bierkergaard

I met my mother and youngest brother at Maggiano's Little Italy at the King of Prussia Mall for dinner last week. Mom was in from Florida and although I live up here in Anabaptist land, I can get to King of Prussia in just over an hour down the Turnpike. About 70 miles and a cultural chasm as wide as the time between the 20th and 21st Century. Lancaster as a whole is somewhere in the 90's. I grew up close to the King of Prussia Mall, less than ten minutes. And besides getting terribly lost there then when I was 7, and a few super lame attempts trying to pick-up girls as a teen, and last minute Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve as a young adult, I am really K.O.P. mall-averse. I hate the super-saturated consumerism and all that it represents. The Great Gatsby as a way of life. I didn't have much money as teen and going to the Mall would have just reminded me of being broke all of the time. Maggiano's is a great place for dinner but watch the drinks. My mom order

Great news. I bit the bullet and got my book published in hard copy today. Just pulled that tooth once and for all. Swiftly slammed that door with a string. I had to put in the yellow borders on Paint Shop Pro to create a buffer like a DMZ to protect the lettering that was getting consumed on the cover in the formatting software on Lulu. Worked like a charm. Taking that ILT web development and  publishing class in the Temple Doctoral program  has paid many dividends. I know it was probably not the best solution but I did what I could. Not bad after months of wringing my hands. Either wring the hands or put the hands to work. Same energy expended. Worry or work.  By the way, I was at Fort Ticonderoga in New York in New York State (a Revolutionary War Fort) as a kid and saw a musket ball on museum display with teeth marks in it. The aftermath of surgery without anesthetic. No biting bullets for me. Laughing Gas por favor. Although writing and publishing the book has been sort of

So, I was at a happening party Friday night where me and the boys hung out, listened to 45's (most of them Blues and Jazz), had laughs, snacks (bacon pepper jam on cheese-infused crackers) and drank some beers. Paradise. But, there was chill in Paradise. The floor-based air conditioner blowing cold air on me all night from 7:00 PM to midnight. I had not the sense to sit elsewhere. It was the third floor of my buddy's house so the AC was needed. I just didn't need to be necking it all night. I am extremely sensitive to the cold. It is why I usually wear a hat year round. I can't stand too cold AC. It is the curse of the age to freeze when it is a hundred degree outside. Correcting one problem by going too far the other way. Idiocy. Wasteful. American profligacy. Come Saturday, I felt a cold coming on. As typical, I gargled with some whiskey and it seemed like the cold virus was on the defensive. I had coffee with a good friend. Sunday morning I started to feel wo