bierkergaard

My wife and I just returned from California and Las Vegas. We were visiting her parents and family who live in the Los Angeles region. First Vegas...Vegas reminds me of a girl with low self-worth who attracts the attention from the boys by being easy, attention that she would not otherwise get. They use her, she uses them. Maybe the founders and growers of the town felt they had to go seemier and seedier than the rest of the country to put Las Vegas on the map. We saw the show "O" which was a remarkable spectacle of acrobatics, athletics, and agility, but was oddly absent in terms of story and even bizarre. There were dudes dressed like old-time members of Parliament with red coats and powdered white wigs, water nymphs, a guy on fire reading the paper, muscleman, fire jugglers, a foursome of contortionist, and an unfunny clown--a real theatre of the absurd. So, I found the show a lot like Vegas itself...flashy but empty, and frustrating and profoundly unsatisfying. After Vega...

Today I was doing a bit of a review on the Gospels' stories rendition on the birth of Jesus. There are 3 major towns in Israel mentioned in the Gospels concerning Jesus's first two years of life: Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and Nazareth. Three radically different towns in the social strata. A strange thought came into my head afterwards when driving to school, "What store would Nazareth had if our retails chains existed back then?" I thought of the following pairings: Nazareth: K-Mart, Bethlehem: Target, and Jerusalem: Neiman-Marcus. I imagine Jesus and the Disciples buying sandals, robes, and personal hygiene products at K-Mart with the teeming masses and screaming children and turning over some display stands at Neiman Marcus. K-Mart, the Charlie Brown of the retail food chain. The least of these. WWJS - Where Would Jesus Shop? I think K-Mart...the least of these.

I have a laser printer on my desk--an HP 1100. Its printer cartridge is pretty expensive. In years past, once the telltale sign of the cartridge running low would appear, a faded stripe of text down the page, I would toss the cartridge and put in another. I have a low tolerance for things not working well. Like pens; the first sign that it doesn't write well, it is in the trash. A few years ago at work we were running low on cartridges at school with the printer in the office and the computer tech person told me to take out the cartridge and shake it for about a minute and then put it back in the printer. Well, I learned that day that cartridges have a lot more life in them than the first time they start to run low. I never realized that shaking redistributes the remaining ink dust in the printer. I thought that it was like a lightbulb--once it was bad, chuck it. The cartridge that I have in my home printer started to show that it was running low about a month ago. So, I shook it...

Today I cleaned out my bill box. It has been piling up like leaves in Autumn for months. In the pile of stuff, I saw Social Security statement and noticed that my date of birth is listed as October 11, 1973 (my D.O.B. is 10/11/1963) which would make me younger than my wife. That would mean that I started paying into Social Security in 1980 when I was seven years old. The way Social Security is looking, that ten years could make the difference between getting benefits and not getting benefits. How is it the government prosecutes all Ponzi schemes but its own? Guess I have to battle Leviathan on this one to get D.O.B. corrected. Ah, government bureacracy--you'd think the computer would catch that one. I had a dispute with Penn-Dot last year when they sent me notification that they were going to suspend my license plate for a car that I no longer owned! After I burned the old bills to ash, I closed the flu to the chimney. There was still one ember burning but I figured that it was no ...

As you can tell, I have a passion for Rocky. Being from the Philly area is a part of it. New York is glamorous, DC is powerful. Philly is, well Philly. Almost but not quite. The Rocky story is the tale of a thumb-breaking tomatoe who gets a shot and makes it stick. There are other characters that are underdogs that I dig. Here's the short list: 1) Charlie Brown - I am not sure what explains the remarkable success of Peanuts. I think all of us feel like Charlie Brown. "Why is everybody always picking on me?" Peanuts put to rest the lie of childhood innocence. 2) Underdog - A humble shoe shiner who takes a pill and turns into a superdog to save Polly. What was in that pill anyway...doggie roids? 3) Spud Webb - Winning the NBA dunk contest at 5'7"

I like to run. However, recently, when out in Minnesota visiting family for Thanksgiving, I decided to not exercise much and conducted an experiment as if I was the star in my own reality show called "The Biggest Gainer." I came back from the trip 8 pounds heavier. On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, I was starting to loathe myself more than usual (typically, I just have a mild self-malaise). A combination of stuffing myself with Cheetos and other crap plus laying around like a slug and watching tv motivated me to run like Forrest Gump when he grew that big old beard and hit the road. Running, not more rest, brought renewal.

In the spirit of the Thanksgiving season, here are my "Top Ten" reasons for me to be thankful: 1) Salvation & Grace of God - While we were/are yet sinners 2) The Bible - How eagerly I would want it if I couldn't have it 3) My wife Lina - The love of my life 4) My family - Odd as it is 5) My Church - Wheatland PCA 6) Pastor Bruce and his wife Carol 7) Books - My friends when I was lonely 8) My Job - The kids at Northeastern HS are the best 9) Doctoral Work at Temple University 10)Yuengling Lager - Hmmm. 2nd time I mentioned this in my blog, maybe I have a problem. As we become more grateful, we become less prideful.

I usually come dressed to church like a slacker. Blue jean pants, sport shirt (if that). I think it honors the Sabbath. Dressing up in a suit and tie starts to look like work. Then, it becomes "Works Salvation." Blue jeans equals Grace. Come as you are, as you were, like Nirvana sang. One Sunday, though, after being pseudo-chastised by "No great formal dresser on Sunday" Tom Becker, I decided the following Sunday to wear my best suit--the one that my wife Lina hand-picked for me for our West Coast reception of our wedding (a lot of her family couldn't make it back East for the first wedding reception following our ceremony so we had an almost entirely Taiwanese function out in California--family and food). Well, I pulled a good joke on old Tom the following Sunday at church who immediately got the attire response gag and cackled like a crow (it was pretty obvious as I never dress up). But, alas, the joke was on me. As long as a dressed like a slacker, I was unde...

I drive my wife a little crazy about my poor sense of direction. Last night we went to a restaurant in Landisville that is about 5 miles from our house. Well, I took a wrong turn. She has a much better sense of direction than I. But, I could whup her in arm wrestling so my authority is maintained. I console myself with the idea that pigeons have a great sense of direction, and they are pretty stupid animals. Maybe that doesn't reflect well on my intelligence. The restaurant was great...not too pricey, good food. It is The Black Knights Bar and Grill on 335 Main Street in Landisville (ph. 717-898-7234). It is easy to get to...for most people.

My lovely wife Lina has her own blog (click title above)...check it out. It has kind of put me on notice that I better resume blogging too lest my reputation in our marriage as being the writer gets tarnished. Hence, the "Rise of Bierkergaard" quote. When we were dating she said that I wrote my emails like a Ph.D student but talked on the phone like 15 year old. Go figure...working as a high school guidance counselor has damaged my verbal skills permanently. Like, dude, no way man, dude. I am not going to take LinainLancaster laying down if for no other reason that I need to provide my perspective when she mentions me in her Blog and may sully my fine reputation. Ahem, only kidding dear. It is true that I didn't not shed a tear when we watched the film "Beaches." I am to be commended, though. When she asked me if I cried, I could have probably scored a few points if I said that I did. But I told her the truth, "No." The truth may set you free and p...

My roomate Bill from college calls me Bierkergaard which I take as a profound compliment as it is based Soren Kierkegaard the Danish philosopher. I call him Kaiser Wilhelm with his pointy helmet and all. Here are some of S.K.'s quotes. I am a big believer in quotes...if an idea cannot be communicated in a few sentences, then the idea needs to be stomped on until it fragments into crystallized shards. A man who as a physical being is always turned toward the outside, thinking that his happiness lies outside him, finally turns inward and discovers that the source is within him. At the bottom of enmity between strangers lies indifference. Boredom is the root of all evil - the despairing refusal to be oneself. Don't forget to love yourself. During the first period of a man's life the greatest danger is not to take the risk. God creates out of nothing. Wonderful you say. Yes, to be sure, but he does what is still more wonderful: he makes saints out of sinners. It is so hard ...