"Please would you help me to escape"

Rogers and I had a blast today! Although she was only gone for a few days, I missed her company. We have a grand old time together. Tonight it was placing bets on Felicity and what would happen. It was pretty funny.

Tomorrow I go to Fort Wayne for the day and immediately back to my Parent's House to leave for Pennsylvania with my grandparents and parents. It should be interesting. Not looking forward to missing Rogers and the whole weekend. Am looking forward to seeing Oil City, PA for the first time in over a decade.

So Blogland, again we leave. But before we do, let's list the oft-mentioned, but seldom seen Favorite Songs.

The criteria is: they're always good, never fail, and they've withstood the test of time (a couple of years or so) sorry Frou Frou that means you're out even though Let Go will undoubtedly still be great in another 5 years.
Here's the 90% sure Top 5:

#5 - Name - Goo Goo Dolls
#4 - Lakina's Juice - Live
#3 - The Scientist - Coldplay
#2 - Lose You - Pete Yorn
#1 - Time Ago - Black Lab

Another few in the Top 10 would probably include songs by Tracy Chapman (Fast Car), Ryan Adams (La Cienega Just Smiled). Then some outside possibillities in the Top 10 maybe from Better Than Ezra, another Pete Yorn, Toad the Wet Sprocket, and Oasis.

"Is Andy's favorite song really Time Ago?" you may be asking. oh, who am I kidding you read the list and could care less. Anyway, yes the song hit the airwaves in '97 and has stuck with me ever since. Everytime I pop it in, I'm in for a treat. The song's about remembering a latenight escape with your lover many year's ago...a long time ago. I just love that freaking song. Many would listen to it and think it's an okay song, but something about it just gets me.
It's true though, I am a sucker for the driving late at night songs. The similarly themed At the Stars turned me on to Better Than Ezra in '98.

"My instinct won't deceive me"

Today was a nice day. Rogers arrived home after The Great Oregon Excursion. It was good to see her and spend a bit of time with her. Unfortunately, we only get to hang tomorrow, because on Thursday I'm leaving for Pennsylvania for the weekend.

I'm going to Penn State to visit Oil City, my father's hometown. I haven't been there in quite some time, so it should be interesting.

Song of the Day: Zero - Smashing Pumpkins

"Believe in me, and I'll believe in you tonight"

Today was an interesting work day. After taking care of some business this morning (SIFE, errands, etc.) I sat down to work at 1:30. By 3:00 I was exhausted. So I came back to take a nap before finishing the day strong from 5:00 to 6:30. I guess I can be grateful I have a job that allows me to set my own hours.

I am unlucky in cars, it turns out since the transmission in my 2002 Sebring is messed up badly. We're taking it to the dealer tomorrow, as it's still under warranty.

I am lucky in love. Rogers comes back tomorrow. I can't wait to see her. Althought it's only been a few days, we always have a lot of fun together.

Song of the Day: Tonight, Tonight - Smashing Pumpkins

"I want to be the minority"

I actually ended up having a dream about Zombies attacking me last night. I beat them off with the crowbar.

Today was a nice Sunday. Church, Golf, Spent time with Family, including Baby Noel. What a cutey! Well, I've got a busy day of work tomorrow. Let's hope I can get everything done. Lisa gets back on Tuesday. Can't wait.

Song of the Day: Minority - Green Day

"Zombie, zombie, zombie"

Land of the Dead and now Night of the Living Dead make this my first and only official "Zombie Day." Land of the Dead is George A. Romero's first Zombie movie in decades. Night of the Living Dead was his groundbreaking first. 10 minutes into the latter and it already seems better than Land of the Dead, which (for the record) I was disappointed with.

Rogers is still in Oregon so it was a day with the boys, which is semi-rare on Saturdays. We're working on the basement. Also, I had the donors banquet tonight. Then tonight Wilbe came over and the Loungers and he played some Halo which was fun as well.

That's the day's summary. No boring thoughts, so Goodnight!

"Even the best fall down sometime"

Well yesterday I left for Fort Wayne at 8:30 and essentially worked until around 10:00 with a few breaks. Today it was 7:45 to 5:00 with not much in the way of breaks at all. But I got a lot finished and made it back this evening to hang out with Phil, which was nice. Hadn't seen him in about a month, I suppose.

Well one year from today (24th) I'll be married to Miss Lisa Ann Rogers. Exciting! She seems to be having a great time with Shannon in Oregon. I'm glad she got to go. Me, oh, I'm just relaxing this weekend for the most part. I have the Donor's Banquet tomorrow, but no speach, thankfully.

I think I'll watch a movie before going to sleep. I haven't done that much since summer began. I watched a lot of 24, but now it's time for a good flick. What's it going to be? Perhaps The Shining?

Song of the Day: Landslide - Smashing Pumpkins

"Andy did you hear about this one?"

Today I took Rogers to the airport. She arrived safely in Oregon to Shannon who was holding a big sign that said "Rogers" and had a Spongebob card that said "are you ready to party." I'm glad she made it. I was nervous for her to make all her connections.

After dropping her off, I spent the day in Plainfield with my sister, niece and brother-in-law. I did some work in the early afternoon then we played in the pool, got some ice cream and had a good time. Noel seemed really excited to see me. When I got there, she smiled really big and started running around and showing me all her toys. It's funny how even at 18 months we identify ourselves with what we own. She's a cutey though. One of these days I'll post a picture probably.

Snapple Fact of the Week: When there are two full moons in one month, the second is called a Blue Moon.

Song of the Day: Nightswimming - REM

"June. The Curtain is shut"

Rogers leaves for Oregon tomorrow to visit the Sharpster. She's very excited. She's been without her best friend for three long months. Little Known Fact: Shannon and Lisa first really bonded in Costa Rica in high school when they shared a twin-sized bed because they feared the spiders would attack if they slept alone. The rest is Roger and Sharp History.

We had a softball game tonight. We finally won again. I had another in the park homerun due to various errors on the other team. But I'll take it. My arm is getting sore when I play, which kind of stinks. Well I cleaned my room a little bit and our basement is in the process of getting fixed up. We've got the carpet down and we've got a plan for the walls and ceiling. Watch out gentlemen...a new Poker Hall is moving into town.

Song of the Day: Use Me - Better Than Ezra

Sitting around the house watching the sun trace shadows on the floor"

Well...hopefully Philip will be pleasantly surprised by the nice clean house that Josh worked on. My room could use some cleaning of it's own, but overall the house looks great!

We had a softball game tonight. We lost it in the bottom of the last inning. It sucked, because it was definately one of our best games up to that point. We were winning 6-2 and we'd gone three innings without allowing a run. Then they had a few hits and scored two runs. Then a guy hit one out of the park right over the fence behind me. Then they scored another couple of runs all before we got any outs. It was a shame. I had 5 RBI's but two of them were off of an error so I don't know if that counts. But my first hit saw the loaded bases cleared.

That seems like a boring paragraph up there. Sorry. Welcome to andyrose.blogspot.com: A Breath of Daily Boring Blogging.

Further thinking on my favorite songs revealed that Live, Black Lab, Pete Yorn and Coldplay are a few of the artists. Any guesses as to the songs? I'll post them soon.

Song of the Day: Good - Better Than Ezra

"It's summer now, empty the school"

Well almost. Another 25 hours until Summer officially begins. The NBA Playoffs are still going on. Right now it's overtime in Game 5 of the Pistons verses Spurs. The 6 weeks since school's been out has been moving along smoothly. The Lounge has been quite quiet almost since Star Wars opened up. I suppose we had a couple more Friday night hang-outs, but for the most part the house has been empty and the three of us who are left haven't been hanging out too much. I hardly see Ricky and Josh and I both just play our respective video games every night. I expect it to change a little bit with Phil returning soon. Plus there's some new Halo maps coming out, so we'll undoubtedly band together in the name of Halo once again.

Well I found out today that my parents and grandparents are going to Pennsylvania in a couple of weeks for a long weekend. I'm considering joining them. We'll see. It'd be nice to just get away for a few days, plus I've been wanting to go back to Pennsylvania for awhile. I haven't been to old Oil City in years and years.

I've decided recently that Lakina's Juice by Live is one of my Top 10 favorite songs. I need to make the list official. So far I know off-hand at least 4 of the songs. Coming soon: Andy's Top 10 Favorite Songs.

I never did finish my brief explanations of why I chose my Top 25 Movies. I suppose I got bored with it, as did anyone reading this, I suppose.

Well, time to do a little work then get some sleep before work tomorrow. (Of course I may throw in an hour of Halo in before sleep tonight too) Oh yeah, last night was the Fun Hooka Poker game night. I didn't smoke any, but the guys seemed to enjoy their new toy. Apple Tobacco smoke smells good.

Song of the Day: My Apartment - Ben Kweller

"The look on your face, it's delicate"

Lisa and I went to Johnny Carino's tonight to use my birthday gift certificate. Then we relaxed for awhile. Lisa smoked her first cigar. That little rebel. I hope she doesn't get hooked. Smoking will kill you, kids. Stay away.

I finished the 3rd Season of 24. I guess that mean's I've now watched 72 Episodes of the show over the last couple of years. I really enjoy it.

Song of the Day: Delicate - Damien Rice

"You wanna take my picture, cause I don't remember"

Tonight Lisa and I met with our potential wedding photographer. Although, I wasn't in the mood for any such meeting it was a fun time. The guy's really nice, and we both hope it works out that we can use him. $1,750. That's right folks, wedding costs are absolutely ridiculous...anyway we'll see. We may have to shop around, but I doubt a good, professional photographer is too much cheaper. Otherwise, how would this guy get any business? His work did seem impressive to our laymen eyes.

So my cousin, Alex has had some good golf news recently. He's been offered a full-ride to IU, which is quite a lot since he's an Ohio resident. It would be for a combination of golf and academics. Not only is he a superb golfer, but he got a 1300 on the SATs. The kid's destined for success. Additionally, he told me yesterday that Titlest said that they will sponsor him if he plays well enough this summer, meaning that he would get all free equipment...balls, clubs etc. Sounds like a good deal to me.

Countries I've visited: Aruba, Bahamas, Canada, Costa Rica, England, France, Latvia, Lithuania and Mexico. Add in the USA and I've hit 10. Plus the German airport, which is virtually uncountable. Let's hope that number grows to 25 over the course of my life.

Song of the Day: Riders on the Storm - The Doors

"Hello I've waited here for you everlong"

24 is a stinkin good show. Very fun to watch.

So yesterday during the softball game I foolishly slid into 2nd base with shorts on. My leg got skinned up pretty bad, but it didn't seem that bad. Unfortunately, it was worse than I thought and I actually woke up in the middle of the night with it stinging. It went on to ooze throughout the day. Ooze is a gross word, but it's really the best way to describe it. Anyway, Miss Rogers bandaged me up pretty good, so it's feeling much better now and I think I'll sleep fine.

Did you know...I was potty-trained by the promise of M&Ms everytime I did it right?

Song of the Day: Monkey Wrench - Foo Fighters

"The sky was gold, it was rose"

It was a beautiful day in the busting metropolis of Anderson today. We had our fifth softball game. After winning our first two, we lost our last three. I was 3 for 3 hitting today, which was nice. I think I'm batting around 500 overall. I've had a couple of doubles and an in the park homerun. Unfortunately, I suck at fielding though. Nevertheless, it's pretty fun.

Tonight, Batman Begins. The return of the Batman franchise. Let's hope it turns out good. I was a big fan of the batman movies as a child, but between Forever and & Robin I aged a couple of years and was not really even interested in the latter. This new movie, however looks fantastic and it's getting good reviews. In other Hollywood news a Halo movie script has been shopped to studios and was seriously getting considered last week. I think it may have been picked up by Universal and 20th Century Fox. Will it be a good movie? I doubt it. Nevertheless, I'll probably enjoy watching it. It's got to be better than Zombiethon.

The Pistons are on in the background in the NBA Finals. A few weeks after they knocked off the Pacers. If only the Pacers were still playing. Someday, they'll make it, but it won't be the same without Reggie.

Here's a story. When I was learning to drive, my Dad felt that it was very important that I could parallel park well. He made me practice in the driveway. I was inexperienced and kept running over whatever the barriers were. When our neighbors came out of our house and started laughing at my inability I was very pissed off. Very pissed off. Now I parallel park without any problems. I think after you learn how to handle the car, parallel parking sort of becomes natural.

"You silly fool"

The softball game tonight went terribly. We got beat by almost 20 runs and the other team hit three homeruns over the fence. It was North's A team and we're North's B team. Tomorrow we play another A team. Hopefully, it won't be quite as bad.

Got some ice cream at Ritter's today with Rogers. Man during school the previous sentence would have said 'studied for a test tonight.' I love summer!

Song of the Day: Cold Year - Better Than Ezra

"Oh my love, oh my darling"

Tonight Ms. Rogers and I had a blast picking out potential wedding songs at The Lounge. Picked up some Hacienda for dinner and spent a couple of hours going through some songs. What a fun time. In 377 days will be walking down that aisle. We'll be graduated from college, hopefully have fulltime jobs and we'll be getting married. Those will be some exciting times. At the same time it will be sad, because we'll be moving past the college stage, which has been a blast. I've really enjoyed making quite a few new friends, staying friends with those from high school and just hanging out with everyone all the time. It's been a great three years at AU. Here's to one more. Cheers.

Song of the Day: Sh-Boom (Life can be a Dream) - The Crew Cutters

"Tears stream down your face, when you lose something that you cannot replace"

This morning I played some Golf with some of the fellas. A very enjoyable time. I've definately improved my game this year in the few rounds that I've played. In the past few years I've played once or twice a summer. This time I've played 3 times already, and I'm starting to get the hang of it. I'm enjoying it too. I suppose there may be a long career of golf ahead.

Lisa and I went to an Italian festival in Indy tonight. She was hoping to find some nice Italian jewelry, since it was advertised. Unfortunately there was pretty much none there. So we headed to the Circle Center mall after a short bit. Overall an okay Saturday. Nothing to write home about, but the Blog will do nicely.

Song of the Day: Drop it Like It's Hot - Snoop Dog

"Happiness is those who sing with us"

It seems like I have a lot of work to do this weekend. I'm not to fond of working on the weekend, but I guess it's the price I pay for staying up and sleeping in too late.

Early morning golf tomorrow, so sleeping time for the Berg.

Tomorrow night = Date night with Rogers. All right, all right!

Song of the Day: Return to Me - Dean Martin

"Fighting with my weak hand"

3 One Dollar bills are in the drier. My clothes were in the dryer this morning when I left. When I returned this evening my clothes were on top of the dryer, the dryer is empty and the bills were laying in the dryer. Am I rightfully $3 richer?

More evidence that must be considered. Josh removed my clothes from the dryer, I suspect because he wanted to dry his own clothes. He told me this last night, but my clothes were still a little wet. Thus, his clothes may have been the last ones actually in the dryer. He may be $3 poorer as of now...

So far, I've left the bills in the dryer for someone else to find. Good luck, seekers of fortune.

I went to see High Tension with Ricker tonight. It was disturbing in a few different ways. Interesting, horrifying (as a horror film should be) and disturbing.

Song of the Day: Murder - Coldplay

"I could write it down, or spread it all around"

Well it was indeed Fort Wayne day, which afforded me some time to listen to the Coldplay album and learn a little bit of Spanish via lessons on CD.

Then as I left Fort Wayne I got a message from Jason asking if Lisa and I wanted to head to Hacienda with he and Eileen for dinner. Well Lisa and I are pretty much suckers for Hacienda and Jason and Eileen are cool people so that was a no-brainer. We ended up hanging out for quite a few hours. A very nice time. A good way to spend an evening. Plus, it was nice to have a date instead of being with just Jason and Eileen as I was for Cinderella Man last night when everyone else fell through on going. (Although that was fun too...)

Well last night I had a dream about our wedding day. I dreamed that I completely forgot to plan the honeymoon. I had no money and no plan and we were supposed to get married that day. It was a very strange day. Add in my Dad driving a sleigh, my Mom getting the time of the wedding wrong, Hacienda, something about Santa Clause and deer on the side of the road (sort of like the moose in Ring 2, but friendlier and pretty....don't see that movie-it sucked) and you've got a pretty messed up dream. Very vivid and very strange.

Sign of the Day that I'm not as straight as I should Be: Lisa and I recently began working our way through the first season of Felicity, and I actually like it. I watched the show some in high school after Lisa's recommendation and it sounded like fun to find out what really happened with Felicity, Noel and Ben. Hey, I read the first sentence. I know this shouldn't be happening, but as Felicity says, "You should never be ashamed of the truth."

Song of the Day: Talk - Coldplay

"I went to my room, played that disc that you'd given me"

What a great day for music. A few months ago I wrote about my excitement for upcoming releases from Better Than Ezra and Coldplay. Today it all came to fruition with Coldplay releasing X&Y. On top of that BTE played on Conan O'Brien tonight. What luck.

Coldplay's new album is very good. It has had a ton of hype leading up to it, but in my opinion it lives up to the hype. Every song I've listened to intently seems to be single-worthy. They could all be radio friendly hits.

Tomorrow is Fort Wayne day for the career. I'm enjoying my job so far. Microsoft Publisher and I are becoming good friends.

I went to see Cinderella Man tonight with Jason and Eileen. I tried to get a group together, but they were the only takers. Every one else just missed out I guess, because it was a superb movie. Very interesting and entertaining.

Lisa has pointed out to me repeatedly recently that I have a new annoying nervous tick. Rubbing my fingernail across my teeth making a clicking sound. I'm not sure where it comes from, but I find myself doing it all the time. Maybe if I really concentrate.

When I was younger, I always used to smell my hands. One day my dad said if I went one month without smelling my hands he would buy me 3 cds. Before I had money to buy cds of my own, that was quite a deal. Heck it still would be. Well I caught myself a few times, but managed to pull it off. I bought Sophie B. Hawkins, Lisa Loeb and Hootie and the Blowfish. What great choices! Well Sophie B. is still good to go to sleep to the song As I Lay me Down. I guess that would have to be my guilty pleasure song if I was forced to admit to one. As I Lay me Down sung by Sophie B. Hawkins. Yeah, you know the one... "It felt like springtime on that February morning..." I pretty much know all the words and could sing it at a moment's notice.

Interesting Facts about Andrew
The only pets in my house while I was growing up were two turtles-they were my sisters.

My first bed out of the crib was a bunkbed. Although I had them for a few years I never got to sleep on the top bunk. My parents deemed it to dangerous for a child my age. I now sleep about 7 feet off the ground with no railing. Still waiting for that day when I have a bad dream that makes me jump/fall out of bed...Incidentally my sheets on my bunkbeds were Pound Puppy Sheets.

"You've still got a view of the summer sky"

Tonight was a Double Header in Chuch Softball after a long day of work. Our softball team went one and one. We had a great comeback in the first game though to win the game. Similarly the other team came back to win in our second game.

Overall not so great of playing for me, but I had a great sliding catch that I had to run really hard to get to. It was very unexpected so we turned it into a double play, because the runners had assumed it was a hit. It was a really good feeling. Rogers didn't get to play too much because we've got a ton of people on our team. So she came in for me, but didn't get to bat as much as I did.

Work seems to be going well. I'm becoming fairly proficient with Microsoft Publisher, which is a good skill to have I suppose.

Tomorrow: Work, Roger-Time, and hopefully Cinderalla Man. Tonight: An episode or two of 24, maybe some reading and Sleep.

Song of the Day: Know Your Onion - The Shins

"We were lying wide awake in the darkness"

I'm tired. It's been a long day. Today we celebrated my dad's 25th year at the Canada Foot Clinic. It was a very nice surprise open house for him. It was kind of cool to honor my pops for his work in the community for so long. A lot of good people work their whole lives with little thanks in return, so it was nice of his office to do this for him.

Later we had a strategic plan meeting for SIFE that lasted about 3 hours. We are gearing up for another year. It should be very fun. Anyway, I'm too tired to write much now and disappointed that I didn't get as much work done this week as I expected to. We'll see if I can get everything done by my deadline on Wednesday.

Song of the Day: Annie Waits - Ben Folds

"Quite at a loss"

Well yesterday was our first Softball game and a surprise B-Day dinner for me thanks to Rogers. First things first: our game was quite a success. I actually hit an in the park two-run homerun. I also had a double. Lisa came in after a couple of innings (which was fine with her) and did a nice job covering second base. I also missed a pop-up that I should have had. We ended up winning 8-4.

Then afterwards we rushed back to the Lounge where we were meeting our friends to go to Chili's for dinner. The surprise part was that there were about 10 friends waiting to surprise me and go along to celebrate my birthday. I thought we were only going out with 2 or 3 people so it was very nice. We had a nice dinner and then came back to the Lounge to play a little Euchre and indulge ourselves with Creepshow 2 - a sucky movie. Monkey Shine (our second film) wasn't too much better although the plot of a little monkey turning evil and killing people seemed like a great concept.

Today was a relaxing day at La Casa De Rogers after getting some lunch with Brian, Wilbs and Eck. A nice chance to hang with some guys I don't see all that often these days.

Lisa and I got some tickets for Coldplay today. The concert's in August and on what should be my last day of work! New Coldplay album in two days.

Song of the Day: Speed of Sound - Coldplay

"Easy and free"

It was a nice Birthday. Rogers got me a Dairy Queen Ice Cream cake, which I absolutely love. I had one on Monday, but it got spread around a lot so another one for us will be put to great use. We also went to Bonges restaurant with my parents. It was a very good meal. Other than that it wasn't a day too much out of the ordinary. I did some work (not enough, which is typical).

I also had a CD burning party with Beth Smith one of my SIFE friends. The ultimate SIFEr she is actually being flown down to SIFE headquarters in Springfield, Missourri for additional interviews in pursuit of a job with SIFE.
Anyway, I got an old Ben Folds CD that seems to be really good. I may just have to go out and buy the whole Ben Folds collection this summer. We'll see.

Brian is coming up for the weekend, which will be nice.

Song of the Day: Brick - Ben Folds

"It's crazy what a little joy can do if you have the time"

What a nice day. I just rang in my birthday by playing some Halo with the guys. There were 4 of us. A far cry from the 25 we had at our last official Halo night, but still a fun time. We hadn't played multiplayer like that for a couple weeks at least.

22 years old. Time for my quarter-life crisis I suppose. I wonder if I'll live to be 88. Today on the news I saw a British couple who were celebrating their 80th wedding anniversary. They were 105 and 100 respectively. A nice, ripe old age. If Lisa and I live to celebrate our 80th anniversary then we'll be 103 and 102. At that rate, I'm only about 1/5 of the way through my life.

My dad always says, "Life is like a roll of toilet paper: the closer you get to the end the quicker the roll disappears." I guess I'll get to learn more about that in the next 60 years. What if I only lived to be 25.

Alright I have 3 years to live left, what would I do? Interesting thought. I suppose I would keep on living as I do. I suppose I would try to have a greater impact for Christ. Perhaps I would have no inhibitions. Perhaps I wouldn't worry too much about my grades next year. I would certainly marry Rogers if she'd have me knowing that I would soon die.

At any rate. I'm 22 years old. At this age I will graduate from college. At this age I will begin a job that may turn into a career. At this age I will prepare for marraige. At this age I will enjoy life...as I always do.

Song of the Day: Don't Look Back in Anger - Oasis

"I said and grinned"

Best Day Ever: Opened a new Frankie CD that I had purchased in a pack of 3 and spent some time relaxing with Rogers and watching some Scrubs on DVD this evening. Now time to head to bed with a new Entertainment Weekly.

After a good day of work then some relaxation I decided it was time to do some room cleaning. I haven't really been around the Lounge all that much over the last few days. Mainly I've been home to play Halo on XBox Live and go to sleep. Thus, I've had clothes sitting in the dryer for a few days now. Which is not unusual for me.

So tonight I sacrificed trying to boost my rank some more in Halo to do some laundry and clean up my room a little. At least I got the clothes side of it done. Perhaps tomorrow I'll get to some more of the junk that's just lying around. Unfortunately it looks as though I'll never see my AU jacket that I wear every spring and fall again. Double whammie: in the pocket was my Dave Matthews Band hat that I've worn all winter every winter for about 5 years. It's gotten me through many a sled ride and even the cold rains of Lithuania. Perhaps I'll find them yet.

Song of the Day: Begin the Beguine - Frank Sinatra