Happy birthday to both my godfather, my uncle Bernie Dotsey, and my first nephew, two-year-old Jackson Wiley Sawyer. Amanda and I weren’t able to get down to Gastonia for the event, but Andra and Josh threw their son quite the shindig from the sound of it. They had a pinata and everything. Sorry we couldn’t make it for you, Jackson, but we do have some birthday gifts for you.
Our finances are already starting to recover from Christmas. I paid the bills today and had a little more left than I expected, so that’s a nice thing.
Amanda and I did the usual Saturday morning routine complete with “Brucey cuddle time” and breakfast. We ate at Cracker Barrel. We started playing a game of checkers while we were waiting but we got seated earlier than we expected. Neither of us had made a jump yet, but from the positioning the stuff was about to hit the fan in the next move or two. While we were waiting for our food (which took a curiously long time) Amanda saw Trish, one of the girls she works with, and talked to her for a few minutes.
After Cracker Barrel we headed over to PetSmart. The kitty litter we got last time was terrible. It doesn’t clump the cat pee very well and, I think as a result, it smells heavily of ammonia. On top of that, you have to make sure not to inhale when you’re cleaning it out because it kicks up dust and fumes very easily. I wish I remembered what kind it was, because it was really awful.
On the way into PetSmart we saw a couple with three Papillons. As I am pretty well acquainted with Papillons (my mom’s had two) I stopped and talked to them. They mentioned that their dogs were grandchildren of a certain Papillon champion show dog. I called my mom to tell her about that (she and my dad were on the way to Gastonia) and asked if I could find out how to contact the breeder. I hunted the people down and they very graciously gave the breeder’s name and location, as well as their own name.
Amanda and I headed over to Target after PetSmart to grab a few things; mostly candy for stocking stuffers. I got a Santa hat (it was cheap) and we got a couple other minor things. After that it was time to go home and clean up.
Yes, it was a cleaning day. We vacuumed, bleached the shower curtains, did all the colored laundry, threw out and replaced the cat litter (and cleaned the box while I was at it), Amanda even put shiny stuff on the hardwood and tile floors. Around 4:00 I took a two hour nap then we watched the end of The Breakfast Club (well, I watched the end, Amanda had been watching it), a couple episodes of Scrubs and last week’s Saturday Night Live, featuring Justin Timberlake. I have to admit, he was pretty good on it. Jimmy Fallon had a cameo and Cameron Diaz (who is dating Justin Timberlake) introduced Timberlake’s musical performances.
In basketball news, the Florida Gators beat Ohio State’s Buckeyes, which I think probably surprised a number of people. Greg Oden is a freshman for Ohio, and he’s been hailed as the greatest college player since forever. There will be more of that, now that the NBA has made a rule that prevents people from going straight from high school to the NBA, but anyway, Oden was apparently shut down today by Joakim Noah and Al Horford. I didn’t see the game, but I did read about it. This backs up the talk of Florida having a shot at repeating for the NCAA championship title again this year. The game also mirrors the Florida-Ohio football Bowl Championship Series national national title game. It was a pretty big deal.
Oh yeah, Bobby Knight tied Dean Smith as the most winning college basketball coach of all time. One more and Dean drops from the spot. Coach K is in the top 10 and tends to win more games now than Knight, plus he’s seven years younger, so Mike Krzyzewski has a good chance at taking that record from both of them. Either way, I’m just glad to see a famous Tar Heel coach get knocked off such a prestigious record.
Zach Dotsey
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