"Smile like you mean it"

A Poem for Squatch Palmer written by one of his students...

You changed my life
By: [Identity Protection]
For Mr. Palmer

What I learned from you
Will be with me
For the rest of my life
What made me see?
You are the one
That helped me
And I can't thank you enough
For helping me
Mr. Palmer with that gentle touch
You're the greatest
What is there to say?
Other than I will miss you
You'll always be on my mind
No matter what the situation
You changed my life
For that I am grateful
Didn't look at my braces
Didn't look at what I couldn't do
You just helped me through
It didn't matter to you
Because you saw me and not my impurities
With a smile on your face
That made me feel like I had a place
In life

"Too scared to know"

Well I finished the book For One More Day, and I must admit that I'm a bit disappointed. It's no The Five People You Meet in Heaven. While there were a few spots here and there that nearly brought a tear to my eye, overall it wasn't too special.

Yes, I basically admitted that the book nearly made me cry. You see, I'm not afraid to admit that I'm a sensy, "it's short for sensitive guy. Our music is acoustic alternative. We marvel at fireflies. And when we help a drunk girl home from the bar, sure we cop a feel --- a feel of her hair as we're pulling it back so she doesn’t get any vomit in it."

Lisa's Birthday begins in 25 hours, which is quite exciting. We've already eaten over half of her Rosenberg-Tradition Dairy Queen Ice-Cream Cake (Add caramel? Yes, please!), but that won't stop us from living it up come October 18. In the meantime, I'm hoping her present arrives, as it was ordered on October 6, but has not yet arrived. She knows already, so if you're reading this thinking, "Oh no, Lisa's going to find out that her present hasn't arrived yet," be not alarmed, for she has already. Found out that is. Because I told her.

That little girl's going to be 23 years old. And that puppy's been replaced with Grace Rosenberg.

"I promised I would write"

Just a quick note to say, "Hello..." and I guess then I have to add "is it me you're looking for..." - Lionel Richie

It was indeed a lazy weekend in Novi. I had a good nap today. I had some good food the last couple of days. I went to church and actually talked to some people for the first time on a Sunday at church. And those people were people from our small (very small) group.

Last song I listened to: All the World Tonight - Graham Colton Band
Last show I watched: Flavor of Love 2 (I'm not proud of that, but it's true)
Last meal: Lisa's doctored oven-baked pizza
Last drink: Lots of water
Last night: I dreamed about work stuff -- I dream about work a lot.
Last movie watched: House of Wax -- and it was still good
Last CD I bought -- Elliott
Last restaurant visited -- Chili's

That guy on the right is a good Father. The guy on the left never panned out as a Knight.

"Shoulders high in the room"

My visit to the Windy City was an excellent time full of good training, food, company and (surprisingly) a couple of hours with better-man Joshua D. Campbell.

It was nice to travel and have the company pay the bills. My plane was delayed coming back, so I ended up getting home around 9, when I was expecting to arrive at like 6. Booo...

I also learned that I could take a train to Chicago for $30 or so. Which would be a good deal as it costs about $40 to park a car in Chicago over night. Might be a good way to hop over there for a weekend with my lady-friend.

Also, it's important to note that it's my lady-friend's birthday this week. Yahooo!!!!

I also found out that the makers of Age of Empires are making a game called Halo Wars. Looks pretty cool: http://halowars.com/.

I'm currently:
Reading: For One More Day by Mitch Albom
Listening to: I Feel Fine...the IRS Years (as seen on TV) by R.E.M.
Watching: Arrested Development
Jealous of: My family in Disney World
Hoping to: Have a relaxing rest of the weekend and finish my work tomorrow in an hour or two.
Ready for: a night out with Rogers

"Talk about the passion"

Well there's lots of news, but little time to provide it.

First, all of the rumors are true, four friends visited Novi last week for some super-fun in Michigan including (but not limited to) visits to Detroit, Ann Arbor, Novi, Northville, Royal Oak and the Detroit Zoo.

• Philip gets the funny Phil award -- he was up to his usual antics at causing havoc on the streets and scaring innocent bystanders.
• Wilbe gets the "I'm up for absolutely anything" award -- this guy would have done anything and had fun. He was all smiles all the time.
• Andrea gets the self-explanatory coffee award -- she taught me how to make my own, but I taught her how to make it taste better with lots of creamer.
• Shannon gets the photography award -- see those pictures in her album on Facebook? What about the ones on xanga.com/ashesoftruth? Shannon took most of those and they are great.
• Lisa ties for the co-host of the weekend award and the snoring in the movie theatre award -- both self-explanatory, but to be fare we did keep her out until well after 2 a.m. at The Departed, a movie that I enjoyed very much.

Now I'm in Chicago for a conference and headed to bed. My second business trip (if you count my trip to Toronto last spring). Should be a good couple of days. And one of the best parts is Co-Better Man Josh is in Chicago too, so we will hang out tomorrow night if all goes as planned. See y'all soon. For the record we will be in town the weekend of the 20th. Parliament? Scary movies? Will you be home that weekend? I hope so.

"Standing in the ashes"

Favorite's Among the Series:

Back to the Future: Back to the Future part I

Matrix: Matrix I (although I liked the others there was just too much effort -- the first one was unbelievable the first time)

Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade: I wouldn't argue that it's the best, but it's my favorite.

Star Wars: I need to see Episode III again as I've only seen it once (and at the time, thought it might be the best) and to be fair, this has changed several times. Last time I watched them all (last year), I believe I lined up with fans around the world and went with The Empire Strikes Back

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King -- from the opening sequence with Smeagol's finding of the ring it blew me away.

Kill Bill: Although they're really just one movie (and will be once -- apparently Miramax and the Weinsteins figure out who has the rights to it), I liked Volume II better.

House of Wax: It stands alone. And it's Halloween Season so everyone get your copy out and ready to watch...Come on, I know I'm not the only one who owns this movie...right?

"An old friend I know"

My Uncle Donald Wayne Rosenberg died in his twenties. He was in a car accident and was killed. He had recently returned from Vietnam at the time, where he had served two tours. No one really had much time to talk to him about his experiences after his return as it wasn't long before he died.

My Dad, who was several years younger than Don Wayne said that for weeks it felt as though someone had just punched him in the stomache. That was the resulting feeling of the tragic death of his older brother.

Don had signed his name in a Gideon's Bible that he had accepted Jesus--signed that he was indeed a Christian.

To me Uncle Don is a photo. A military photo. It's black and white. He looks similar to my Dad, his face is a little rounder and his hair is slicked back. I honestly can't remember ever seeing any other picture of Uncle Don besides that one.

I have a total three other Uncles and one Aunt. All are married. I have three cousins and two step-cousins. I don't know my step-cousins at all. I have four living grandparents. My paternal grandparents have been married over 60 years.

"You do it on your own, we all do"

Despite our scary encounter, the weekend was good. Relaxing. We met some people at church when we went to the small group thing, so that was good, as we hadn't really talked to anyone in Michigan yet.

And it was odd, being scared by a knock on the door. At the Lounge, if someone came at 1:15 a.m. or maybe even 3:15 a.m., it wouldn't be scary at all because 1) you'd be wide awake and 2) there would probably be 5 to 1o other people in the house with you. But when you're on your own in a new place and you've got someone to protect, it is a bit scary. Especially when he looked at me and continued to knock. Oh well.

So I found out that one of the three client's that I've had direct contact with -- and the one that I've had the most contact with (over the phone--never met her, graduated from Anderson University). That was an odd coincidence. She probably graduated about 10 years ago, so I don't know her, but I still found it strange, and cool.

"Scared, are you?"

It's a bit disconcerting when someone knocks on your front door at 1:15 a.m. in a place you've only recently begun to consider your home. 1:15 a.m., the very second after you've shut your bedroom door, meaning the knocker may have seen you pass the top of the stairwell. You know two things. 1) This is almost 100% likely to be someone you don't know -- meaning it's a complete stranger. 2) You should not be opening the door to a complete stranger at 1:15 a.m. You don't know why the person is knocking. You don't know what their intentions are. You don't know if they saw you walk by. Thus it's a bit disconcerting.

It's even more disturbing when you peel back one blind and peer out the window, and the person looks up at you. Your eyes meet. He's got glasses, sandy blonde hair. Looks normal. He had to have seen you right. But he knocks again...wierd.

You sit and listen. You wait. No more knocking. Your wife tells you that she thinks she heard a car start. You look out the window again. Boot prints leading up to the door, but not away. Did he go into the neigbors house? Still no more knocking.

You go to bed. After reading for awhile, you turn out the lights to go to sleep. Your wife is still scared. She decides to watch South Park.

3:15 -- "He's back!" You jump awake and hear the last few pounds on the door. It's 3:15. Should you look out the window and yell at the person. Should you get the phone to call the police. Why do you feel so scared? After all, "Burglars don't knock," your wife says. No more knocking.

You wake up the next morning. Your wife hasn't slept well. You slept like a baby. You always sleep like a baby. You're still a bit uneasy about the events from the night before. You figure it must have been someone for the neighbors. You decide that if it happens again maybe you'll call the police. Later that day, you buy a deadbolt...

"I react like its 1805"

Ah...Saturday's were made for this. Nothing but relaxing. The Mrs. and I watched the last um 1, 2...5 episodes of Season 2 of Lost today (and the last one was a double) for a staggering 4.5 "Lost" hours. The show very well might replace 24 as my "most-addicting." During season 4 of 24, I kept falling asleep , which had never happened during the first 3. Still a good show, but Lost leaves you asking many questions. It seems to almost always be fresh and new, while 24 does get slightly repetitive. Fortunately, the repetitive "15 seconds" is still good and worth the time and effort, but I would argue just not as intriguing as Lost.

Long story short, if you've never watched it, go buy Lost Season 1, watch three episodes and see if you aren't hooked and thanking me.

In other news, Rogers and I bought Season 4 of South Park ---- ok, we love watching television (it is supposedly the Golden Age of T.V. so if you're not watching now, you're missing the best of the best) ---- anyway, one episode into Season 4 and we suddenly see why Jason likes to say "Tits" instead of "Cool." And that was a darn funny episode by the way.

In other news, the Rosenbergs got a gift certificate for the Rosenbergs to get a new chair. The following is the result.

Now, I've got to rest up (after all-today was obviously exhausting), as I've got a busy day with Church and the Colts and hanging out with Rogers!

"Dancing like he's never danced before"

For some reason, I've been tired for like two weeks straight. At least it seems like it. I don't think I'm sick. I just feel really really tired. I've been going to bed early, and wanting to sleep in. Maybe I'm just still getting used to the schedule. I just know in like 36 hours on Saturday morning, I'll still be sleeping, and that will be good!

"Two turntables"

I've been tired recently. Oddly tired. I fell asleep last night around 10:30 and could go to sleep right now. Instead, I'm hoping to exercise for a bit, as I haven't in about a week. So what have I done in the past week...

• Watched several very good episodes of Lost -- Season 2 is like a rollercoaster, but episodes 14 - 16 have been very good
• Eaten out at least 5 times -- the parentals were in town, which turns out = good food
• Worked a lot, although maybe not as much as some of my friends at the "Steel Mill" as Brian Nuts calls it.
• Played Halo -- maybe a bit last Thursday. I'm working my way through Halo: Combat Evolved -- it seems much easier now than the first time I played it...but I am only on Heroic, I'm not sure why.
• Watched 0 movies. Movie watching has decreased, but we might sneak in one or two this weekend.
• Played golf -- I only played a few times this summer. It's hard to be motivated when it costs so much.
• Eaten some good Quesadillas -- home cooked from my High School Sweetheart.
• Watched 0 Colts games. Booooooo.....our provider doesn't even offer any premium NFL channels - so I can't even buy the game.
• Updated my Blog template -- only like the third time I ever did that. This time, it was just infrastructure though. I like my Blue background.

That's just a few things, I suppose. And the answer to yesterday's comment is "yes."

"It's that time of year"

If your name is Shannon, and you like Imogen Heap like I do, then you should check out this link and click on the Imogen Heap video

http://www.rehearsals.com/exclusive/last_kiss/ Zack John Dorian Braff did a radio show with people from the Last Kiss Soundtrack and they videotaped it as well. Imogen does an Acappella version of a song with loops live and it sounds unbelievable. She records like 7 parts, and then puts together an entire song live...and that's just the beginning.

If you're anyone else and you like music, you may want to check out this link: http://www.rehearsals.com/exclusive/last_kiss/ That was a trick, because it's the same link. But it will lead you to awesome music hosted by the Braffster.

Today was a good day. I accidentally overslept, which isn't good, and I was about 45 minutes later than I wanted to be, but only 15 minutes than I should be arriving to work. But there wasn't too much going on, so it wasn't a big deal (and the juries out on if my short absence was even noticed). Anyhow, my parents came downtown for lunch, which was nice then the 4 of us ate Best Chinese in Ann Arbor tonight, which was super-good, until I ate every bite, got ice-cream and subsequently felt sick.

What else is new? Well, compliments of Dr. and Mrs. R. Lisa and Berg may just have a new recliner for you to sit in if and when you visit. Perhaps we'll post a picture someday soon.

But for now...
My name really was in the WSJ. See?

"Everytime I look at you"

In case you didn't notice already, you can now link to many of your friends' blogs from my page, with easy pop-up window access. Hopefully, this will keep you from having to type in many letters. However, if you're at work and trying to read some blogs to kill time, this might not be the method for you as you will save a total of 24 to 49 seconds depending on how fast a typer you are, and whether or not you check The Revolution even though it's only updated once per year to keep demand high.

So this weekend was full of family and good meals, and now I'm tired and ready for bed. I won't be watching many Colts games up here it looks like, unless I try my neighborhood BWW on a couple of Sunday afternoons.

So tired...must sleep now.

"Just to sound confused"

The Return of FLL
(Funny Lines with Lisa)
Wednesday evening:

On preparing Lisa for dinner at Amadeus tonight.

Andrew: It's European style. Well Italy's in Europe so that might be a good sign.

Lisa: I know Italy's in Europe.

Andrew: You don't even know what Europe is. Can you name the 7 continents?

Lisa: Of Europe?

Andrew: *Laughs for a long time*

Lisa: Oh wait, okay. Austria...North America...Africa...Europe!..................Russia...Asia..............

Andrew: You missed one.

Lisa: Asia Minor

Andrew: What's South of North America?

Lisa: Costa Rica? Mexico? Wait is Canada in North America?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

This made me laugh a lot. Now you can laugh a lot to. To be fair, we never had Geography. What was supposed to be Geography consisted of us drawing the 50 United States in less than 5 minutes. We practiced this day in and out for weeks until we could draw the states in 5 minutes. Sound stupid? It was.

"Throw your arms around my neck"

Tonight was Lasagna night for the first time and boy was it good. Three pieces and several hours later, I'm still feeling quite full. Rogers is becoming quite the Cook. She's now tried probably about 10 meals, and all have been good, although that Bourbon chicken did taste a little to Bourbony! (still good though)

My name was in the Wall Street Journal today for winning the Wall Street Journal award. Maybe I'll post a picture, as Lisa's going to scan it in for me tomorrow. There were also about 200 other names, but it is still pretty cool.

Did you know that my company is laying off 3% of its workforce. Luckily none of that 3% includes me. It's fascinating to be a part of a huge public company that's primary focus is maximizing shareholder value. This and other changes have helped boost our stock a couple of dollars over the past few days...too bad, I'm not eligible for Stock Options until next year.


Currently listening to:

Pete Yorn - musicforthemorningafter and Nightcrawler - if you've never listened to Pete Yorn nows the time to go to myspace and see what you think.

My mix tape currently has these songs on it:

Ray LaMontagne - Empty, Be Here Now, Lesson Learned
Pete Yorn - Undercover, Ice Age, The Man, EZ, and On Your Side

My Golfing Wife

My Crowded Bed

My Graduation Day

Things I miss today:

• Disney World
• The feeling that tomorrow night, I'll be going to a Midnight Movie, which makes the day awesome
• The feeling of seeing Texas Chainsaw Massacre on one such night

"Come back home for another year"

Here are a few pictures of our new home in Novi...provided for those of you who have not yet visited or will never visit (at least until Wrestlemania).

First we have our apartment building...Building 13 of Saddle Creek. I saw a rainbow two days in a row, which was pretty awesome.

This is our office/guest room. This room is for you, reader. There is also a pull out bed matress underneath so two can sleep well. Notice the nice view of a tree out of your window. Also, you have lots of reading materials and music selections to choose from...and internet access right there in your room.

Look at the beautiful clean towels you will have access to upon your visit...in your very own guest bathroom!

Both of our closets are completely full of stuff. Mostly shoes. Lisa's closet (the one to the left) is much bigger, but this is the coolest picture.

Above the futon is a red corkboard with black trim that Lisa painted to hold our Wedding polaroids compliments of Scott W. King.

Perhas there will be more to come later. For now, have a pleasant evening and a safe tomorrow.

"We are young"

Posts are becoming more and more infrequent it seems. I used to be so committed that it drove me nuts to miss one day. Go back a year or so, and you might notice that there's about 30 posts a month.

The weekend was excellent, for the most part. Lisa and I decided to ring fall in by visiting the Yates Cider Mill in Rochester Hills for an afternoon. Unfortunately, what promised to be a place to enjoy a petting zoo, fresh apple cider and fresh fudge was just that, but in about a 1/2 acre space. Translation: great place for about 30 minutes...but I'm sure we'll enjoy that Cider for a good while.

Like our friend, Wilbe, Lisa and I saw the movie The Black Dahlia today. And like our friend Wilbe we did not enjoy it too much. Lisa was bored the whole time and hated it. I thought the last 30 minutes was interesting, but I could not recommend it. After popcorn and a soda, that was the worst $30 spent since I bought two copies of the Paris Hilton CD. (I actually only bought one, for the record.)

What else is going on in BergWorld.

• Well, Lost season 2 is so far disappointing, but I dare not give up on it.
• Lisa just spruced up a frozen pizza so that it tasted home made and was delightful.
• I ellipticized to the tune of 8.5 miles this weekend, which seems good.
• We found out that the Troy mall does not in fact have a Puma store, but it did have a place to buy the brand new Pete Yorn album.
• If you grocery shop at Meijers on a Sunday, and Meijers is the only good grocery store around, prepare to find many empty shelves where the food you would like to purchase should be. (It's important to note that I did still get my two bags of marshmallows.)
• Fresh off a Continental US tour, Brian BN Roberson will be in Detroit tomorrow for 4 hours, but we will unfortunately not be able to visit him. Boooo..........(bs).

"All words are dust"

I may be catching up with some of my peers in the world of work after working from 7 to 1 on Sunday night and 9 to 12 last night after a full work day. I would have a hard time working that much everyday. I'm glad that I'm not currently in a job where I work 60+ hours a week. I could definately handle 50 right now, but I'm still trying to get my legs. In a lot of ways, I feel like a Rookie athlete who wheres down mid-season because they were used to the much shorter college season. So anyway, it's been a busy week, and I'm exhausted. I am very much looking forward to this weekend, where the whole schedule is booked up with sleeping and relaxing to catch up. It's been a busy last month. This will be nice.

Time for ol' Berg to go use that elliptical machine for a little while. It's been really rainy here. Humid and rainy.

"These cold and damp white mornings"

On the Anniversary
I opened up my Web browser towards the end of work today, and instead of the my company's intranet, I discovered there was a page remembering the deaths of 260 of our MMC colleagues and 60 other consultants on 9/11. MMC is our parent company, and my guess is that one of the planes flew right into their floors for so many to have died. That's nearly 10% of all casualties that day!

I clicked on the list of people and their tributes that had been created a couple of years ago and scrolled through. One man loved to play sports with all of the kids in his neighborhood. Another was "one of the good guys." Mark Rosenberg was 26 and had met his wife, Jennifer by chance one day. A couple of year's ago Mark's sister had written about how she'd missed him. How she still couldn't believe he was gone.

On Michigan's Fall
As I mentioned last week, fall is in the air in Michigan. The sky is cloudy. The air is cold. Open windows bring a breeze through the room and a shiver to your soul. Perhaps nothing signifies fall so much as the advent of football season. I'm not really a big football fan, but I'm a fan nonetheless. Last night after attending the Lions vs. Seahawks in the afternoon, I laid on my bed watching the Colts vs. Giants while doing work on my laptop. It was a comforting feeling of sorts. Discouraging in some ways to be doing work until 1 a.m. But comforting, because it was a feeling I've had many times before. Juggling work at home with a Sunday Colts game.

Mostly the fall in Michigan just makes me scared of the coming winter. Early black mornings. Hour-long commutes to work in the dark traveling slowly over icy roads. I don't know what to expect, but I'm not looking forward to it.

May fall be long, and the winter mild. Goodnight.

"Well I always feel this way"

Labor Day weekend was a good weekend. A few interesting tidbits will standout in my mind undoubtedly.

1) We went tubing and jet skiing on Shannon's lake. It's the first time I tubed and the first time I jet-skiid (i can't figure how to spell skeed correctly) since I was a kid on the back of one. And I got to do both with Rogers, which was awesome. Tubing was too much fun, and I can't wait to do it again.

2) My first listen of Ray LaMontagne's song Be Here Now (which opens his new album) left me downright dumbfounded on Saturday after midnight in the dark, alone. A brief review of the album may come later.

3) My family had a 90-year-old magician perform at our Labor Day cookout. Van Drake the Magician, who used to perform for troops during World War II, Gob'd it up for us for a good 45 minutes. Some cool tricks, although most were obvious as he wasn't too slick anymore. Others left me guessing and fascinated.

4) Twister - which was actually pretty fun. Plus it was followed by a cartoon TMNT episode, which was also pretty fun.

What else was grat about Labor Day?

1) Playing with my niece. That kid is very fun.

2) Eating in downtown Anderson park with Lisa. We've always wanted to do that, and now that we've moved away we can check it off the list.

3) Hitting up Hacienda - always a good thing.

4) I was invited to be a "Better-Man" in my the wedding of Joshua David Campbell and Keri Bethlehem Trout. Yea!

A couple things sucked...

1) Lisa got a ticket for speeding, while we were following each other home
2) Lisa has to stay in Anderson tonight...boooo I miss her
3) I have to go get a little work done before going to bed...also booo.

I'm glad I could hang out with most of you this weekend. Keep it real, Eddie Bunker style!

"I took a picture"

Fall is just around the corner up here in Michigan. You can feel it's warning in the crisp cool air. You can smell it in the breeze. I can't wait.

Fall reminds me of:

Bonfires
Soccer and Volleyball Season at good old Liberty Christian School
The feeling that basketball season is about to start
Wearing jeans instead of shorts
Hoodies instead of t-shirts
Crunching leaves under feet
Season Premier week which always comes sooner than expected
2003 Fall Cookout when Eileen and Lisa met for the first time

This should be a fun weekend...

Here's a picture taken last fall.

"I saw the end"

Throughout the last 3 years of college, I became an e-mail addict. I left my Anderson University e-mail open all the time, and every 10 minutes or so, I would click on it to see if I had any e-mail. I was completely addicted. Oftentimes, I'd get in e-mail chats with messages flying back and forth. I usually had well over 1,000 messages in my inbox, as I was horrible at organizing it.

All this is to say, that it's sad to say goodbye to Groupwise. I've loved thee. I will miss thee.

Tonight I spent about an hour forwarding and deleting e-mails. Unfortunately, I've still got 1300 to go. Most will be lost and gone forever. Spending time on A.U. E-mail reminds me of...

The Lounge
Working with my Friends at the FSB
Doing homework at Rogers' house and tucking her in before returning to my house
Late nights

Maria Deardorff said it best last Friday night. It's not that being out of college is so bad - there are definately some benefits. But it's the community feeling that you have at college that you miss the most.

"And you know it's time to go"

Well - the Mrs. and I will be home tomorrow night. Hope to see some of you all this weekend. And if not this, then maybe next. Cheers!

"Be the devil and angel too"

A few good things happened today.

1) Tickets were purchased for the Detroit Lions vs. Seattle Seahawks. Should be good seats too. We're going to have a fun time. Yea, you know who you are. An event that's been in the works since Berg's First & Only Bachelor Party with a Ricker Mention and a Parliament Eyebrow Raise of Interest may be coming to fruition after all.

2) Lisa has a job interview. Well two potential job interviews actually working with animals in Ann Arbor. She would be a receptionist at a high-class boarding place or a receptionist at an animal emergency room sort of place. Quite a commute, but very interesting to her. Hopefully they will go well and be as interesting and enjoyable as they sound. She could even take Grace to work with her...as long as Grace wouldn't pee all over everybody.

Time to go play some Halo before going to sleep. Anybody want to play on XBox Live sometime. I'd be up for some Chatting and Killing. Goodnight, everybody.

"Teach me to be shy"

Another Monday has come and gone. I'm really looking forward to coming home this weekend, as short as it might be. It will be nice to see some friends that we haven't seen for a few weeks and others for a few months.

Normally, it would be about now that I'd be saying, "Well, a few more weeks would be nice, but I'll probably get back in the swing of things pretty quickly." This time I'm thinking...ah...work.

There is definately something different about work. Something unexpected. I always figured that work would have to be better than school at least work-wise because you may work all day, but most of the time you don't have to do more work at the end of the day. The jury's still out. I think it's just my friends I miss the most. If I went to work all day and got to hang out with the guys every week and everybody on the weekends, I think it would be better. But without the social aspect, it's hard to tell.

I do enjoy my work, and for that I am very glad. I enjoy my home life too, and for that I'm very glad. Overall, I'm a blessed guy. Same old Berg just a new state.

"Only time will tell if wishing wells can bring us anything"

This was a very good weekend. Relaxing in our clean house doing very little. On Friday Josh and Keri were here which was awesome. We went to dinner walked around Plymouth eating ice-cream, generally hung out and went on a late-night hunt for White Castle, which turned out to lead to an all-night 50s style place very similar to White Castle called Greens. It was a good night. But alas they had to head back to Indiana.

So Lisa and I turned to each other and movies for our entertainment. Yesterday we watched Sin City and Snakes on a Plane. That's a lucky husband who watches those two awesome guy movies in one day with his wife. Thanks, Rogers! And yes, S.O.A.P. was everything it's hype led it to be. There was laughter and screams throughout and an eruption of applause in our mostly empty theatre. Would I recommend this movie? Yes. Grab a few friends and go see it, twice.

Tonight, will be an early to bed night, as I feel very tired. How about this Karr character. Guilty or not of the case at hand, he looks like a creep, and has to be guilty of numerous crimes against children based on what they're saying he has said and done in the past.

So that about wraps up my post about very little. Have a pleasant night, friends. You are missed.

"And as for the clouds just let them roll"

Well, I got sort of hooked on America's Got Talent over the past couple of weeks. The finale was tonight and America voted to give a 12 year old girl who can sing well 1 Million Dollars. Can you imagine? She sang three or four songs on stage over the past month and walks away the winner. I hope her young life doesn't change for the worse.

Lisa has got our house guest-ready as Josh and Keri are driving over from Kalamazoo to visit us and stay the night. We've got a very nice place, now that it's all cleaned up.

Plus Lisa's made an awesome thing to hang all of Wilbe's Wedding Polaroids on.

The next few weeks are going to be pretty busy. 18 - Josh and Keri spend the night 25 - We'll be back in town Labor Day Weekend - we'll be back in town again since there's a day off of work Sept. 9 - more friends up for football!

Well it's late and I've got to be up in 6 hours so it's time for bed.

Things I enjoyed today:

• Seeing our house really get cleaned for the first time
• Watching the biggest underdog win a big event in Big Brother
• Watching Last Kiss podcasts on my Ipod while walking to the gym to work out
• Eating lunch out with a bunch of co-workers

Goodnight!

"I'm at ease in the arms of a woman"

If you like relaxing music for a summer night check out Amos Lee. I first listened to his Keep it Loose, Keep it Tight a lot because Norah Jones was on the track. Then Zach Braff put Arms of a Woman on his new Last Kiss Soundtrack so I checked out that song. It's so mellow. Goes down easy on a nice evening. 61 degrees out tonight. Not a cloud in the sky. A perfect night to walk home after a good workout to a nice song like that.

After yesterday's day of rest, today went very well. I wasn't really tired and kept busy the whole day. That's always a very good thing.

Time to go to sleep. I'm headed to Chicago later this week. That should be fun and interesting.

Listening to: Arms of a Woman - Amos Lee / Come Away with Me - Norah Jones

"Would you take my hand tonight"

Yesterday I was on top of that getting ready to come down...

with that guy in the middle sitting next to me! That's right is was Cedar Point 2006. What a great day. While the Andersonians pulled a 22 to 23 hour day, Rogers and I managed to make it there ride some rides and back in about 19. We did have a great time.

The result of a long day in the hot sun riding rides with good friends was a day of sitting inside doing almost nothing but relaxing and watching this on DVD:

and eating through a couple of packages of this...

And all of this included the wonderful companionship of her:

What a great way to spend a weekend!

"Or break up my train of thought"

Praise the Lord, I can finally connect to the company network from home. That has been a huge pain for about 3 weeks, so I'm really really happy. Thanks to Best Buy for the Wireless Router for 49.99 (even though I'm using the cable), and to Rogers for her patience with my furstration and to God for getting it to work, miraculously.

Not too much to say. I'm looking forward to seeing a few folks in Northern Ohio this weekend. That should be a gas. Other than that, I'm loving it here, but missing my hometown of Anderson, Indiana. Will we ever return? I truly hope so. Or at least Central Indiana. Can't wait to catch up with Josh C. and Nate D. when they return to A-Town later this month. I hope that Massachusetts is treating them well. Out of respect for the latter:


P.S. One of the first songs that Nate D. drummed along to was Hey Jealousy by my once favorite band the Gin Blossoms, who released their first album in 10 years yesterday. A one sentence review to ensue: A listen through of the Gin Blossom's Motel Lodge Victory lifts the veil that was only peaked under previously to reveal a band that never wrote great lyrics or music, but had enough hooks to keep you coming back again and again, even after 10 years.

"I cannot help myself"

This is me and Rogers in our apartment and me and Rogers as the desktop wallpaper also.

Here's the pics I couldn't upload last night...

These chicks are just too cool, I guess.

This fountain is in the bottom of the GM headquarters.

Ever been to Ikea? It's a pretty cool store. We bought a coffee table and two side tables there today. Side tables = $12. What a deal! Coldstone = $9.73. We almost could have bought another table, but it was worth it as usual!

"Miss Hilton you must be worth a trillion bucks"

The saga of the failed network connection continues. After weeks of frustration, I finally managed to connect to the internet through a router. This was after purchasing one at Best Buy for $50. However, for some reason, I still cannot connect to my work network through VPN. The purpose of the router is almost defeated - however - I hold out with high hopes.

Tomorrow, one of my all time favorite bands will release their first album in 10 years. The Gin Blossoms are back. I loved them in the mid-90s and they were my first official favorite band. I'm looking forward to hearing some new tunes that I haven't heard since the time I saw them in concert a couple of years ago (with Better Than Ezra). That show freakin rocked - thanks to Rogers for the birthday present.

Well, I tried an failed to upload some pictures - so until another day...goodnight.

"The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire"

Ah, another nice weekend comes to a close. Time just flies by these days, it seems. They say that life is like a roll of toilet paper and it just goes faster the closer you get to the end. I think I heard that from my Dad or my Grandma, but it also sounds like something Phil would maybe say.

Anyway, next weekend, it looks as some fun might be in order. This weekend consisted of many of the things that I had mentioned. Friday night - Date night. Saturday out with Aunt and Uncle. However, that also included Saturday evening Lutheran church, which meant extra sleeping in today. V for Vendetta was replaced with My Cousin Vinny and rescheduled for possibly Wednesday night. Overall it was a nice time.

Tomorrow, I'm being picked up bright and early at 7 a.m. so that I can be the "scribe" for some focus groups. Basically, I will take notes for quite a few hours. However, it should be enjoyable, incredibly interesting and a great way to spend a day of work...and I'll get home from work before 5, which is very nice.

Let's see what else is going on...my parents "have a proposition for us." Sounds intriguing. Sounds scary. I'm just not that exciting right now.

"Ample parking everywhere"

So I found out that Ray LaMontagne apparently went to the side of the stage and chatted with some fans and signed a few autographs the other day. That would have taken the concert from good to awesome. Too bad we didn't go up there.

In other news, well there isn't too much other news right now and it's getting late for those of us who get up before 7. Oh for the days of 10 o'clock chapels. Boooo....

Watching: America's Got Talent, Simple Life, The Hills, Big Brother.

Listening To: Mat Kearney, Ludacris, Frou Frou

Reading: Same books as last time. I'm a slow reader okay.

This weekend: Date night with Rogers, V for Vendetta, out with my aunt and uncle that live 30 min. from here, Sleeping In, Apartment, Church. Love y'all.


Here's a couple of wedding pics for you.

"A flat tire on the road to a better place"

We can all rejoice, brace for it. The moment we've all been waiting for has finally arrived. Best Buy is now carrying The Next Generation of videos. And not just The Next Generation, but both next generations. That right bloglanders HD DVD and Blu-Ray are taking arms and ready to battle.

At first glance HD DVD is kicking Blu-Ray's booty as the only Blue-Ray that I noticed was the one and only The Fifth Element starring Bruce Willis. No Schindler's List. No half-way amazing movie. Instead we get The Fifth Element now for only $25. Or we could go the HD DVD route and pick up "The Last Samurai" for $30. A movie that was recently $5.99 on DVD at Wal-Mart and could probably be purchased for $3.00 on VHS can be purchased for 5 or 10 times that much so that it can be viewed in the best quality known to man. And by the way, it's audio file is no longer compressed! Hip Hip Hooray! It also came in a sleaker case than any DVD I'd seen before. Rounder corners and thin. Very sexy.

So with very little research I'll opinionate. Blu-Ray? HD DVD? Who will win? Who will lose? I'm guessing that the format that gets the most films and the best marketing will win. Of course films will hopefully go to both formats, but demand goes up for either one if they are unique (Halo anyone?). There is no doubt that Joe Consumer and Jane Lovesmovies are the real losers. Unless you're so wealthy and so into technology and precision that you have nothing better to do with your money than you'll probably just wait until your sucked into having to buy one or the other because it's no longer released on DVD. It'll be a few years and hopefully until then the ol' DVDs will keep getting cheaper and cheaper. By the way, I picked up Spiderman II ($4), 8 Mile ($4), Reservoir Dogs ($6), and the almost brand new Failure to Launch($9) for a total of $25 at Best Buy yesterday. So perhaps I'm not really losing after all. Then I went home to watch Friday Night Lights on TV. What a waste of money...that'll be for another day.

"Been so long since I seen your face"

This past weekend, Lisa and I went home for the first time since we moved away. It was a wonderful weekend. Friday night a group of 13 gathered around a Red Lobster table for 10 and cleared the room of patrons with it's boisterous laughing and conversation. We had a great deal of fun before returning to the Hell Hole to talk late into the night.

Saturday was the third Ray LaMontagne show I'd ever seen with Phil, Jason and Par. Again we had a super good time even though Ray only played for a bit.

So there's missing your friends feelings combined with truly appreciating your friends feelings. Only seeing everybody every few weeks or so, will make each visit all the more meaningful. It was nice to have Phil making fun of me again simply because he knew it got to me just enough that it was worth it on both sides. It was funny to be the butt of Jason's persistent anti-semitic comments including the "Most Offensive Comment of the Evening" just in time.

A good time was had by all. Tonight I watched a movie by myself for the first time since wedding (the verb, not the event although I mean both). Friday Night Lights - a good flick. The real Varsity Blues, as one IMDB reviewer put it.

I began work on an essay tonight entitled The Songs of My Life. Work seems like it's going to pick up pretty fast.

"Making plans to change the world while the world is changing us"

So today I enrolled in a 401(k) so that when I'm 60 I can retire with $800,000 at the rate I'm putting in now and my projected rate of salary raise. Unfortunately, if I will want to live off of 90% of my income at time of retirement and I expect to die at 77, I'll need to have 1.2 million dollars in that puppy. Seems a little excessive.

Saving for retirement seems a little stupid right now, but I'm motivated by my Grandpa Martin who retired young as an executive for John Deere. I think he's been retired my whole life and he's almost 80. I'm pretty sure he retired in his mid-50s and they always been able to live at a very nice lifestyle. So for that reason, we shall save save save and hope that we can live long enough to enjoy and spoil our grandkids and if not then our kids will be rich!

I'm a little fried right now, so sorry for if this was poorly written. Off to dinner and Big Brother -yeah! See ya'll in A-Town tomorrow night!

Love,

Berg

"The rest is still unwritten"

I'll admit it. I'm addicted to a few things right now: Ice Cream & TV. Not a good combination. Sounds like the making of a couch potato. I'd like to go ahead and put to rest any roomers right now though. I am, in fact, not a couch potato. Neither have I gained 20 pounds since marraige. Maybe two or three, and I think those were just from 9 Coldstone visits in the first 20 days of marriage. We've only had like 4 in the two weeks since that point. Well maybe that's not so much better. Anyway, I'm addicted to my bowl of 2.5 scoops of no-fat vanilla ice cream with plenty of fat caramel and chocolate on top and a Rogers' Brownie on the side while sitting down to watch my two current favorite shows: Big Brother & The Hills (a Laguna Beach spin-off). Both stupid reality shows that suck you in. We find ourselves discussing the show at the end...what the contestants or kids should or should not do. While I used to only watch Scrubs and Big Brother on their first-run on TV, I'm now watching Big Brother, The Hills, Simple Life, America's Got Talent (whenever I get a chance) and still managing to catch quite a few re-runs of South Park on DVD.

The reason for this new rash of television intake? Well, one reason is we've got to do something while we eat our ice cream...and we DO have to eat our ice cream.

#2 is DVR (same as Tivo). With DVR we can watch the Hills in 22 minutes or the Simple Life in, well, 22 minutes. By the time an hour's passed we've almost watched 3 shows where we used to watch only 2.

#3 is that I no longer have video games. Haven't shot any MasterChiefs with my MasterChef since well before marriage. I haven't played Super Mario Brothers since my college days. My video game days are not over. I'm just on an unwanted and unnecessary hiatus. I actually received two games for getting married: The Godfather (thanks George) and Call of Duty 2 (thanks K-Hink and E.T.).

Nevertheless, a junky I am not. In fact, I'm going to run right now, even though it's almost 11 p.m. and remember folks - it's fat free ice cream.

"3 ooh it's the magic number"

Today was Friday and a day that Shannon was in town, thus a good day. We went to Benihanas and Coldstone and You, Me, and Dupree out of respect for Shannon's visit. For those who might not check Facebook, here's my new profile pic.

Thanks to Berg for au naturale and Phil for the extra Brows!

"Where we should be for now"

The last breakfast before the Rogenberg Wedding on June 24...then we had our first supper. Maybe we can post that tomorrow.

We honestly had no idea that Philip was there. I love that guy.

They're together again at last. Tonight we have our first guest with us. Yea. Shannon Alien Sharp decided to visit Novi, Michigan and take off work tomorrow...which was a total surprise to Lisa. She had a good old-fashioned jaw drop. And Shannon rocks. She had Reeces and Flowers for a housewarming gift. Take notes, friends. You do want to out-do each other right?

Today was Office Outing day so we went to a Tigers game and had an open bar and food bookending the event and $15 worth of anything in the park...so I got a nice Tigers ball cap for practically free ($10), but it'd be $20 anywhere so it was still cool. I left the bar at like 6:15 and the party was still going strong, but I had to get home to Miss Rogers and Shannon. Anyway I felt guilty for not driving anybody home. I would've offered, but I didn't really want to wait around until they were done. There was even talk of karaoke. So it could have gone all night. I guess I'll find out tomorrow. Lisa will get the rest of the Polaroids up for y'all too. We just got a scanner and are working on it. Thank Wilbe for the awesome Polaroids. That guy rocks. He is the King. Happy last night at Target, Wilbs.

"All these places feel like home"

If you have 2 minutes click on this: http://zachbraff.com/ then go to the part that says Last Kiss Trailer and click on it and press play. The movie looks awesome. Which could actually be a bad thing, because with Zach B. in it I'm already assuming it's awesome. Well I know the soundtrack's awesome too. So basically, I'm stoked. Oh yeah, it's written by Paul Haggis too, who is golden (Million Dollar Baby, Crash...and one of the creators of Walker Texas Ranger...) Simply golden.

Enough of that. Tomorrow is back to work, bright and early. Week 2. The good news is Wednesday is off-site client meeting day, which will go quickly and Thursday is Tigers baseball game day, which should be a good time to meet a few people and take it easy for a day.

Before you know it the weekend will role around again. I honestly think I'm going to like this job though, which I'm very happy about.

Well we made some progress on cleaning up today. One step at a time. We'll be there before you know it and probably be packing up to move onto the next place. But I guess by next year (if we decide to move into a house or condo) we'll be experienced movers so it will go smoother right? I hope y'all squeezed in some ice cream before midnight as according to Mr. Ricky it was National Ice Cream Day. I had a big bowl with some of Lisa's super-delicious brownies on the side.

Watching: lots of South Park these days
Listening to: Chocolate by Snow Patrol (because it's on the Last Kiss Soundtrack)
Reading: Escape from Alcatraz and Restoring Your Spiritual Passion (two completely separate books)

"Standing on a building I am a lightning rod"

So one week of work is down. Most of the week was spent reading materials and participating in conference calls with another new hire or two. Actually the gal that's in Cincinatti. A lot of reading and frankly not all that exciting. I did get a few free lunches, which was great. Also on Friday, the office leader bought smoothies for everyone, so that was cool....seems like a great atmosphere for work. People seem to get along pretty well etc.

Well my boss works from home on Fridays, so on Friday she asked me to handle something for her, which made my not too exciting week very interesting all of a sudden. I was on the phone with a client and acting as the go between with a layout person in Chicago who was trying to get the materials to us. At the end of the day this role and project was similar to what I used to do at the School 'o Business so that was cool. I have a bit of experience with it and don't feel to overwhelmed. But I did think for a bit that I might be working past 6 on Friday. Instead I got to bring some work home with me for the weekend. Not too fun, but potentially a norm, so I guess I'd better get used to it. This weekend only a couple of hours, so not too bad. And it's also helpful that I'm getting paid for it.

After a day of unpacking and shopping for a few more essentials (like our brand new 19" flatscreen monitor...to replace the ancient and supersmall hand-me-down from Josh + it was only going to be $70 after we used our gift card from a bunch of the guys at Best Buy, but unfortunately we couldn't find it...which I guess means I'll just put it towards on XBox 360 when I do find it, right?) it's time to pack it in for the night (please see pre-parenthesis to make sense of that last in-between parenthetical phrases phrase).

Goodnight and thanks for all the comments. Miss y'all.

Currently Listening to the new Guster CD: Ganging up on the Sun - got to get ready for the show!

"We were merely freshmen"

Not to be overdramatic, but it's odd moving away when no one seems to want you to go, and your wife doesn't want to go, but you think it's the right thing to do. You think it's progress. You think it's a step forward instead of a step sideways. Here comes the overdramatic part, but it's odd to think of our great great grandparents who not that long ago came across the ocean, some with little thought of ever returning home. They came because of opportunity, which is what brought us to Detroit. But the sad part is the thought that financial / social / etc. opportunity or stepping forward might not really be a step forward. Is it better to step forward by rejecting what society (or anyone over the age 0f 25 [besides Andy Eck] says you'd be a fool not to do)...to step forward by staying and not going?

These are thoughts that I have. Not to say, I regret that we're in Detroit. I regret not having my friends around. I regret feeling sad for doing what I feel is the right thing. I'm going to love this job. I really do think so. It's what I've wanted to do since last summer, before I even knew that this specific type of job in the Consulting industry existed. I feel bad for Rogers because she doesn't want to be here too much, but she's good to come and put her interests aside. Some things would have been easier if we'd stayed, but some things would have been harder to.

So this is not a fun update, but it's an update on a frequent state of mind. If you're in the viewing area of these words, don't be a stranger. We'd love to show you the Novi ropes. The best way to describe where we live for those whom I haven't talked to, is like a Castleton type of area. There's shopping and restaurants about 10 minutes in most directions. Lisa hasn't even been to Detroit yet. I might try to show her the office sometime soon though. Tomorrow night: Date Night. Have fun and give a toast in our absence! Love, Berg Ros Rosenbagger Shlozzendonger Andrew

"We won't stop til we get underpants"

Hello friends. After a prolonged silence, I am back. I feel like an infamous terrorist or something with that sentence. So much to talk about, so little time to do it. But the good news is, I've got the internet again and since my last post I've also gotten a wife and a job and an apartment and a vacation and a whole lot of things to go into the penultimate item in that list. I've also got a couple of new blogs to read thanks to my two good girl-friends Lisa Ann and Shannon www.xanga.com/lisarosenberg and http://www.xanga.com/ssharper respectively. You all have already found it anyway. So I guess I need to join xanga so I can finally post on Wilb's and Par's blog as well as my new xanga buddies and not to mention Andrea. I've been trolling their blogs for ages.

Anyway: Marriage = exciting / interesting / odd feeling at times / fun / lots of laughing / lots of ice-cream / good times

Job = feeling lost / sometimes board / tired / interesting / learning a lot / seems like it's going to be challenging and fun / seems like it will pay well in a couple of years (it does now too, but I've got a wife and all of a sudden a bunch of bills...boooo)

Novi, MI = awesome / lonely / tons of shopping / commercialized / affluent / no hacienda / no friends / nice place / Macaroni Grill, Chilis, Carabas, Bennihanas, On the Boarder, etc. (all within 10 min.) / Coldstone 10 - 15 min. in any direction!!!!!!

So that's the quick run down. It definately is an odd adjustment to be in a new place with no friends around except my wonderful wife who takes good care of me. I miss you guys a lot and can't wait for many mutual visits we'll be in A-town monthly at least I think, and hopefully a couple or a bunch of you can make it up every so often. It's only 4 hours, which is twice as far as Brian's Cincinnati, but we offer twice the friends to visit!!!! So it's worth it.

Time to got to sleep. 6:40 a.m. sucks. Earliest I've been up since high school. booo!

Currently listening to: Keane / Eminem (he's Detroit you know) / Jack Johnson (all the way up California's coast baby)

Currently watching: Big Brother All-Stars / Hills / America's Got Talent / Arrested Development / South Park.

So spread the word that I'm back on and leave comments folks, because I haven't gotten too many calls from y'all (although Squatch did invite me to play basketball on Monday, which I tried to make it back for, but they had just quit) so I need comments.

The title of this blog post was brought to you by South Park. Anyone remember the first two lines of that stanza in the song? Then the post title might make more sense. Cheers.

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew and Lisa Rosenberg

A first and a last. First time in 400 posts I haven't titled it with song lyrics. Last time to post as a single man. For in 12.5 hours I will tie the knot. Can't wait. It's been a great week full of work and fun. Tomorrow it shall end with a bang! It's wedding time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"There's a golden ring and I want you to have it"

It's now after midnight, thus tomorrow I shall marry the love of my life: Lisa Ann Rogers. When we were in high school, not too long after we'd been dating I suppose, we used to sit on the porch in the country where Lisa's childhood home was and talk and laugh. We'd light torches and at times wonder if we'd be doing the same thing when we were 80. Perhaps, if we live long enough we'll have that chance. We'll be sitting on our balcony in Novi talking and laughing come July 3.

While we've been counting down the months then days for a very long time, we've finally made it to hours. Right now we've got 39 hours to go. There's quite a great deal that goes into wedding planning. Lisa said today that the whole idea of weddings is a terrible idea. I wonder if she's right...I guess we'll find out what we think soon enough. It's just sad that both of us can't wait to be away in California. It's all so stressful. Moving and marrying at the same time doesn't help. Keep that in mind folks. So with 39 hours to go, I guess I might as well do a typical Berg schedule.

12 - 4AM: Packing
4 -10:30AM: Sleeping
10:30AM-12: Preparing for the Day and Details
12 - 4PM: Whatever Life Throws My Way (Wedding Packing or Honeymoon Details)
4 - 7: Rehearsal Time
7 - 9: Rehearsal Dinner Time
9-1AM: ? ? ? ?
1AM-11AM: Sleep and ? ? ? (Brunch with Guys? Golf?)
11AM - 3: Dress Pictures, etc.
3:30AM: My Wedding

Perhaps I'll squeeze in one more post, perhaps not. Just no this. When I say, "I'm excited," it's 100% true. I can't wait to marry Lisa. Through the good and the bad, the laughter and the tears, births and deaths, whatever life throws our way, I'm so excited to have Lisa as my wife - a lovely woman of faith who is passionate and supportive, who knows how to laugh and how to love. It could only be her. Since 15 til 98. Only You

"He sings the songs that remind him of the good times"

Tonight was the Rosenberg Bachelor party and as Parliament said, "It's the best Bachelor Party I've ever been to....but I've only been to one." It was an awesome time at a pool hall in the Castleton area. We had a smashing time playing some pool and playing some super shot, which I scored the high of 60 on.

I honestly had a very very fun time. Thanks to Jason and Ricker for planning the shindig and getting 15 guys to show up on account of me getting hitched. It was a heck of a lot of fun. The ride home with Ricker, Felder and Ron Joss behind the wheel was perhaps the highlight as it was very very fun and funny.

Thanks to Kat & Phil for making sure I was home safe and sound and Lisa had her car for the dentist! Thank you to all my friends for making my Bachelor party such a fun fun time. Love you guys. Here's to many more bachelor parties in the future.
"z y x w v u t s r q p o n m l k j i h g f e d c b a."

"Lord of all creation"

It was a busy / great day in Bergland. Lisa and I spent our last "single" Tuesday night together with a quick trip to good old Alexandria for some Dortee's Ice Cream and a visit to the cemetary and a drive by Lisa's old house. It was sad and fun and we talked of days gone by.

The rest of the day was spent wedding planning. Busy busy busy. Lisa's working her tale off. She's quite the workaholic on projecty types of things and this wedding is just the fit.

Lisa also had a car accident today, which was not good timing. A fender bender, but enough damage, that the car needed to be taken in and checked out and what not. So now we have to be a bit flexible this week... Everything will be allright.

I'm very excited!

"All I needed for another day"

One weekday down. Four to go. Something tells me this week will fly by in a fashion that few have in my life up to this point. Hard to believe so many things are upon us. Within a 16 day span, I will embark on the "3 Most Stressful things in Life." Getting a new job / moving / getting married, not in that order. Fortunately, I'm a relatively unstressed guy. However, sometimes when it hits, it hits. I don't think it will hit this time.

The wedding will be awesome on Saturday.

Moving will be super-exciting.

Work. Well that should be exciting also. Not super-exciting, but exciting.

It was sad to be packing up my childhood room today. I've really only lived here for my life until now, save four years at college, but it's still my old house. Every now and then I find myself reaching to put my dirty clothes where I put them growing up. Anyway, my shelves now look different for the first time in a very long time. I'll be cleaning out under my bed here in another day or so. That should be an adventure. I'm all grown up, I suppose. Maybe I'll have to throw away my comics and video games?! Not yet. The time is not right.

"Looking from a window above. It's like a story of love."

The Countdown is on! One week from today I'll have a new wife. Amazing! After 91 months or 2,776 days of dating we'll be married!

Today was the wedding of Collin Trent and Anna Helvering. It was quite a party. Collin and I were very good friends for the first 10 years or so of our lives. Three distinct and special memories I have of Collin. One: The two of us both loved New Kids on the Block and attended one of their concerts together at Verizon Wireless, which was Deer Creek at the time. I also think I traded him my Donnie pin for his Joey. Two: The guy hit me in the eye with a baseball bat on accident, which caused me to need stitches, which my Dad put in. It was a painful experience. Finally: If I remember correctly, Collin taught me how to swing a bit when I was maybe four. I was wearing brown shorts at the time that I didn't like. So today he got married and next week I'll get married. We were supposed to be born on the same da, but he actually arrived one week (exactly) prior to me.

So today, Lisa and I opened a wonderful gift from one Eileen before going matress shopping. We found a nice King Size, which should be wonderfully comfortable. Shh...we registered for mostly Queen size stuff, so keep that under wraps. Anyway, then we went to the wedding, before hanging out with some of the best people around for a nice relaxing couple of hours at the Sharp Farm.

In short, the day was mostly splendid.

Artists, albums and songs I've been listening to recently:

Sufjan Stevens - Michigan (Romulus, Flint)
Jenny Lewis - Rabit Fur Coat (Happy)
Joshua Radin - We Were Here (These Photographs, Only You, Sundrenched World)

"If I could take you up in paradise up above"

We got approved...so this is the layout of our new apartment:

"French films about us"

The last 30 min. have been very productive. I sent 4 e-mails that I've needed to send all week. I don't know what the hold-up was.

Tonight Mr. Ricky and I went out for a fancy bite to eat and to an Indie film in Indy. Hadn't seen much of Ricker so that was very good to catch up.

Similarly, I haven't seen much of Philip lately. He graciously accompanied me to pick up some boxes for moving and then we watched some Exo Squad.

In short, it was a great evening of catching up with unfortunately seldom seen friends who I'm going to see a lot of next week, but very little afterwards.

"This could be the very minute I'm aware I'm alive"

Used to be on Tuesday nights, as you know Lisa and I would watch Scrubs, eat pizza and then I'd do homework all night at her house, usually not returning home until 1 or 2. Tonight was a Tuesday night and we watched Curb Your Enthusiasm instead ofScrubs and ate pizza. I suppose next January when Scrubs returns will do more of the same. The thing that's different is there's no homework. Life seems simpler without homework. Like there's not always something hanging over your head.

I sent in my acceptance letter today. Overnighted it actually. I'm very happy to have received this opportunity. Sounds like an Oscar acceptance speech, but it's true. I'm very excited about this job. It will be a great place and way to start a career.

So on June 24, Lisa and I will head off into the sunset. We'll be home for a day or two after the honeymoon then move to Novi. Once there we'll have a week to settle in and become acclimated to our apartment before I start work.

"And when the bride groom comes"

Can't wait to get married. It's going to rock. 11 Days. Unbelievable!

"From the Renaissance. It's a great idea!"

Lisa Ann and I will be moving to Novi, Michigan on July 2, 2006. It's a super nice little place about 25 miles Northwest of Detroit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novi,_Michigan

Check it out if you care. It's an "affluent" community. I'll be working in the Rennaissance Center in downtown Detroit for Mercer Human Resource Consulting where I will be a Communications Analyst.

See the big buildings right next to the river? That's the Renaissance Center. I think I will be working in one of the smaller buildings just below the bigger ones. Still one of the round ones. This is a picture of downtown Detroit.

If you care, basically most who work in Detroit leave town and live elsewhere. That will be Lisa and I as well. While the median income in Detroit is roughly $35,000, the median income in Novi is roughly $71,000. Thus Detroit gets a bad rep, because all the money is leaving. Still they are working to revitalize the downtown. Towards the left side of the picture (across the river) is Canada.

Here's something: Lisa and I made it home in 3 hours and 45 minutes including a gas stop on Saturday night. Basically the same as Chicago at that point!

"And all at once the crowd begins to sing"

Looks as though Lisa and I are headed to Detroit tomorrow afternoon to scope out the possibilities. This is to avoid a 6:00a.m. rise and drive on Thursday. Let's definately plan on hanging out Saturday, everyone? Hopefully Friday too!

Some Concerts I've been to:

• Better Than Ezra - 4x
• Ray LaMontagne - 2x
• Dave Matthews Band - 5x (I think)
• The Fray - 1x
• Mat Kearney - 1x
• Live - 1x
• Collective Soul - 1x
• Lifehouse - 2x
• Matchbox 20 - 1x
• Everclear - 1x
• Pearl Jam - 1x
• Sugar Ray - 1x
• Gin Blossoms - 1x
• Jem - 1x
• The Cranberries - 1x
• Coldplay - 2x
• New Kids on the Block - 1x
• Duncan Sheik - 1x

That's not to mention the Christian bands, which is dozens since I've been to several festivals: Jars of Clay 2x, Newsboys 2x, Supertones 2x, Michael W. Smith 2x, P.O.D. 1x (at which I crowd surfed), the list could go on and on - Audio Adrenaline, a couple of times...

I'm very tired and have a long drive tomorrow so peace!

"You know, the place where you used to live"

Less than 24 hours from now, I'll have been to a concert with three wonderful ladies. The Fray: One of Lisa's Top 3 Favorite Bands. Should be a fun time. I'm looking forward to it. I can't believe it's June 6. One month from now I'll be working at my 50 hour a week job, beginning what I hope will not become a mundane life....but instead an exceptional life. I'll be married. I'll be living in another city, another state for the first time in my life. I'll be looking for a new church. I'll really no longer be an I'll, but instead a We'll.

So it's a constant state of change. Gone are the days of staying up all night playing Halo. Gone are the days of doing homework. Instead I'll go watch 24 for a couple of hours and work on thank-you notes at home.

Will anything really change at all besides the surroundings and people?

"He said to only look up"

Things that have kept me busy the past three days:

• My joint birthday celebration with my cousin Alex in Cincinnati Friday
• My cousin Alex's Graduation open house in Cincinnati Saturday
• My wedding shower with friends and family all day Sunday
• Seeing "The Break-Up" yesterday evening with several friends

Things that will keep me busy the next three weeks:

• Finishing up work with AMG
• Packing up my stuff to move
• Visiting Detroit this Thursday and Friday (7 & 8)
• Finding an Apartment in Detroit or Chicago (11-15)
• Moving to Detroit or Chicago (15-20)
• Hanging out with friends on random dates over the next couple of weeks
• Having a bachelor party
• Having a rehearsal dinner (23)
• Getting married! (24)

Until we get to San Diego it's going to be crazy!

"Most of what I remember"

Today is my 23rd Birthday. Soon I'll be 30, which is only a stone's throw from 40. I've already received an awesome birthday present. A brand spankin new 30gig Black Ipod!!!! This was from my very generous fiance Miss Lisa Ann! The thing is sweet, and I'm enjoying it quite a bit.

Lisa and I went to a Joshua Radin / Mat Kearny concert this evening at Birdy's, which was okay. I was mainly going to see Joshua, but he only played 4 songs and the crowd was really loud during that, but I did get to shake his hand and get an autograph so that was nice.

Well it sounds as though I'll be getting an offer letter in the mail sometime very soon from Mercer so that is cool. It'll be a good starting salary and they're giving us some relocation money so that will be very helpful.

Everything's going pretty well. Time to spend a bit of my birthday saying goodnight to Lisa and maybe watching an episode of 24 before drifting to sleep with the aid of my Ipod!

"Muster every ounce of confidence I have"

Jared Breneman and David Smith are two friends of mine who also recently graduated from college. These two gentlemen, who I was glad to hang out with this evening are using their degrees in different ways. David has an eBay store Edge2Sell, where he is selling stuff on behalf of other people and taking a nice chunk of the sale price. Jared is mowing lawns. The former could spend a typical "work" day answering 10 phone calls and replying to 15 e-mails. The latter spends a typical work day getting up very early, driving an hour down the pike and mowing lawns all day, oftentimes picking up business on the fly by mowing lawns for anyone who asks. Both of these guys can make more than enough money at what they do. I find it interesting.

There are 8,766 hours in a year. Over the next year I will probably be working about 2,600 of those for my employer. That averages down to 52 hours per week. That sounds like plenty. The key to being happy at work is loving what you do. I think enjoying the company of your coworkers is key also. Let's hope Lisa and I both land in places where those two things are true.

"Put your soul in the water and join me for a swim tonight"

Barring some unforseen incident I should begin working with Mercer Human Resource Consulting in either Detroit or Chicago in early July! After an extensive job search process, it looks as though things are winding down. I've been hoping and trying to get in with the company since December or January since I first started talking with my contact there, and everything is looking good.

Lisa and I are going to visit Detroit probably next week to see what the city looks like. Then we'll go from there. Saw X-Men III tonight, and I would say it's the best of the three, but I'm not an X-Men fan much at all so I don't know anything outside of the movies...

"Are just memories of a different life, some that made us laugh, some that made us cry"

Congratulations to Mr. Josh Campbell and Ms. Keri Trout engaged this Memorial Day 2006! That rocks!! I haven't got the d-l yet, but I'll have to give him a call tomorrow and see what's up.

Memorial Day was very nice. About 15 people piled onto the Hell Hole Porch and sweated, socialized, relaxed, ate burgers and almost hit Shannon with a football. It was a good way to spend a few hours with good friends.

Hopefully tomorrow I will hear something from the company that I am interviewing with. We'll see what happens. Also, my future dog, Grace Rogers, is getting Spayed, which decreases the liklihood of me having 10 puppies by next year. So that's good.

"The sky's alive with a burning light"

Happy Memorial Day. It's been a nice weekend. Yesterday's cookout / suicide kings movietime was very nice. Today I spent the day relaxing with Rogers and booking our honeymoon stuff. We're staying in a darn nice hotel.

So other things seem to be going well. Tomorrow's a cookout that should be very nice. Maybe I'll see V for Vendetta in the afternoon.

"Come on and we'll sing, like we were free"

Hello friends,

I'm pleased to report that this was a good Friday, although I missed my fiance who decided to remain at home in a state of hunger due to her stinkin mouth piece that doesn't allow her to chew.

The other parts of the Friday were pretty good. I purchased an XBox game for the second time ever today. The first was Halo 2, which was certainly worth the money. The second is Destroy All Humans. I'll play it a bit after I finish this season of 24. I wanted it when it first came out so now that it's $20, I decided to take the plunge.

Also had a nice time with friends at Haciend - Ritters - and Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture edition.

Tomorrow night is looking to shape up as another night out. Let's hope Phil gets back in time! I turn 23 one week from today...

"Mr. Cab Driver reads too many story books"

Hello friends. It's been too long. And a busy week. As I mentioned the interviews went very well. I should hear good news (hopefully) tomorrow. So that's good.

SIFE Nationals was okay. We ended up in the Top 60, which was failry disappointing since we were in the Top 12 last year. We hoped to return to the Top 20, so we were disappointed. However, we did have a great year in SIFE. We were better than last year, so I'm not sure what else you can do. The experience wasn't superb because I also got sick on Monday night for the first time in awhile. I had chills and a soar throat and did not sleep well at all.

So I'm back in town, and if I get an offer, it looks as though I might not start until after the wedding, which will help us, as we will have time to find an apartment and get settled a bit.

So a brief no-nonsense update.

"I remember it well"

Well the job interviews in Chicago went very well. I feel pretty confident. I should know within the next week where Lisa and I will be starting our married life. xoxo

"For a stranger peace is hard to hard to come by extra ordinary thing"

In a few hours I'll wake-up and head to Chicago if everything goes as planned. While in Chicago, I'll participate in a final-round of interviews that in many ways will help determine where Lisa and I will begin our lives together. I'm excited. Very excited. Confident. Excited.

I have a peace. A few weeks ago, I just got a peace. Not to worry. If I get the job? Great. If I don't get the job? Great. When will I start? It'll work out okay. What apartment will we get? It will be great.

So that's that. I'll let ya'll know how it goes hopefully on Saturday before I head to Kansas City for my final National competition.

"To bear the weight and push into the sky"

A Few Facts You Might Not Know about

Andrew D. Rosenberg's Past & History

1. When I was a child I was best friends with ex-Dativus President Colin Trent. We were born within one week of each other and will now get married within one week of each other.
2. The sports I like to watch are all Indianapolis Colts games, Cubs & Pacer playoff games, March Madness and any other game that is close in the waning minutes.
3. I have problems with e-mail. A) I'm addicted to it. B) I'm bad at keeping my inbox organized (I currently have over 1600 e-mails in my inbox).
4. If I have to be one or the other, I am an extrovert. I am energized from being around people, but I definately enjoy watching a good movie by myself. I'd describe myself as fairly balanced in that I don't have to be with people to be happy.
5. I recently decided that Tom Cruise is one of my favorite actors. Tom Hanks has been #1 for a few years after taking Harrison Ford's place. Although Tom Cruise's over-exposure makes him seem wierd and annoying, I enjoyed both M.I. 3 & War of the Worlds a great deal and he can obviously act (Jerry Maguire). Please note, I generally pick favorite actors by the level of which I enjoy their movies (not necessarily talent).
6. Today I've been dating Lisa Rogers for exactly 90 months and exactly 7.5 years (do the math they're the same thing).
7. I went to pre-school for two years. 1) Because I was a bit immature. 2) My birthday was at a wierd time so I missed the cutoff.
8. The last 5 DVDs I have purchased were: The Weatherman, Collateral, Matchstick Men, Snake Eyes, & In America all from Dave's Video for a total price of $28 minus $17 from trade-ins and coupons (I'm on a Nic Cage kick).
9. On Friday & Saturday I will participate in final interviews with a company that I hope to work for in Chicago. I began talking with a contact there in December. It culminates on Saturday.
10. My favorite TV shows that are still on the air are as follows: 24, Scrubs, Lost, Sopranos. I watch Lost and 24 and most of the Sopranos on DVD, but I've watched Scrubs nearly every week with Lisa since Season 2.

"I think I need a new town"

Well I am officially and completely moved out of The Lounge. The room seemed a bit smaller without all of the stuff in it. Which means I am officially and completely moved back to my childhood home. In between times, I packed a ton of boxes and threw away about 6 bags of trash, which means that I had a lot of trash in my room. It was amazing to see how much stuff I had in my room.

So I started reading a book for pleasure / education last night. The Wayward Bus by Steinbeck. It's been awhile since I've read a classic. We'll see if I stick with it.

"Take me to your leader, I sure could use a laugh"

Well my room of 21 months is nearly empty. All that remains is a desk, a floorfull of junk still needing picked up and a lot of dust. A lot. I wasn't very good at keeping the room clean, and this has led to a great deal of dust everywhere. Tomorrow I shall vacuum a lot.

Thanks goes out to Ricker, Philip, Josh, & George my wonderful roommates and Lisa Ann, without whom I'd still be reading through my Nintendo Power magazines with a room full of stuff rather than being nearly finished moving out.

"Listen for the sound of cars"

Most of today was spent packing up my room with the wonderful assistance of Lisa. What's left is a huge mess, but under the mess there isn't much of anything. We packed up all my clothes, videogames, music, and movies. The magazines are ready to be thrown away and my bookbag has been emptied out. I am getting rid of a big box of clothes that I haven't worn / won't wear again. It did occur to me that it really would be liberating to not have so many things. If I had 10 things in my closet instead of 50, I would feel that much lighter. Life would be simpler. I'd be free'r. If I had an iPod and not 250 cds... If I didn't have over 150 videogames for 5 different systems...

So for the next couple of weeks, I'm going to be livin la vida loca out of my childhood home. I'll be back in the old room with bright green walls for one last stand. I should be out by the second week of June at the absolute latest. Could be a week or two before that even. The cycle will be complete. Grow up leave home, move to dorm, move to The Lounge with guys, move back home.

"They told us how to feel, but we just feel numb"

A good day. A day that was much different than expected. I went to a funeral of a 96 year old man who was the greater at my church since long before I was born. He greated everyone. And knew everyone by name. The story goes that when he was first asked to be greater and head usher, he worried that he wasn't good with names. He prayed about it and that was no longer a problem. Obe Foley. In recent years he always asked me about baseball during the summer even though I didn't play anymore. I may have mentioned once or twice that I didn't play, but normally I just said that no I hadn't hit any homers yet.

After that I took Dr. Doyle Lucas out to lunch - to Hacienda actually. I decided in the last couple of weeks that I wanted to take 3 professors out to lunch, my treat as a thank-you. The first two were very nice. Good conversations. Good friends.

Then, instead of going to work, I stayed around the School of Business for a couple of hours and did work there, before heading to Lisa's in the late afternoon. While I thought I was going to Greek's Pizza in the evening with some of my B-Friends (B. for Business), Jared had to back out and Dave failed to answer his phone so I decided I didn't really want to pursue it too much, and ended up spending the evening with Lisa eating ice cream and watching a movie. It was great. The movie was Must Love Dogs starring John Cusack playing Jake - yes pretty much the same Jake he played in Say Anything. The script probably called for John Cusack playing Jake Lloyd. The ice cream was Ritters. The company was Lisa Ann Rogers, my wonderful and beautiful fiance.

Every day holds new promise. Time to go to sleep and get ready for tomorrow's promise.

"An icy loop around me"

In the spirit of Philip's graduation picture caption contest here's the Berg version. Please understand that this contest was from the brain of Philip and is therefore intellectual property that I am crediting to him.

Whoever posts the best caption wins...well Philip did an ice cream treat, so I'll do the same. If his captions are as good as mine, maybe we'll go out for ice cream together!

"Every minute from this minute now"

Today was a day of Scrubs and a day of driving and a day of conversing.

1) I watched 6 Episodes of one of my favorite TV shows Scrubs: 1 from Season 2, 2 from Season 5, and 3 from Season 3.

2) I drove to Huntington to pick up nearly 3,000 copies of the Falls Report magazine.

3) Lisa and I had a nice good talk...after Scrubs actually. Which brings me back to the beginning.

"Water through my hands"

The first Monday of my first week as a college graduate was spent well. I worked. I played. I relaxed. Lisa even made me lunch and dinner, which was awesome. Thanks, babe.

So life just keeps on ticking. Tonight I saw Mission Impossible III, which in my opinion is the best of the 3 MI movies. I enjoyed it very much. If you like JJ Abrams stuff (Alias - Lost) or like the other MI's, you'll probably enjoy this as well.

Marraige Counseling today went well, and was pretty enjoyable. Only a few more week! Exciting!

"In the Tower above the earth"

It's 12:43 and I feel exhausted. I don't like this. I suppose I should go to sleep, but I feel like I'm wasting precious have-fun time because you have no homework. The first day spent as a College grad was with Rogers and family and Sharp. It was a joyous occasion. I even ran into Pres. Edwards at Mancino's lunch. I had ordered a beer and P-Eddy said something about now being a grad. It was awkward and sort of funny in hindsight. The last three sentences (not including this one) are complete fabrications by the way. None of that happened except for the sentence that reads "I even ran into Pres. Edwards at Mancino's lunch." That really did happen. Those other 3 sentences didn't happen at all. The ones that read "I had ordered a beer...funny in hindsight." Those are the parts that I made up because I thought it would make this post more interesting. Those 3 specifically. So now I'm going to bed. I'm going to marraige counseling tomorrow. That should be enticing. Exciting.

"Here's to goodbye, tomorrow's gonna come to soon"

So about 10 hours ago now, a group of my good friends, my fiance Lisa and I walked through a line of faculty members shaking hands and giving out hugs and entered the Kardatzke Wellness Center and began the graduation ceremony. While I thought graduating would sink in today, it didn't really.

It was a great day. It started at 9:00 a.m. with Bachalloreate, which is a wierd word for pre-graduation chapel-type of service. After the service, which was pretty nice, Lisa and I went to Hacienda to enjoy a good pre-graduation meal and then took a quick nap at her house.

There were some very explicit pre-graduation instructions at 1:30 p.m. Then graduation. Going through it with about 10 good friends was a cool thing. Seeing your peers and friends earn that degree that you've worked for together over the past 4 years was a cool thing. Standing up and realizing that this is it was a cool thing. Seeing the love of your life receive her diploma about 30 seconds before you get your was a cool thing. Seeing your best friend since 3rd grade get the same thing about 10 min. before was a cool thing. The service was 2 hours, which was surprising to my "it'll be 3 hours at least mindset."

After a marvelous photoshoot with friends Lisa and I went back to my childhood home where we had a cookout with family and a few family friends.

I don't really know when it will sink in. I do know that despite it all, this has been a good year. I do know that I will miss my friends someday soon. I do know that I'm very very grateful to have at least a few weeks before any major changes begin. Without those few weeks this moment would be much harder.

Congratulations readers who graduated. I love you guys. You totally are awesome and it was an honor to walk with you. Let's see while hoping not to miss anyone, you reader / grads are: Nate P. Ricker, Jason, Eileen, Phil, and of course, Lisa Ann.

You guys rock. ConGRADulations!

"Can I graduate?"

Well it looks as though I'll walk to the stage and pick up my diploma about 30 seconds after my fiance Miss Lisa Ann on Saturday afternoon. The results are in and we both are graduating! I ended up doubling my A- count this semester putting up two more A- after a 4 semester 4.0 streak. But that's okay. After 19 years of schooling I shall graduate without ever getting anything in the B range that affected my GPA. Everything that counted was in the A-Range. That's nice.

Tomorrow will be a day of golf and a night out with friends. Should be a good day. Time to go to bed so I don't get behind and then sleep through graduation!

"Take a deep breath, take in all that you could want"

Walking to the downtown Rickers and to the park tonight with friends was very very nice. A night of doing things that I haven't done before. I enjoyed it much. One test to go, and that's all.

Goodnight. Tomorrow should be a good day of rest (and haircut).

"If I could offer you one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it"

I still remember the first day of 8th grade. Wearing my red Jars of Clay shiny shirt that I'd bought over the summer for $30 at their concert that my cool sister took me to. I remember being scared out of my mind by Mr. Roller and his insistance that we learn John 1: 1-5 word for word. One mistake and you got a zero. Had to know it by the next day perfectly. He ended up being awesome, but sucked that first day.

My first day of highschool I wore tan shorts and a striped shirt. Seemed pretty stylish. Every first day back to school at Liberty, I remember smiling. I couldn't help it.

I remember my first day of kindergarten because I missed the bus home and was stranded at my sister's elementary school 25th Street. Nobody told me that I had to switch busses or whatever. My mom came and picked me up. I don't remember if I cried out of fear.

So next week, I'll wake up on Monday and go do some work at the Flagship and have a good old time. Maybe it will dawn on me that school is actually over. Maybe it won't be until fall when something seems strangely different.

These are interesting (and I'll argue fun) times for us. I argue fun, because I am going to have fun. I usually do.

I realized today as George was moving out that I only have about one more week in The Lounge - my home for two years. That will be strange.

So I sit in my room. Alone. Feelings of joy and anticipation. Some fear. Not much worry. Surrealness. Nostalgia. Maybe I'll write a script next year. I've always wanted to. I need music. No music tonight though. It's movie time. Because I can. 3 Big Days - May 6, May 20, June 24. Wear sunscreen. Check out this link. Love or hate it. Remember it or not. The advice is interesting, if not awesome.
http://lyrics.astraweb.com/displayp.cgi?baz_luhrmann..something_for_everybody..everybodys_free_to_wear_sunscreen

"We all sing 'La, la, la, la, la...'"

Not to detract from my last post below, but here's something nice!

It's Baby Lisa...Why not one of Baby Berg too!

"Collapse into me, tired with joy"

Well...one test down. One more important one to go. I'm about to begin my last block of real studying for my undergraduate college career. My last important test is tomorrow at 7:40.

Will I rest easy tomorrow night? What will I feel like next week with no overriding obligations... I expect the next two weeks after this to be some of the best ever. I'll do a bit of work, but little else. I'm so glad I went through my College is Ending Crisis before now. I feel so good. I can't wait to get married, to move into an apartment with Rogers. We're going to have a blast.

On that note, I have a lingering feeling that our slideshow is going to be awesome. George W. is putting it together, and it's going to rock. Can't wait to see the results. Maybe some of you will see yourselves in some of the pics.

Well it's not an exciting update, but just wanted to say Hey before I start studying...ummm for the last time for awhile!

4 Songs that Currently Rock
Carry On - Elliott
Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol
Genius - Duncan Sheik
Closer - Joshua Radin

"And the sun rised everywhere"

In the next 30 minutes, I'll finish studying and go to sleep. When I wake up, I'll be getting ready for my last Monday of school for several years at least, possibly forever. You never know?

I'll wake up to a song by Athenaeum - Suddenly.

Please wake me

I don't know if I'm still dreaming

Please wake me

I'm one side calm and one side screaming

If I remember correctly, fall of my freshman year, I woke up to this song all the time. Probably even my first day of college. Four years later. I can feel myself changing in several ways. Why changing now? I'm not sure. Is it natural to change along with change? Perhaps. This past week, several days I began the day consciously being happy rather than unconsciously being on autopilot. I started doing devotions this past week without some spiritual breakthrough. I feel ready to face the world. Ready to be done with school. Ready for whatever life throws at us. So this is it. It will end well. A chapter is ending.

The Soundtrack to this very important week will be Elliott's Song in the Air. A CD Nate D. let me borrow that he accurately describes as "atmospheric" and "sad." In light of this sadness, I realized that sad things make me extremely happy. My happiest moments come as a result of something that seems sad. Is that odd? The saddest part of a movie, makes me happy. A sad song makes me happy. Not happy in the smile and laughing sort of way, but happy in the emotionally joyful sense of the word.

The first of my last finals begins in six hours. Wish me luck. Goodnight. It's been a blast.