together before, but it just never worked out.  It felt special to be able to introduce Milly to them.

We went on to Rougemont after that, arriving at about 4:00.  Seven hours, longest trip from Wilmington to Rougemont ever.  My dad, Andra and her baby, Addison, were there.  Addison was so sweet.  She was excited to see Milly (they’re exactly seven months apart) and kept hugging her.  Milly isn’t very advanced on her interactions with people her size yet, so I think it annoyed her more than anything else.  But it was so sweet to see.  I thought many times today that I can’t wait for them to be big enough to really play together.

Josh and Jackson arrived with Erin and Amanda right after them.  Amanda and Erin had seen Elmo and Dulce, one of my parents’ dogs and Erin’s, by the road and had picked them up.  Amanda got some poop or something on her clothes from it, so she went to change and wash her clothes.  I spent some time working this evening.

Uncle Roy got home from work as Jackson and left to find some Cold-Eeze, mainly for Amanda because she felt some sick coming on, but I had a little bit of a sore throat yesterday and thought it would be good for me too.  We went to three or four nearby places but couldn’t find any.  I had a good time riding around with Jackson.  I told him why we preferred to call my mom Mum Mum instead of Nana (a name in honor of my own grandma versus a name similar to what we’re calling Milly’s other grandma, which could make it confusing) and he told me that with my peacoat on I looked like a villain spy.  He asked if I was a spy so we talked about what situations I’d be able to tell him if I was a spy or not.

As I said, we didn’t find the Cold-Eeze, and I didn’t realize Amanda wanted them as bad as she did, so I went back out after I dropped Jackson back off at the house and this time I went towards Durham instead of towards Roxboro.  I also picked up some extra baby food because Milly was wolfing it down.  On the way back I noticed that it was lightly snowing.  Amanda’s brother, Michael, texted a little later and said it was coming down pretty heavily in Wilmington and actually sticking.

Amanda and I put Milly to bed after I got back then Erin, Josh and Andra went out and Dad went to pick up my mom, whose flight had been delayed.

Amanda got Addison to go to bed then she went to bed herself shortly after.  I snoozed on the couch while Jackson played Wii.  When he was done he wanted to watch cartoons, and while I was flipping through the channels trying to find Cartoon Network for him we came across Pink Floyd’s The Wall, which he decided he wanted to watch.

I just went to let Bruce and Harvey out to pee and the ground is already covered in snow, so tomorrow we’ll have to get some pictures of Milly out there in it.  Amanda packed warm clothes for her just in case this situation occurred.

Zach Dotsey

Our day started out in a similar manner to yesterday, with Milly talking to herself off and on throughout the early morning until she fussed, at which time she spent a few minutes in bed before we got up to feed her.  Phil went to church early because the Baptist Men’s Group was singing in the choir (or some such).  Amanda went to get some biscuits for me, Karen and herself for breakfast then Karen went to church.

Amanda and I played MarioKart and took showers.  When Karen got home, about the time Michael and Jenn both got up, she made some steak and cheese sandwiches out of leftovers from last night.  She laid a bunch of other stuff out too, basically trying to get rid of as much food as she could before we all left.

After Milly went down for a nap Amanda, Michael, Karen and I played Puerto Rico.  Jenn wasn’t feeling it and Phil’s not much of one for playing games.  Amanda won this one, but the point spread was crazy close.  She had 43, Karen and I tied at 42 (though Karen had more dubloons, so she won that tie-breaker) and Michael had 41.  I really like that game and I could play it back to back several times if someone else would go along with it.

It was just about to time to feed Milly again after the game so she was fed and everyone packed up to leave.  Michael and Jenn left a little before us.  Bruce snuck out of the house while I was going out to load the car and jumped in, waiting for us to take off.  He stayed in there the whole time, except for when I took him out right before we left so he could relieve himself.

The ride home was without incident, though Milly again didn’t sleep on the trip and was angry fussing the last ten miles.  We thought she’d pooped, but it turned out that one of the dogs, very likely Harvey, had simply farted.

Back home we unpacked and watched an episode of The Soup and a couple Law & Order: SVU’s.

Two other things of note from today:

1.  Amanda accidentally knocked a statue of St. Francis of Assisi in the sunroom onto the very laptop I’m typing on right now.  It’s working fine, but I think a few keys are loose and there are a few very small pock marks on the screen now.

2.  Jason Revill called me today and asked me a favor.  He wanted me to call Barry Frazelle, Amanda’s uncle who is a dentist, and ask him about a situation.  You see, Jason went to Greensboro this weekend to hang out with some guys we went to college with.  Apparently Jaime Arnold accidentally knocked Jason down.  Jason tripped at the same time and ended up faceplanting into the ground.  His front left tooth was knocked back (on top of busting his lip and getting a shiner) but he was able to push it back into place.  He said it doesn’t hurt or bother him except for when he messes with it.

I talked to Barry and he said to keep on a soft diet and take Advil.  As for what would happen with the tooth, he said it depended on the root.  If the root wasn’t damaged they would splint the tooth by tying it to one next to it with floss and put something on it to keep it in place until it heals.If the root was damaged though, he’d need a root canal and that sucker is going to have to come out.

Zach Dotsey
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Milly continues to pull herself around all over the place.  Over the past day or two she’s also gotten better at feeding herself her puffs.  They’re little fast-dissolving, bland with a hint of flavor cereal-sized cracker things.  Amanda calls them crackers, I call them puffs.  They’re kinda puffy.  Anyway, over the past couple days she’s gotten to where she can usually grab one between her thumb and forefinger and put it in her mouth.  If she can’t quite get it to go in that way she’ll palm her face and sometimes that will get it in.  Of course, she just about as often drops it on the floor, which Bruce and Harvey don’t much mind.

I also noticed in the last couple days that Milly has made more complex noises now and then.  Changes in volume and pitch, I think.

I made the mistake yesterday of saying something about not being too busy at work, so of course I worked until about 9:00 tonight.  I did have a meeting that went much longer than I expected which pushed me back a bit, but at least it was profitable.

Last night Kansas State beat up-to-then undefeated #1 Texas.  I only watched the last few minutes of the game and they both played sloppy.  The Wildcats kept trying to let Texas back into the game, but the Longhorns declined time and again, and so now, should they win out the rest of the week, another team of Wildcats, that final undefeated team from Kentucky, will be #1.

I fell asleep on the couch, woke up around 3:00, turned off the TV and the lamp and pulled the covers back up over myself and Bruce, who was cuddling with me.  I woke up again when Amanda’s alarm went off upstairs and I went to bed then.  Amanda told me she’d rolled over to give me a kiss then realized that what she thought was me was just my pillow.

Mia and Joel headed to the hospital today to get Mia induced.  I texted Joel this evening and asked if he was having fun yet.  He said nothing was really happening yet.

Mike called me to tell me that Henry had a temperature (101 or 102, can’t remember which he said) and they were afraid Lauren might be sick too (or maybe just teething) but that one of them, he or Sarah, would try to make it to small group.  I told him to not worry about it and tend to the family.

I texted our other couple that nobody else was going to be able to make small group tonight.

At least I got to use the time to get some work done.

Amanda’s grandparents came by after an appointment of one kind or another for Earl.  I was away at my meeting for most the time they were here.  Earl has been wanting to come by since forever to build a little trim into the space between our counters and the stove, so he took care of most of that today.

Amanda ordered the board game Puerto Rico from Amazon.com last week or so and it came today.  She called me while I was out and informed me that she was afraid to open it because while the cover and the description on the back were in English, the picture of the game and pieces on the back had everything written in what she correctly guessed was German.  The return policy was that if something was opened you couldn’t return it, so Amanda called Amazon to ask them about it.  They told her to go ahead and open it and everything turned out fine.  That is, Amanda won’t be forced to learn German afterall.

Zach Dotsey