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

On Friday I noticed a text message from Elliot Clark from sometime after 2:00 in the morning letting the world know that his and Melissa’s baby, Ella, would be here soon.  I hadn’t heard anything since (and I didn’t want to put anything on here since I didn’t know what was going on), so I texted him and asked how everything was going.  He called this evening and told us that mom and baby were fine.  Melissa’s water had broken but they didn’t think it was what it was until just a little later.  To my understanding, Ella, who was early, wasn’t turned right.  They had actually been scheduled to turn her anyway, and when they couldn’t get it done at the hospital they went ahead and had a c-section.  So, welcome to the world, Ella Jane Clark!  We’re excited about another little friend for Milly.

Amanda and Karen’s big adventure was to go to a place where they could blow glass and make their own things with the Frazelle ladies.  I think Amanda said she made a bowl and Karen made a vase.  Sounds like they had a fun time.

The morning was pretty much just me and Milly.  Amanda’s grandparents, Peggy and Earl Lemons, got here with a kitchen new sink for us.  Well, it wasn’t entirely new, but it was gently used.  They go it from their church, which just got a new sink.  It’s a bit deeper than the one we had, plus the fixtures work much better.  On our old one, you had to push the handle up pretty hard and the sprayer was all gunked up.  The nice thing about that was that even though the spray only came out of one hole, it had a lot of pressure, so it was pretty good for cleaning.

Anyway, they got here around 12:30 I think.  I was watching Carolina play a close game with Boston College to help determine which of them was going to be tied for second last in the ACC.  Fortunately, the Eagles were able to pull out the win.  NC State had a big upset over Wake Forest after that, but for most of those two games Earl and I were working on getting the sink installed.  Michael came over early in the second game while his grandpa and I were on a run to Lowe’s and Amanda and Karen got back just as we were finishing up.  Earl had said to me that he wondered what Amanda might give me tonight if she was really pleased with the sink.  I thought that was hilarious.

Amanda went to a jewelry party thing at the Cains’ house while their other half came over just as everyone else was leaving here.  We flipped around the TV a bit and settled on watching the Winter Olympic sport of curling.  People make fun of it, but we really got wrapped up in it.

Zach Dotsey

This week went by pretty fast but today seemed to go pretty slow.  I got done most of what I wanted to get done, and it felt great not to feel as rushed as I’ve felt the past few weeks.

Amanda kept herself pretty busy today.  On top of keeping up with Milly she did a lot of cleaning today plus some household shopping and cooking.

Amanda’s mom’s birthday is Sunday and her sister, Anna Frazelle, has some sort of surprise lined up for her and for Amanda (an early birthday present) tomorrow.  Karen came here this evening with plans to stay the night and watch Milly while Amanda and I went out to eat, but we surprised her by having dinner for her.  Amanda’s dad, Phil, came without Karen knowing (although he showed up before she even got in the house) and Michael and Jenn arrived just a few minutes later.

Milly was hardly left alone, which she didn’t mind.  We ate dinner and cupcakes and Phil left to go back to Richlands while Milly was (not really) eating her dinner.  The rest of us played Puerto Rico after we got Milly down to sleep.  Amanda won by six points.  Michael (and Jenn, who wasn’t really playing but was ostensibly on Michael’s team) and I tied, but I had more money so I won the tiebreaker, leaving Karen in last place.

Zach Dotsey
.

Happy 27th birthday, Michael Mercer!  He worked early this morning then I think Jenn took him out to eat and watched him eat (she’s a picky eater, if it hasn’t been mentioned before) and when Amanda called him they were sitting around watching One Tree Hill.  Her choice, not his, I believe.

I worked upstairs pretty much all day today so that Milly could play and crawl around as much as she wanted in the nursery, without me having to worry about her getting into things or going after the power cord on the laptop.  She loves that thing.

It was a pretty tough day.  Usually I get a lot done while Milly takes her naps, but she woke up early from them and wouldn’t stop crying until I got her out of the crib.  On top of that she’s gotten to where she likes to drink about half of her formula then flip over and start crawling around.  The formula doesn’t go to waste (much) because we just mix it in with rice cereal, but it’s looking like the days of letting her feed herself the bottle are gone, or at least cut in half.

I don’t mean to complain about Milly.  She’s a terrific baby and still generally pretty easy to deal with.  I just fear that something will have to change soon in regards to me watching her while I work.  Some of this can probably be attributed to her teething, but as she gets more mobile and independent, watching her is going to become increasingly difficult.  I know Amy’s offered to help watch her during the day, but it’s not like I can get her to do that every Monday and every morning

Not too much else to report on today.  Milly went down for a nap a little earlier than usual this evening and wasn’t up when Amanda got home, which was a bit of a disappointment to her, but they got to spend plenty of time together after she woke up as I was catching up on work, as I’ve been doing for what seems like months now.

In happy news today, the Carolina Tar Heels dropped out of the top 25 in both polls today for the first time since January of  2006.  They did, mysteriously, receive one ranking vote in one of the polls.  That’s nuts.  Even die-hard Carolina fans know they have no right to be ranked right now.

In other news, Milly ate her first Goldfish today.  I stayed right next to her to make sure it wasn’t too tough for her or that she’d choke on it.  She didn’t seem to like it much, probably too salty.  And speaking of choking on something, I found two pieces of rug in Milly’s mouth from when she was crawling around in the nursery this morning, so I’ve now rolled that rug up.

And speaking of things in mouths, Jason’s going to have to have two root canals.  Apparently he damaged the tooth next to the one that was bent back as well.ja

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
.

Neither Amanda nor I slept all that well last night.  We’d wake up just about any time Milly made a noise.  I’m sure she does it all the time, but it’s different being in the same room with her.  On top of that, it seemed like the dogs kept wanting to come and go in and out of the room.

Amanda and I went with Karen to the home of Peggy and Earl Lemons (Amanda’s grandparents) for the country breakfast they serve every Saturday.  We got to see their new car.  Their Taurus was giving them some trouble so they bought an Impala.  We put Milly down for a nap in Peggy and Earl’s room right before we ate and afterwards I went to check on her.  I decided to lie down with her and she turned and snuggled up on me.  It was so sweet.  The time in between was spent eating and debating etiquette.

We got back to the Mercer house around noon and gave Milly her lunch.  Amanda and Karen went back out to do some shopping.  After I put Milly down for a nap (she didn’t have a particularly long one at her great-grandparents’ house) Michael, Jenn and I played Puerto Rico.  I beat Michael by a point.  He would have beat me but he misunderstood the implications of one of his picks.  That was my first win at that game.

We played a little MarioKart and Amanda played some when she got home too, feeding Milly in between.  Peggy and Earl came over a little later to have dinner and celebrate Michael’s birthday, which is Monday.  We also watched NC State suck it up against Maryland, which I figured would happen since the Pack beat Duke a few days ago.  Texas, who started the week undefeated but lost to Kansas State earlier, lost to UConn.

Anyway, we had a great dinner of steak, potatoes, salad, apple sauce, green beans and more.  In attendance were Amanda and I, plus Milly after we’d mostly finished eating, Karen and Phil, Peggy and Earl and Jenn.  Plus Michael, of course, as it was his birthday we were celebrating.

9:00 came around and we turned on the Duke-Clemson game.  Now, Clemson humiliated Duke last year at Littlejohn Coliseum and held Duke to 47 points, which was the lowest score Duke had in a long, long time.  Clemson’s been mostly playing pretty well lately, and Duke’s been sucking it up on the road though they beat Clemson soundly a few weeks ago.  A loss would put a lot of doubt on the Blue Devils, but a win would show that Duke can win in an opponent’s arena, and against tough competition at that.

The game was tied at a horrendously low 23 at the half.  Duke ended up winning 60-47 though.  (Remember that number, 47?)  Nolan Smith had a great game and Lance Thomas actually outscored Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer.  The second half was all Duke.

Michael is sitting across from me now, playing with his new iPod Touch.  He had a problem updating iTunes, which he needed to do to register his Touch and ended up just formatting his computer to get it to work.  Well, it works now and he’s looking at games to download for it.

Zach Dotsey

I had a bit of running around to do this morning.  I left the house around 9:30 and went over to Michael’s apartment to put his cats in their carriers because the apartment was getting sprayed around 10:00 and it was thought best for their health if they were not allowed to go sniffing around the insecticide for a bit.  After I got them up (Mooo! was no problem, but Goat struggled a bit) I picked up my paycheck, dropped it off at the bank then went to Port City Java to do some work.  I left a little before noon to let the cats back out and headed back home.

Back at the house Amanda had everything packed up, so I took care of a few quick work items then we headed off to Richlands.  Milly didn’t sleep at all on the trip, but she was good the whole way.

Once there we went to Arnold’s with Amanda’s dad then stopped by Richlands High to pay her mom a surprise visit.  It was a teacher’s workday, so no kids were around or anything.  On the way back to the Mercer homestead we stopped by to see Miss Eleanor.

Back at the house I took care of some work until breakfast-dinner.  Michael and Jenn showed up at some point before dinner and played some MarioKart.  I had to take some time out to play that.  I tried using the normal controllers that Michael brought, but I’m so used to to using the Wiimote that I got some controls mixed up.

After dinner and eating we let Milly hang out for just a little bit.  She took a few more small crawls, but I’m not sure if Karen, whom we called every time she did it, got to see her in action.

After we got Milly down Amanda and I introduced Karen, Michael and Jenn to Puerto Rico.  We were planning on doing a round or two to teach it to them, because the game is really hard to explain without actually playing it, but we never started over.  Michael won, beating me by two points.  Every time we play that game I want to play again right after.  Hasn’t happened yet though.

Amanda came back downstairs after going up to bed.  Milly had woken up when Amanda was trying to get sheets and such for Michael from the room my whole clan is staying in, and doing it in the dark she ended up making some noise, and making some noise she woke Milly up.  She was pretty upset, but we held her for a bit and changed her diaper and she went right back down.  So far so good anyway.

So here’s something I’m really excited about.  Seth Holloman called today and asked if I’d be interested in going to the Duke-Florida State game on Wednesday and sitting front row for an extremely reasonable price.  Um, YEAH!  So he and I are heading to Durham on Wednesday.  Amanda’s a bit jealous, but she’s cool with it.

Zach Dotsey