bierkergaard

  As I mentioned in my last blog, I have taken up the game of disc golf and this was not something I saw in my future as I decided to retire last June 2021. Was not a life goal. I instead envisioned travel in both the U.S. and Internationally, drinking great coffee and craft beer, in interesting locales, and hearing peoples' stories and telling a few of my own. A focus on outdoor activities such as hiking, mountain biking, and kayaking, were planned as an accompaniment.  Well, it hasn't quite turned out that way, at least not yet. Instead, I have been tethered locally due to a family member's medical issues and also (not related) COVID. So, I have been grounded. And as my near future and perhaps more long-term came into focus, I had to look around to see what I could put my hand to so to speak and disc golf came to the fore.  Although I'd love to mountain bike more, I have calculated that about once a week is all I can risk. The more I mountain bike, the greater likelih

One would think we the extra time obtained from retirement that I'd become the Mad Writer, pounding out words feverishly to fill the now gaping abyss of time and task. Just the opposite.  Although I am listening to several hours of podcasts daily and reading to some degree, I am finding that I am enjoying not having to produce anything. I am in the receiving mode and a decent amount of the receiving is rest and recreation. I have taken like a fiend to disc golf and am presently exploring and playing all of the courses nearby and even some a bit far away. I occasionally meet others to throw with, either intentionally with friends, or incidentally with strangers who just happen to be at the course also.  I admit that I am not changing the world, even a little. Instead, I am in avoidance mode. I have laid down my work weapons and picked up discs. I tried to have a big impact on education and our culture in the past and instead of becoming a supernova of sorts, I cratered. No need to r

Anyone who follows this blog or my other social media knows that the Danish writer/philosopher Soren Kierkegaard exerts an enormous amount of influence on my thinking. In a nutshell, he was strongly anti-clerical and anti-institutional while still retaining a strong Christian ethos, although he'd probably prefer something along the lines of "Seeker of Truth." He saw Jesus as the embodiment of Truth.  The above quote is backed by Scripture. Jesus encountered the crowds and rarely did it result in positive outcomes. Once they wanted to throw him off a cliff. He fed 5000 but how many of those became followers? They were looking for a spectacle and to be entertained. One day, the crowds shouted "Hosanna." Next day, "Crucify." Kierkegaard saw Christendom in the Danish Church as being more geared towards the "Dom" piece than Christ. The same root word as in dominate and dominion. Attracted those interested in the accumulation of power, prestige, an

All summer I have had an ant trap in my kitchen. Hundreds of ants killed yet they keep coming. Last week I decided to take away the ant trap because it is trending towards Fall. Next Summer I am thinking about not having an ant trap out at all.   Here is why: I am suspicious that the ant trap attracts ants that otherwise would not come to the kitchen, that they would stay outside. Maybe 90% of them. The ant trap doesn't kill the ants immediately. Instead, it takes time and allows the ants to communicate that there is an apparent food fountain in my kitchen. A Death Pool more like.   This has a parallel to social media. I know I have been on a jag recently about this but I am trying to figure out how to respond to ignorant and uneducated comments on social media by the hordes of smart asses, both Right and Left.Who are brazenly confident in their obvious ignorance to anyone who has any amount of real learning about a topic. Some dude commented yesterday that my B.A. in Political Sci

I have decided to drop the photos from this Blog. It is an extra step and I don't want to make this harder than it needs to be.   I had an interesting and disturbing exchange on FB comments recently. Here is what I wrote in reference to a post by Public Enemy on their Facebook page about empowerment for Black people: -  Stick together, that is how oppressed people groups have survived and thrived (a fact) -  Don't depend on a government program (another fact). For these two facts, I was, in as many words, called a racist. First by a White Liberal White woman and then by some Black dude. He kept pushing his take. He kept posting and I kept replying, "Sorry, what I posted was not racist in any way." I eventually Blocked him which is my typical response to dingbats. It felt healthy for me to refuse to let him define me and what I meant. Just because you have experienced discrimination (this is what I wrote) doesn't give you the authority to negate my voice.  I am ver

As you have noticed dear reader, I am taking an extended hiatus from blogging here at Bierkergaard.  Frankly, although I think I have something to say, most people don't give a rat's ass. So, I have to face the facts, I write for a relatively small group of regulars. Although, since its inception, this blog has garnered over a million views, it has never hit critical mass. So, it is a hard ground. If I had put even 1/10th of the energy into my Beer Blog, it likely would have caught on. I opted for philosophy and theology   When a tweet by Nicki Minaj cousin's friends balls allegedly swelling up after the COVID vaccine shot generates millions of views and words, the battle is lost.  Truth is American society is stocked with dumbasses. Maybe we should check our Chinese-made dinnerware for lead.   I get in debates with seriously ill-informed individuals on social media at times. I find Trumpers to be particularly fucking stupid. Wrong about the facts, wrong about their take, w

For several months now, I have been dealing with a hurt left elbow that was injured by lifting weights past the "No pain, no gain" to just pain. I took a week off a couple of weeks ago to see if one week would be enough for it to get better. It sort of did but not completely. This injury asks the age-old question: When do you stop doing something? I wasn't making the injury any worse by lifting. So, that would have been an easy sign to stop. However, it wasn't really improving either. And these type of injuries, although nagging, can become chronic. Being almost 58, I realize that it is more slowing the decline rather than making major gains. And while I think I am in decent shape for my years, I don't want to collect injuries and aches like baseball cards. So, I have decided to stick with it but not push too hard with the idea that something is better than nothing.   I definitely fear if I stop lifting for more than a week, I will fall back into inconsistency. I

There is that adage that if you need something done, give it to someone who is busy. Since retiring in June, I have learned that the equivalent opposite is also true. If you want something done, don't give it to someone not busy. Tasks inflate themselves to the time available. I am finding this to be quite true.  Yesterday, I knew that I needed to bottle my Triple IPA (TIPA). I had nothing on the schedule. I still dawdled. Finally, I roused myself and got the job done. It took four hours total with the cleaning and sanitizing, the drying, and then bottling the 48 beers. I forced myself to do it. The beer can only sit in the fermenting tank for so long before it starts to go bad. Oxygen is the enemy of any good you are trying to keep fresh. Be it beer, coffee, yogurt, and anything else that is organic (vs. inorganic, like a rock). In reflection, I am a bit amused and irritated that I have become such a slow-moving sloth. I know that I need to be busy so as to not become dulled where

As most of my friends and family know, I recently retired from the school counselor position of three decades. One year in a district that felt like 50 years and 29 years in a district that pretty much seemed like 29 years. That one year, a first year, was awful. I had a lot of growing up to do and immature coping patterns to break. At some point, we have to grow up. We can't keep running away. Put down roots. Not to  say that the district where I first worked was good soil. It wasn't for me and I made a decision to leave and find a better fit. And I did, thankfully. Then, I put down roots. It takes wisdom to figure out when to not stick something out.    The first district, many of the teachers seemed to hate the kids, particularly at the middle school (I had a dual position, middle school and high school). I came to figure out later that the principal and assistant principal were not very strong administrators and the faculty, on the whole, didn't respect and like them. I

  About 4 months ago, the Civic metallic logo was falling off the back of the car. I happened to notice its precarious state before I lost it for good. With my 2007 Civic now having plus 200K miles on it, I debated if it would be better to just remove it, like pulling a tooth from a 90 year old man's mouth that was decayed and loose. I decided to re-attach. No sense in embracing the junkyard vibe yet.  Putting the logo back on to the car was an act of confidence that there are still some miles to go. As I pondered the best method for sticking it back on the car, I reflected for a few moments how appreciative I have been to have this car. It has never left me stranded in the 14 years I have owned it. Every time I stuck the key in the ignition, it started. I know it perhaps seems a bit trivial to dedicate this blog to the auto but I have written about less important things. Like my Groundhog in the Garden Wars back in the day. A car ultimately has to be reliable above all else. In ou

  About two years ago, the control panel on my air conditioner stopped working, The AC still works. It is permanently locked in on high at 74 degrees. I turn it on by plugging it into the wall outlet. The beeper on the control panel went the other way than the rest of controls this summer. It just was beeping all of the time and the beeper didn't seem related to anything. Frankly, it was driving me effen' bonkers. It was waking me up in the middle of the night. Enough of this nonsense. I assumed that perhaps I wasn't the only person who had an annoying and incessant beeper on the AC. I searched YouTube and found a video about how to remove the beeper from the circuit board. It was a different brand but I got to see what the beeper looked like. I had to take every screw off the AC to be able to get to the back of the circuit board. I spotted the little bastard and removed it with vise-grips, twisting it off like a boil on my arse.  I was able to find some electrical tape and

After 34 years of working in education, as a teacher but mostly counselor of some type, I have retired. It is not entirely shuffleboard and bingo time but any work I do now in this realm will be as an individual consultant (www.collegetransitiongroup.com, college and career coaching for teens and their parents). I see CTG as a "take or leave it approach." This is the expertise I offer and if you wish to avail yourself of it, great. If not, that fine. And, oh yes, if I am offering assistance, you need to pay. I may volunteer on occassion but the unfortunate reality of human nature is that free services and products are typically not appreciated. If it costs us something, we are less likely to squander it.   Unfortunately, in our current state of affairs in education, particularly public education, we are expending an enormous amount of time and effort attempting to re-engage the disengaged. It is a recipe for disaster. and burnout for teachers and other educators. It is hard

About a decade ago, I had brought my flimsy clothing rack on a camping trip. It buckled under the weight of wet and/or sweaty clothes. The clothing rack kind of captured the state of my life at the time. Without getting too deep into the personal, I was essentially collapsing under the burden of adversity. Adversity has usually resulted in me reassessing my life and making the micro and macro changes to adjust my approach and retool. I am a slow learner but a learner nonetheless. And once I learn something, I rarely forget.   So, a bit after the trip had concluded, oh, OK, it took five years, I decided to buy a better rack. One that was made locally in Lancaster County and cost around 100 dollars versus the cheap Chinese version I had previously used. It has taken about a decade of working on becoming sturdier but I think I can say with a degree of confidence that I am on the other side of that period of retooling. I am more certain about some things, less certain about other things, b

I have been dealing with an aching left elbow for a couple of months arising from some poor lifting technique. In an attempt to avoid using excessive leverage in lifting weights, I found gripping the weights tightly to force the muscles to do the work and not just throw the weight around worked. In solving one issue, I created another. Ain't that the way it rolls? I was hanging out with my cousin last weekend and he happened to mention that an aching elbow joint was likely related to an excessive and tense hand hand grip, So, this week I absolved to lift the barbells and dumbbells with a less forceful grip while still putting the weight on the muscles to lift versus using the leverage that I have mentioned. After a week my elbow is really improving. I held the weights lightly yet still forced them to do work.  The results are less elbow pain thankfully. A couple of takeaways.  First, we can always learn from others. They just might know something we don't. It is becoming verbot

  I have fence envy. A new neighbor has moved next door and they have decided that our shared fence (est. 1989) was not satisfactory. So, father of the fiancee has spent the weekend building anew. On Friday night, both the husband to-be guy and the gal offered to incorporate the fence construction not just to the shared fence but the whole in my yard. I demurred as it seemed premature. Particularly since the future father-in-law, the brains and the hands behind the operation, had not consented. I figured, this being Lancaster County where people still know how to fix shit, that he had cred. But, I didn't know that for sure. Turns out, this job was simple for him as he works for a local  contractor that builds stores all over the region. So, it was a walk in the park. I still thought if over-reach for the young couple to offer and I was glad to have passed. I appreciated the sentiment.     Gladly, in the construction, my lagging fence has been secured and shored up. Said father-in-l

  One of my favorite things to do is to drive back roads. A sunny Spring day, the sun roof open, no music playing. Just relaxing. Why anyone would buy a car without a sun roof puzzles me. Just such a delight. I observe drivers on the major roads like Route 30. Everyone seems to be in such a hurry to get somewhere but why? Is it worth the agitation to save 5 minutes to get to the destination? What, just to get on the couch a bit sooner to watch cable? Those potato chips can wait.   I typically hang out in the right lane and just chill out when I can't avoid the roads like 30.  But, getting into the left lane to allow a car to merge often results in the reckless drivers not giving room. Cars are practically bumper-to-bumper in the passing lane, creating a dangerous situation for everyone.  There was a big accident on 441 and 30 the other day--the merge can work fine with everyone giving some space but that is not how these drivers think. Again, what is the point? Some Darwinian compe

  My dad had made an observation when he was last visiting my place that my front door and back sliding door formed a breezeway of sorts through the first floor of my house. I suppose I had noticed this before but I am not sure I appreciated it consciously until he pointed it out. It is funny how others can illumine something right before us that is so routine as to become ignored.  I doubt the builders meant to create this design feature. This is not the level of domicile that has that level of intention.  The breeze really is quite lovely and as long as the temperature is not hellish and humid, and there is a wind, it makes me like this part of the year quite a lot. Since I am retiring, I plan to head north once the heat becomes oppressive in mid-July. It is the opposite of a snowbird as I like winter. It is my Nordic blood I suppose. If you have not heard the 1970's song "Summer Breeze" by Seals and Croft recently or ever, give it a listen. Much of 1970's popular m

  The last two years or so, I have been in a very good groove with physical fitness. Once I flipped my running and lifting to the early morning, I have  been super consistent. I am not training for the Senior Games where I will finally put it all together for gold. No, just trying to be healthy and make some gains. I have been doing my Devotional Readings for years in the early morning and it always helps frame the day. Working out is similar in the sense that the structure of the exercise prepares my body and mind for the challenges ahead. I find having limited time where I have to hit my time targets to be extremely useful. Extra time creates room for indecision. Maybe analogous to the saying, "If you want to get something done, give it to busy person." Too much time becomes the rope than our productivity gets hung by. A question that I am still attempting to resolve, particularly with lifting weights, is how hard is too hard? The adage of "No pain, no gain " is a

  One thing that gives me a small joy these days is looking at a problem that would have, in the past, caused me to be flummoxed and arrive at a solution.  It is all micro stuff for the most part. No seismic shifting insight yet a step to resolution. I  have never had a ton of confidence in being able to solve issues in the physical realm that are material in nature. Hence, my philosophical orientation.  As it is said, don't live in a city where scholars rule. Crumbling infrastructure but fine rhetoric. But, I have made progress in the last few years by observing the problem squarely and then working backwards. Case in point, I have damp basement. I have a dehumidifier running off and on all day and night. Up until last summer, I'd trudge upstairs with the full of water container unit and empty it into the sink. Depending on the time of year, it could be daily or every couple of days. It was a pain. I did this for a decade. I was hanging out at a friend's house over the sum

A friend of mine who leans a bit to the Liberal side recently posted a meme along the lines that "Tradition is peer pressure from dead people." Obviously, not a good connotation. I pushed back a bit with the G.K.  Chesterton quote that "Tradition is the democracy of the dead." The truth is somewhere in the middle perhaps, although tradition should be innocent until proven guilty. Give it the benefit of the doubt. Like the old saying, "Before tearing down a fence, find out why it was put up in the first place." Another element irked me about the peer pressure reference; the presumption that peer pressure is always a negative. Anyone who has worked a few years in a high school knows that positive peer pressure exerts an enormous sway on the attitudes and behaviors of teens. There are many more students than staff and if most of the kids don't support the school, it will suffer. I think the high school where I work, the students and staff have historicall

   Yesterday morning, I had about three hours on my hands. My night owl brother was finally going to bed at 10:00 AM after being up all night and us eating Popovers for breakfast, a family favorite which he has mastered making pop, My dad looked like he was headed into nap zone. I decided to head over to Valley Forge Park to walk the outer loop. It is about 4-5 miles around.  It was chilly, windy, but sunny. I didn't have my work out clothes with me as this was a bit unexpected. So, in my leather sandals, I trotted through the Park at a fairly brisk pace. I completed the walk in just over two hours. As it was Easter  morning, the Park was not super crowded but there were plenty of people around,  either riding bikes, jogging, or walking. A lot of Chinese families (from what I could tell) riding bikes. Not sure what that was all about.   Valley Forge Park is an open space of land. Being that it is surrounded by King of Prussia Mall, Chesterbrook, and the 422 and 202 commercial corri

We just hit the one year mark for COVID-19 in regards to the macro-side of it. The shut-downs, the masks, and the social distancing. Last Spring, Friday, March 13 (I had to check to make sure that I was not just retrofitting Friday, March 13, on to a cataclysmic event), we at school had waited until Friday afternoon to cancel the SAT exam the next day, we were one of the last high schools to do so. We didn't know what the future held but sensed that this was just the first domino to fall in a long chain.   Soon, everything A-Zoom changed. The New Abnormal. I will never call it the New Normal as it was far too strange and surreal. Everything went remote. I had to upgrade my technology at home to ramp up for the virtual world. New router, new modem, and new Chromebook. New wineskins for a new reality. Change is hard and we often don't play that card until we have to, holding onto old hands until the dealer of life pulls a card off the top of the deck. Adapt or die.  Last Saturday

About three years ago, I splurged and bought a nice espresso machine. As a rule, I am not terribly materialistic. I live in a humble neighborhood of moderately priced townhouses. I drive a car with nearly 200,000 miles on it. I buy most of my beer, admittingly good beer, on the bargain rack (past expiration) or make my own, and do most of my shopping at the surplus grocer. I do have a bit of a weakness for books but I generally read them all. But, great coffee is truly one of the few luxuries I indulge in daily. I'd say I really like beer but I love coffee. I love the ritual, the taste, the caffeine, the aroma. It is so entwined with my life that it is inseparable from it. I particularly like espresso. It is both lusciously creamy and bitterly strong. No sugar, no dairy or equivalent. The bean itself is sweet and its oil creates the crema, along with carbon dioxide.  To my shame, the espresso machine, like a piece of exercise equipment that falls into disuse, has been taking up a l

Another blog for today, a bonus blog. Two for the price of one! Ah, the blog is free. My gift to humanity. The adoring masses. The Google Chromebook is working better for blogging. I just have to hit the keys harder and cleanly to not have typos.  Yesterday, the online Tax Preparation program I use was offering a discount if I filed before today. I don't do tasks involving money on Sunday if  possible like paying bills besides like eating out or something where I trade a lesser rest (paying a bill) for a greater rest (having someone else prepare a meal for me).    I suppose that it evens out the traffic on its website if there is not a mad rush at the end towards April 15. My reptile brain didn't want to do it. Who has  heard of a reptile paying taxes anyway. I suppose that customer support does not get taxed either if 95% of the users are not attempting to resolve issues on April 14th 11:55 PM. So, they got me as an early bird to bite now.   So, I bit the bullet worm and got t

Over the weekends, I very much enjoy CSPAN2 BOOKTV. "Television for Serious Readers." Sounds pretty paradoxical. It is all non-fiction authors and books. More my jam but I have an ever increasing appreciation of novels.  I am presently watching a program about a book called "Troubled." It is an expose on the juvenile delinquent treatment programs of which I have some background. My public school position not really but we do have kids that wind up becoming placed in placed in alternative settings. With at-risk kids and interventions, the degree of change required is daunting. There are no magic wands. It takes awhile for things to go awry. It takes a while to make it aright. As a high school counselor, I see assistance as only a tool to deconstruct what a kid has been through and create understanding and space for both the student, family, and the system, whether is a school or a program. That understanding can begin to untangle what has happened and where to go fro

Ever since Evangelicals in the U.S. became lackeys for Trump, I have distanced myself from the institutional (not organic) church. I am conservative and most of my tribe gives more allegiance to Rush than Jesus. Rush just died. So, I am sure Hannity is licking his chops on the prospects of being top dog on Right Wing Radio. I would not be surprised if Trump gets into talk radio hosting now that Twitter has banished him for good. It would fit his mendacious and lying red meat style.        In that church void, even before COVID hit, I have delved quite deeply into the ancient philosophy of Stoicism. Stoicism is not stoical in the sense that emotions are embraced but not over-indulged. A good example is the idea that if you cannot control something, like the weather or a traffic jam, there is little reason to rant and rave. Venting won't do much to alter the outward situation. Instead, change your response. Like wear a raincoat or turn on the radio in your car to some music that you

I snapped the pic above this morning of my recycling bin. 95% of the material in there is plain old seltzer cans. Not the stuff spiked with grain alcohol for the carb-cutting crowd who still want to get wasted.  Maybe I am wrong in that determination. I can't see drinking that stuff for taste. I mean, it doesn't taste awful. It is just a zero compared to beer, wine, or bourbon. That is not to say that I find non-alcohol seltzer to not be refreshing. I do. I like the cold and carbonation.  I suppose the flavor is a plus but I dig Pellegrino which has no flavor. Ever since I have been shopping at Scavengermart down the road, I have been picking up cases of cans of seltzer at 20 cents per can and stocking the Beer Fridge. Which brings me to the point of this post. The power of substitution. I very much enjoy beer. That should not come as a surprise to anyone who knows me even slightly. I think it is a Gift of God for which I am thankful. Yet. like other pleasurable things, more ca

The title for this blog originated in the fertile mind of a friend on Instagram to this pic. I have called it a "Buffet of Books." That is certainly more canine and pedestrian sounding. I like the "Table of Knowledge." That is magisterial and fitting of a great mind such as myself. Me and my 30 loyal blog readers. 40 on an up week.  The table of which these tomes of Western Civilization rest goes back in my family to the 1960's some time. It has that look that was supposed to be modern like Miles Davis's modal jazz. Whereas, Miles Davis has aged well, the table looks hopelessly dated. And, as far as I can recall, it was always swaying and unstable due to a missing tooth in its structure that connected the bridge part of the table to the legs. I remember it back in high school being tipsy. In the 40 years since, it never broke, the other tooth held on,  providing just enough support to keep it all together, albeit shakily. I think I inherited the table when m

  The sock which was lost is now found. Time to wear the fatted shoe. Last Saturday, I had an enormous amount of laundry to do. I have enough garments to go several weeks without doing laundry. Thus, I wait several weeks. Laundry time always rises to the amount of clothes available.   As I have written about before, Saturday is my To-Do Day. Almost everything household related like cooking the week's meat, bills, making my magical E-8 drink in the Vitamix, and chores, are Saturday. I am even trying to blog on Saturdays as I have time. I generally sleep in to around  5 AM on the weekends. Frankly, I often can't wait to drink coffee. So, I can't wait to get up and get the day brewing. I tell people on the day I die it will be after I have had my coffee. I would like to get my final lift for the week done on Saturday but I still do that on Sunday morning.  I find lifting weights relaxing and it is good way to take the edge off the caffeine. My rest day for working out is Satur