Thanks for all the responses. It's finals time so I haven't gotten to check in on here as often as usual!

I think what you all said makes a lot of sense, so I'm glad I asked. I had just seen that other thread where people were saying that $1,400 was a LOT to spend on a first road bike, and trying to talk the OP into something cheaper. I didn't figure it applied to me since I've been mountain biking regularly for 3 years now (and LOVE it!), but was thinking that if I wouldn't notice the difference between cheaper and more expensive components being relatively new to road biking, that maybe it would make sense to spend less.

We'll see, I'm lusting after a specific bike and can't manage to find one in my area to test ride, so I may have to take a road trip soon It's an ultegra-105 mix, and I've never even ridden anything that nice, so I guess the thing to do is go ride a bunch of bikes and see if I can tell the difference!