bierkergaard

I have a difficult time handing tasks to others because I think to do so is a de facto admission that I can't do it all. Being that I am pretty much a moron with many things, you'd think by now I'd grasp that it pays dividends to let others who have stronger giftings where I am weak to take over. No, I am cheap. That is why I tend to try to keep it in house. Ask my wife about the grass. For several years I fought a fruitless battle against the forces of barrenness in the yard until I calculated that hiring a lawn care company pretty much costed the same as doing it myself. The lawn care company price for the fertilizer was a whole lot cheaper than my expense. Adding the company's labor, it wound up being the same cost as me buying the fertilizer at retail prices. All of that pain and anguish for naught. Do it yourself punishment. We have decided to hire a Property Manager to work with our new tenants. This time it seems we have found a credible company, not a Property ...

I spent the day at Penn State University York Campus for the Annual Counselors Day. It was obviously a day of somber reflection for the staff doing the presentations. The day highlighted the extraordinary university without diminishing the truly heinous abuse. PSU has helped thousands of young people make their dreams come true. And is now responsible for its share of nightmares too. In light of the current scandal of epic and catastrophic proportions, Paterno's demise is starting to read like a Greek tragedy. Why he would not actively see to it that Sandusky would be held accountable and punished for his actions, is beyond me. It is not just inattentiveness, it was incompetence in the things that matter most. And, I am not talking football games, wins and losses, and the scoreboard. How Joe, how? Anyone who doesn't think that the football program is directly guilty of creating the aura that blinded those in positions of authority to the deviant actions of Sandusky and his so...

The sun was shining right in my eyes almost to the point of pain. It was Sunday in downtown Lancaster and the "church" I have been attending was holding a Bible Study for Occupy Lancaster. This service came at the request of the leaders of Occupy Lancaster. I put church in parentheses because this is faith community that seeks to break down the walls of Christian and Non-Christian by routinely getting out from behind our walls. Sometimes we forget how hard it is to go into a church building if we have not been there in a long time. We make Prodigals clean and shower up and be reverent like Boy Scouts before they can enter in. I put up a post on Facebook about how I was touched by the sincerity of those who we met at Occupy Lancaster. Almost everyone was employed and not a rabble-rousing free-loader mooching for a free meal. Leave it to Lancaster to have a respectful and kind group of protesters. Someone living in California replied pretty quickly about the nefarious and noxio...