bierkergaard

Heading to New York City for the weekend. I will probably blog about it when I return but won't be blogging while there. Too much to do and see and eat and drink. New York City is where my Dad's parents lived their American lives. As immigrants from Germany after World War I, they settled in NYC and never left as husband and wife. They also had a cabin in the woods by a lake close to the Catskills that is still in the family. My dad grew up in New York City and we visited his parents often. I always liked laying flat in the back of the station wagon and looking straight up at the skyscrapers. I also loved the fresh bagels my grandparents brought down from NYC to our home in the Philly 'burbs. Thus, I associate New York City with my dad, with his parents, and with Germany. My grandparents were considering a return to Germany in the 1930's, but my grandmother knew that war was coming. She had lived through World War I and had no desire to live (or die) in a sequel. It

I gave blood today. I feel a special obligation and duty to give as I am O Negative. I am a universal donor. My blood type can be used for everyone. I am the only blood type that can give blood to anyone. Yet, I can only receive blood from an O Negative transfusion. Only 7% of the U.S.population is O Negative. O Negative is particularly needed in emergencies and with newborns where the blood type is not known where seconds can be the difference between life and death. With the chronic need for blood, it one of those things that Christians could do that would make an immediate and crucial difference in our communities. We often wonder how we can make a difference and we ignore something as simple as giving blood. The theology of giving blood is so biblically saturated with meaning that it would hard to find a good work as significant to the life of the world. There is life in the blood. Give blood, give life.

I have a student at my high school who periodically stops by Period 6 (Club Period) and hangs out. He is not the best academic student...but that hardly means he ain't smart. There is a rhythm to his visitation schedule...although I have no clue what it is. He might not show for a week, then I will see him two days in a row. Sometimes I have to tell him that I don't have the time to hang-out...something I am afraid he has heard too much of his life. The boy has taught me more about the band Nirvana and Rock and Roll in general than any one else alive. He is a savant about anything head-banging. It is crazy how much the kid knows about music. Encyclopedic...even though that term is losing its meaning in the Age of Wiki. Today, for the lack of a better word, our discussion became existential. His dad called him the other day and told him to stop by for some boxes of stuff from his (the kid's) past that dad would leave out on the porch for pick-up. The dad had previously bo

On Friday, I was getting ready to stock the beer fridge for the weekend. My beer fridge is not quite the size of the one to the left. I must applaud what appears to be a fine selection. I see the Dogfish Head Ale and assume that the rest of the bottles are of the same caliber. If this fridge were a net, it has a great catch. I had always wanted a beer fridge.... My dad was coming to town and we both have a fondness for beer (it must be genetic). The problem was that the beer fridge needed to be defrosted. I could have made a snowman from the accumulated frost. I have had the beer fridge for five years and never had done a full defrost. Only chipping away once in a while at the icicles. So, I unplugged the unit. It was not fully defrosted until Sunday afternoon. It seemed as long as an Ice Age. I had to use an auxiliary cooler in the meantime. I was determined to get down to the plastic. I had to fight the urge to try and use a knife like an ice-pick, fearing that I would damage the