bierkergaard

Last night I had the distinct privilege and honor of attending the Daniel Amos concert in Central Pennsylvania. Who knows that last time these California boys came through these parts as a group....maybe how about never. Just because DA (as they are know as by insiders) has not been geographically nearby, hardly means that this band has not been one of the most influential musical entities of record for many in the evangelical terrain. As a band, they have composed over 400 songs. Their albums were the soundtrack of our college lives. Hip, clever, sarcastic, talented, intellectual, and culturally savvy, DA was the antidote to goofy and garish Christian Contemporary Music in the 1980's and 1990's and beyond (those Oldies but Goody-Goodys). And, they are still creating and rocking, not just doing repeats and retreads in concert. Hung out with Steve and Brian, two brothers I went to college with at the show. We, now as middle-aged men much further down the twists and turns of lif...

We had guests coming to the house in a day...my wife was out of town as is apt to happen. She asked if I would clean up the place, particularly the dust under the couch, in the Great Room. I rolled out the Vacuumater, the ultimate weapon against crud, and declared open season on the dust bunnies. There was a time that I feared the vacuum. It looked like some robot with so many parts it made my long for the days of the broom. Now, I have acclimated to the apparatus. It appreciate its design and cleaning prowess. Don't fear the cleaner. As I pulled out the couch to expose the dark and dusty underbelly, I discovered a Men's Health magazine from March 2010 (fully cleaning under the couch goes back at least that far). You know, one of these men magazines that recycle the same topics monthly of "Great Sex, Ab Workouts, Eat This, & Huge Biceps" plus a smattering of articles on finances, work-outs, clothing, etc. Boiling it all down to the foundation, rock hard abs an...

Man, yesterday I was desperate to finish up the student schedules and get started on my summer vacation. As I calculated the amount of work to be done and when I told Lina I was coming home earlier in the morning, I came to realize around 2:00 pm that I had seriously miscalculated. Kind of missed that task train. So easy to assume that we have enough time to do everything. Facing the remaining schedules--although probably less than 15 in number--I thought to myself that might as well been staring at War and Peace and try to read that in an hour. Rather than berate and beat myself up, I closed up shop early and got home sooner than I said I would. I was frustrated for a spell, but instead of trying to get everything done and feeling the pressure, I deliberately went in the opposite direction. I turned the dial from hot to cool and decided to come back to finish today. As it turned out, I spent another full day at work so it was some seriously fanciful thinking to even surmise that I had...

Lina and I are buying fresh produce from a chemical free farm a little bit up the street, take a left, and go straight. Basically, organic without the official designation. On Sunday after church, we made a spinach salad with chipotle-seasoned chicken. It was quite tasty. In mid-salad, Lina let out a shriek and dropped her fork on the floor and nearly fell off of her stool. "There!" she cried. I saw a little green worm squirming about on the side of her salad. For me to have a similar reaction in intensity, there would have had to have been a toenail in the mix. Truth be told, because of my poor eyesight on things close, I might not even seen the critter had she not pointed it out. And eaten it down. I tried to view the incident in a positive light. True, she should have washed the spinach more carefully. Yet, the fact that a little worm was moving around was a sign off health. If this had been chemically-treated produce, the worm would have been exterminated long before it f...

I'm pulling away from the recent posts on family...obviously still some pain back there. Onto a more appetizing subject....food! I have dropped about 20 pounds in the last three weeks. Before beginning the weight loss, I had been praying that God would teach me the value of "enough" with eating and drinking. I tend to ricochet between feast and famine and want to find the balance of enjoyment versus over-consumption and deprivation. All that happens when I cut back is that I then swerve to into excess. Kind of like over-steering when driving to avoid hitting a squirrel only to to smash into a mailbox. In reflecting on my eating patterns, I often find that it is boredom that is the cause of excessive eating. I strategically identified work as a good place to cut back on eating (that would be lunch). Since I always have enough work on my plate so to speak, it is easy for me to eat a quick and healthy meal and get back into the work mojo. I don't spend a lot of time th...

Helped a friend and his family move on Saturday. The acid test of true friendship: Helping someone move. Good news! I didn't bust my back up. Me and another dude made it our mission to lug the heavy stuff. I had decided to not work out later last week in order to save my strength. As I have gotten older, exertion allocation requires planning. When young, I just did stuff and bounced back. Now, me don't bounce. Between the Hersheypark rides on Thursday and moving on Saturday, I felt just kind of depleted. Nothing specifically was ailing, but the whole bodily system was in restore mode. There is always one piece of furniture that gets hauled along that would have been better to drop in a dumpster. It also seems that the least used 10% of the possessions should be jettisoned. All that happens is that it goes from one storage location to the next. It felt good to help out...there is something intrinsically rewarding about serving others. Anything that cultivates a sense of ...

Here's my Pop standing next to a section of the Berlin Wall in Warminster, Pa. I know I have used this pic before in another Post. It is an iconic picture for me on many levels which I won't delve into right now...think on it, I am sure you can deduce some of the meaning. I was trying to think of one quote the captures my Dad. Scratching out the ones that use salty language, I think I got it: "Not everyone can play first base for the Yankees." I am not sure if this a George Bierker original, but it does do a good job expressing the essence of my Dads take on life. Enjoy the life you have, not the one that you don't. Being that he grew up in New York City and was a Yankees fan (until they won the World Series year after year and began thinking, "What is the point?" ) maybe he entertained thoughts of playing for the Yankees....Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle, Bierker. Then, at some juncture, when he couldn't even be tops of his sandlot team, he moved on...