Zach Dotsey

Since I couldn’t get the car started last night, well, since I couldn’t get it to turn on without jumping it every time, I called Nick to see if he could pick me up for church, since I was running a camera this morning.  It turned out that he and Amy were hanging out with the Paschals last night and Nick had left his phone.  I had tried calling Amy, too, but since they were in the middle of a movie they didn’t answer, which is understandable.

Anyway, Nick ended up getting my messages and tried getting in touch, but I go to bed between 10 and 11 on the nights before I serve at church, so I didn’t see any of that.  When I picked up my phone and headed out the door this morning I discovered that Nick had come by the house just in case and had left just a minute or two before I walked out the door.

I felt bad for wasting his time, but it was really nice of him to try so persistently to get back in touch with me and to help out.

Since I had the only working car I left after I finished running the camera at the 9:00 service to pick up my girls for the 11:00 service.  Amanda was just about done getting ready when I got home and Milly was playing on the floor in the nursery.  She gave me a huge grin when she saw me.

After running the camera at the 11:00 service I sat with Amanda for the message, and after the service I went to pick up Milly from Grow Zone while Amanda made straight for the ladies’ room.  Amanda’s aunt and uncle, Anna and Barry Frazelle, saw me on the way to Grow Zone so I talked to them for a minute and we made plans to get together later.

I met Amanda with Milly back in the main auditorium where I also saw Seth Holloman’s parents.  I asked his mom if he was back in from visiting his wife, Dana’s parents in Kansas and she said she’d just gotten a text during the service that his plane had landed at RDU.

Back home I talked to Seth about coming over to watch Duke host Clemson to start the ACC basketball season.  He ended up just staying home and relaxing, which is understandable coming from a different time zone then still having to drive a couple hours.

After a little time at home Amanda, Milly and I headed over to the Frazelle house.  Hannah was home and Anna and Kirsten showed up a few minutes later.  Barry arrived a little after them.  He asked if I could help him with something and when I went outside I saw that he had a new 40-something inch plasma TV.  I walked through the house to open the side door for the room it was going in and mentioned something to Anna, who was in the kitchen, something about getting a new TV.  Anna’s response was, “Whaaa?”  Apparently it was a surprise.

After I helped carry the box into the house I smelled something funny and realized it was my hand.  I said something to Barry about the TV’s box smelling funny then he said he had dragged it through part of the yard and it was probably some of their dog Scout’s dookie.  I asked if he thought so and put my hand in his face.

That was funny, but it turned out that the box and/or the TV itself did smell odd.

We set up the TV, which gave them a lot more space in that room, and played some Wii.  Amanda and I introduced the Frazelles to MarioKart and Rayman’s Raving Rabbids before we all played a little Fit.

Anna fed us dinner, but we had to go very soon after eating because we didn’t have Milly’s dinner with us and it was just about her bedtime.  I was worried about getting back home in time for tipoff for Duke’s game, but it turned out not to matter, thanks to Wake Forest and Xavier.  They went into two overtimes and most people only got to see about two and a half minutes of the first half.  I was seething inside at this, but I controlled it well.  Amanda even commended me.  Wake eventually won, but I didn’t really care- I was just ready for my game, the conference game between two ranked opponents, to be on.

The good news is that Duke held Clemson, who is, by all accounts, a pretty good team this year, to just 12 points compared to their own 30.  Clemson came out with a run to start the second half, but then Duke woke up and beat the Tigers 74-53.  It was nice revenge for the embarrassment Clemson put on the Blue Devils last year.

Zach Dotsey

After getting Milly up, fed and dressed, then taking showers ourselves, Amanda and I went to Sam’s to get some more Enfamil then scooted over to Old Navy, where they had a 50% off sale on outerwear today.  Amanda picked a couple things out for Milly, but the lines were ridiculously long so we ended up just leaving, which is probably just as well.

After that we headed over to Wrightsville Beach to see the Frazelles and take a walk on the beach.  I ended up helping Barry back some files up on his Mac because he was going to reinstall the operating system, which is a few years old.  It needed it, too.  It probably took more than five minutes for that thing to reboot.

We took our walk with Barry and Anna, but Barry didn’t get too far because their dog, Scout, got tired really soon after we got out there.  Anna mentioned that he probably wouldn’t be brought out on the beach much anymore for walks.

Milly got to taste a couple new things today.  Barry had a chocolate-dipped granola bar still in the wrapper that Milly was enjoying playing with, so I actually let her lick the chocolate off of one.  She really liked it and had chocolate all over her mouth and running, mixed with drool, down her face.  Later on I let her try a granola bar without chocolate and a BBQ potato chip, which she also enjoyed licking.  I didn’t think her reaction to that would have been so positive.

So the tally so far is BBQ chips, chocolate, granola bars, pizza sauce and chicken salad mayo sauce = yummy, apple sauce = icky face.  My girl’s going to like junk food.

When we got home Amanda and I (mostly I, but Amanda seemed to look forward to it despite not liking football) watched Duke play at Carolina.  It was Duke’s most favored chance to beat Carolina in a really long time.  The end of the first half saw the score tied at six all, all points scored on field goals.  Carolina turned it up in the fourth quarter though and ended up winning 19-6, which was disappointing.  Duke’s offense just couldn’t do much.

Amanda went and got us some chips and some sandwich supplies, but one of the bags of chips was nasty and stale, though it was still sealed when we got it and the date on it was fine.  I took it back at halftime and checked the new bag before I even got out of the store.

Amanda folded a bunch of clothes tonight.  We got into laundry mode for the day because we had some clean clothes sitting on the guest bed that Cobb decided to pee on.  I blame ourselves because the litter hadn’t been cleaned in a bit.  Still, it’s frustrating.  Fortunately we don’t think the cat pee went through to the mattress.

I tried something new when I gave Milly her bath tonight, and that was to just pour the cup full of water that I use to rinse her right down her head, not worrying about directing it away from her face.  It didn’t seem to bother her at all, which bodes well for her living at the beach.  More importantly, it made all her hair go down in front of her face, like bangs.  She has some hair that comes down past her eyebrows, but what I want to get at is that when I did that and then she opened her eyes, I think I could see her as she’ll look as a little girl.  I mentioned a similar vision in regards to Eli Warkentien a while back, but now I can see it with Milly, which is pretty cool.

I talked to my mom for about a half hour tonight.  I think the commute to Rochester during the week is tough on her, but it sounds like she’s pleased with a lot of stuff going on at home.  At the end of our conversation, talking about Milly, Mom agreed that she’s a very pretty baby, but she also said that she’s very endearing with her little personality.  In my best Robert Barone: “Everybody loves Milly.”

Zach Dotsey
.

I had a dream last night that I was at Wrightsville Beach and a giant wave, I’m talking a wave that towered over the beachfront homes, literally engulfing them and blocking out the sun, hit the beach.  There may have been multiple waves.  Anyway,  I was at Anna and Barry’s house and that stayed intact, but Barry told me I couldn’t stay there and I had to go home because he was worried about rations for his family.  I couldn’t drive, but he did let me take a bike.  It felt like a death sentence because there was a feeling that another wave was imminent.

The weather was crappy today.  It was cloudy and the water was rough all day.  I didn’t even bother trying to surf.

Barry, who had gone home late yesterday to take care of Scout, came with Christian Black.  He, Hannah and Kirsten seemed to have a good time playing with Milly after breakfast.

We played a full game of Mexican Train.  Anna, who I think won last night, lost bad.  Kirsten won.

Jenn Greenawalt, Michael’s girlfriend, arrived during the game.  He had been in a good position to win, and even though we played his turns fairly for him while he was on the phone with Jenn, giving her directions, it was a turning point for him.

The Frazelles left this evening, figuring that most of tomorrow would just be packing up and getting ready to leave.

We played two games of Settlers of Catan tonight.  Amanda won against Michael, Ryan, Paul and me in the first game, but she probably wouldn’t have if I hadn’t cut off a possible longest road that Michael would have gotten.  In my defense, I was in it to win it, though I knew it was a long shot.  At least Michael’s much ballyhooed streak over.  In the second game, I won against Amanda, Ryan and Paul.

Zach Dotsey

It’s a good thing Amanda and I didn’t waste much time this morning after we woke up.  We got up, ate cereal, took showers and, semi-arbitrarily, decided to go vote.  North Carolina is one of the states that allows early voting, which is a great idea.  What sucked, though, is that it took us literally about three and a half hours.  We got to the north campus of Cape Fear Community College at about a quarter after ten and didn’t leave until about ten ’til two.

Part of the problem is that I heard the news reported that this early voting station, a mere five minute drive from our house, has not been crowded, so I think that encouraged more people to vote there.

It wasn’t very exciting.  There were two somewhat obnoxious guys behind us for the first hour, maybe less, but they eventually bailed.  We talked to a lady in front of us a bit.  Other than that it was a bunch of standing and sometimes sitting on the floor.

To make things worse I forgot to charge my iPhone last night.  There was enough juice to take a couple pictures and for Amanda and I to use the internet to brush up on some of the candidates’ stances on issues (one of us actually changed who we decided to vote for) and to have a short phone conversation.  Nick and Amy Warkentien were going to a Polish festival and had invited us to go, but we didn’t make it out in time.

So who did we vote for?  It doesn’t matter, really.  I don’t feel like enough with change no matter who wins the election.  It’s historical either way though- a (half) black president or a female vice president.  I really wish I’d brushed up on the local candidates though.  I’m kind of embarrassed that I didn’t.

One thing I think they should do if they’re going to offer early voting is to let them voting stations stay open later.  They’re open from 9:00 to 4:00, which is great if you’re a college student or you don’t work.  They should be open during times that are convenient for more people, and I think they’d have a greater impact that way.

After serving our grueling duty for America Amanda and I went home, let Bruce and Harvey out for a bit and watched last night’s episode of The Soup before heading out to Wrightsville Beach.  Amanda and her aunt, Anna Frazelle, walked Bruce, Harvey and Scout.  I was going to go too, but Amanda’s brother, Michael Mercer, showed up right before they left and he and I were going to go with Barry Frazelle, their uncle, to look at wetsuits.

First we went to Surf City, where Michael and I both found suits that fit us perfectly- he a small and I a medium short.  We then went to Sweetwater to compare what they had there.  There were some less expensive wetsuits at Sweetwater, but Surf City was willing to match prices and deals.  Michael ended up buying the one he tried on earlier and I had them order me one of the same because they didn’t have it in my size.  I liked his better because it’s got a part that helps cover up the neck hole to keep from getting flushed as much.  I hate to copy him, but it’s a good deal and it’s exactly what I want as well.

Before we went back to Sweetwater to get Michael’s wetsuit (and booties) Barry took us to Vito’s Pizza and bought us each a beer for the hard shopping work we’d done.

Amanda and I left Anna and Barry’s shortly after we got back.  She was hungry and ready to go.  her original plan was to make some macaroni and cheese, but we had to stop and get some dog food (it ran out this morning) and she was too hungry to really wait.  Not wanting to be a man who starves his pregnant wife, we stopped at Atlanta Bread for some quick dinner, got the dog food and came on home.

We watched Fringe and an episode of Law & Order: SVU before Amanda went to bed.  I watched a Smallville and am about to go to bed soon.  We gain an hour of sleep by getting to set our clocks back, but I hate it because it will be dark after work so I won’t get to go surfing during the week so much anymore.

The Duke Blue Devils football team, as I read it, threw away a victory over Wake Forest today.  Apparently the special teams just melted down today, although the offense was doing well.  That’s okay- Coach Cut has already really improved this Blue Devils team and in subsequent years he’s only going to make it better and better.  They’re already markedly better than they have been in a long time.

Zach Dotsey