Annika

Guess what? You now have a new cousin! Auntie Rachel gave birth to little Annika Kuerzinger last evening. Apparently you're Uncle Jeremy didn't care enough to stick around as he decided to go kick some Clatskanie booty. In all fairness, it was a must win high school basketball game. It's completely fine though because he scored 15 points. Your daddy informed him that he had to have exactly 15 points or he couldn't stay at your house anymore. Fortunately he hit the 15 point mark on the head. It was a controversial play however when he gave up the game winning layup on the buzzer so as to not exceed his goal.

I'm trying to spin certain stories from the present in such a way that they will seem even cooler when you're able to read by July, 2011.

Again though, the real story of the day was Miss. Annika. Congrats to Brother Torsten and Mama and Daddy Kuerzinger. Annika will be one protected little lady. Lots of people to see that she is treated right. For this job I'm excited.

Avatar

It's hard to focus on anything else this morning while I await the disclosure of your gender. I'm currently filling up my time watching this sweet little video on the making of Avatar, a film by James Cameron. This is a film you need to see and will probably be legendary for a long time. Since the internet will probably be evolved into something completely different by the time you're at an acceptable age to watch this I suppose your dad will have to watch this and tell you about it sometime.

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/forbes-avatar-box-office-king.html

College

Two days until my life changes. Thursday I find out your gender. I wonder if you know what you are in the womb? Maybe it's too tight to look and/or feel to discover what you are. Wow, that' quite the thought.

I'm attempting to write one of my final research papers before I graduate in less than six months. The thought of not ever having to write another research paper again is quite stimulating. Do you know what else is stimulating? Sticky Bun Ice Cream. It's Tillamook's featured flavor right now and it's literally burning my mouth with pure cold sweetness. Auntie Meilani is also in college right now. Currently attending Lewis and Clark College... On a full-ride. Really not that big of a deal I guess. She just went into Downtown Portland yesterday to take pictures for a new class she's taking, which I'm pretty excited about. For some reason I feel as though you might be photography's next big thing. You'll probably be to the photography world what William Shatner has been to narrative music. Your older sister is quite the little genius. Maybe too smart for her own good.

Fortunately and unfortunately for your parents, they're quick wit and intelligence is being rubbed off on her, which makes for some hilarious and potentially frustrating times. If you could only take one characteristic from each of your immediate family members what would it be? I'm going to need a response within the next 9 months so if you could be thinking about that I'd really appreciate it. No, I'll be generous and allow 18 months. That seems fair. Magdelana was walking by 1.5 yrs so I don't see any reason why you can't be formulating and typing your thoughts onto a blog by then.

It's study time.

Love you kid.

Introduction to me

How better to introduce y0u into my world than with a little tid bit of a fact.

An average man will spend 14.5 days of his life shaving (learnsomethingeveryday.co.uk)

Why would my initial introduction to you be with something like this you might ask? Because the Long's are not average. I have single handedly disproved the above fact. If that's average than I'm way above (or below depending on how you look at it) the average. I'm currently 22 years old, I think, and I have spent somewhere in the timeline of 4 minutes to 35.5 minutes shaving. Your Uncle Josh on the other hand broke that average by approximately 2 days by the tender age of 11, if you include shaving back hair.

It's January 14, 2010 and everybody is anticipating what will come in a little over 6 months. My graduation. The family is as excited as an army of frogs waiting to turn into a flock of butterflies. Also your birth, your soon to be entrance is undeniably exciting. I was stoked the first go around and nothing's changed this time. I'm not going to make any incredibly bold predictions about your gender. That did not bode me well the first time. I have a little bit of an inclination that you will be predominantly male but who knows. You have the absolute awesomest older sister in Magdelana. She has surpassed my intelligence and wit after only 2 1/2 years of life. She's probably more excited than anyone.

I can't wait to learn from you like I've learned from Magdelana.