bierkergaard

One New Year's Eve, we had just found a parking place in the city. Soon, we would be at the NYE N.Y.E. (New Year's Eve) party. About five seconds after I parked my lil' ol' Honda Civic, a dude in a minivan in front of us, backed up, smashed into our front bumper, then took off. The damage, I bet, is going to cost $ 400 to get fixed (heck, I am getting to the point where I could be an estimator for Maaco). Yes, starting New Year's Eve off with a bang. He had plenty of room to pull out and go forward. Only he may know why he backed up instead. Perhaps his imbibing had started early. He has also been outside of his car as we had pulled up, so it is hard to explain why he did what he did. To err is human, but to not own up for it, is of the Devil. If it was a tight spot, or if I had a Dallas Cowboy front license plate, I could get his action. What really pissed me off is that he didn't get out of his car to inspect the damage. It was a jolting hit. Like a punk, he d...

Psalms 103: 15 & 16 (15)"As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. (16) For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. " This morning I watched the film "The Big Lebowski" on Netflix "Instant Queue." Last night I read a reference to the movie in a New York Times article : The "Dissertations on His Dudeness." The title piqued my interest as I am a dude working on my dissertation. When I was in college, I used the word dude like Tourette's. My roommate from Carlisle, where "dude" was apparently not part of the local teen lexicon, picked it up from me. Then, his buddy, also from Carlisle, commented about the plethora of times my roommate now used the word dude. Kind of interesting how we pick up words from people we hang out with. When I worked with inner city juvenile delinquents, I had a whole vocab (now almost 25 years old) of hip urban slang th...

Proverbs 27:17 "Iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the face of his friend. " Yesterday, in my fulfillment of my present House Husband duties (I have formed HH LLC, House Husband Limited Liability Corporation, to shield me from personal liability due to my dereliction of duties and other mishaps), I made a run down to Savemart to buy some vitamins for my wife to replenish her supply. She is trending towards taking vitamins daily (it has been hit-or-miss for quite some time) so I want to do what I can to encourage this recent development. Savemart is this odd combination of a retail store with all kinds of knick-knacks (and) a supplement megastore that has good prices and a good selection. Once you negotiate the narrow aisles, it is kind of like a video game to find an open lane, and pass all of the crappy food, hygiene products, auto ice scrapers, cheap stuffed animals, half-priced Christmas music, and etc., you arrive at Supplement Shangri-La . They have a Himalayan high s...

Isaiah 28:10 " For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little. " The word for precept in the Hebrew is a small step, like a brick in building a wall, for the instruction of a child. Here are my Top Ten resolutions for 2010...inspired by the "Baby-Step" concept from the film "What About Bob?" and Letterman's "Top Ten." 10) Don't write as long blogs. Brevity in blogs is better. The only bloggers who can get away from being short are geniuses like Malcolm Gladwell. I have a goal to be a professional writer (at least avocationally). I am blogging to sharpen my skills primarily, to encourage myself, and to provide perhaps some thoughts that help others. I generally take 30 minutes to write a blog. My goal is to get it down to 15 minutes. 9) Eat healthier organic fruits and vegetables. For three out of the four seasons, we will have organic vegetables and fruits to eat ...

For Christmas, I received an I-Phone. It was perhaps the second most wanted Christmas gift of all time....a very cool combo of tool and toy. The most desired gift of all time was a blue Schwinn banana-set bike with those handlebars that looked like chrome antlers in 1969. I was ready to lock horns all over town. My dad says now that he feared I was going to die if I didn't get this exact bike. Kids, take note on the strategy...act as if you will perish unless you receive that gift! With the gift of salvation, this is truly true. I was so excited...I remember taking the bike out Christmas Day in my jammies in the West Virginia snow to ride. The bike was cool. Kind of both a toy and tool, too--like the I-Phone. It is interesting how a bike to a kid signifies freedom and travel, a loosening of dependence on the parents. The bike was not only functional...it had style. These Smartphones' likewise give us information mobility (and the I-Phone does it best). It is also interesting t...