bierkergaard

I am wondering if the Heat are suffering from the troika of Wade, James, and Bosh, trying to share power rather than one dude standing up and saying, "I am the man. Give me the ball." Like Jordan. Pippen was always number two, as Robin to Batman. If this was politics, it would be gridlock. I sense that James respects D. Wade's legacy of leadership on the Heat and is trying to pay homage to the elder both practically and philosophically. That is dissipating the Heat. Both he and LeBron have been in the NBA for seven years so it is not mere tenure. LeBron is the younger player since he went from high school to the NBA. Although King James ruled in Cleveland, the move to South Beach is a different fiefdom. Bosh is not in the running for the reign but there have been times that he shows the potential to be the top of the team's pyramid. That just adds to the confusion. With Wade and James, he will always be third, like a Castle in Chess. No one questions that Dirk Wer...

To the left is my nemesis in the yard. The Thistle. I had never found anything that I was allergic to until I crossed paths with this fiendish weed. I seemingly can get a rash with just one touch on bare skin. And from there, it launches a whole body invasion of rash and itch. I think I might be able to get infected if I am just down wind. Or if I rub my hand on the picture. Its prickly and seething hostility to my well-being unnerves me. I suppose I should be thankful to the Lord that my greatest enemy right now is a plant. Could be worse indeed. My life is far too easy...we Americans are punks. We have to wait in a check-out counter for five minutes to buy a hundred pounds of food and we think we are martyrs. How 'bout having no food to wait in line for? Periodically, I patrol the yard to do combat, practically wearing the equivalent of a Haz-Mat suit. Long sleeve shirt, pants, gloves, and plastic bags over the gloves. I was incautious the other week and did not don my normal ge...

Man, I awoke up to the alarm at 4:30 a.m. to play ball today. After Commencement the other night, my co-workers insinuated that I needed to show up for a run at school. Otherwise, I was a wus. It is not like they said it. But, I knew that it was going to be the blow-back. While I worked on my Ph.D., I layed low on potentially injurious activities. Riding the bike, playing basketball, and getting hit by a SEPTA bus in Philly. Just let the bus merge...no matter if I was right to hold my lane or not. I did play for a team for a spell that went 1-19 during the Doctoral program...I just decided that it wasn't worth killing myself for something so vacuous. Plus, our team had no talent besides one other guy. We just didn't have the big guns. So, I showed up, but my heart was elsewhere. Now, as Dr. B., I really had no excuse to show up today. Besides the fact that I am 47 years old who is almost 48. I am like ready for the Senior Games where I broad jump 3 foot four inches and get th...

This week has been a emotional whipsaw. I need a spiritual chiropractor to help me straighten it all out. Maybe there is no straightening it out now. Our world is in such a disjointed state...it should be no surprise that I am in need of an adjustment in the deepest places of my soul. But, it may not be until I get home to Heaven. Three deaths, two viewings, one funeral (of a dear former student who was only 21). One parent, one uncle. All tragic deaths, more so in that there was no warning. No time to say goodbye. Three graduation-related ceremonies. Hundreds of seniors graduated, thousands of dollars given out in scholarships. Proud parents, staff, and students. Graduation speeches, joy, happiness, and relief (that another school year has ended well). What do all of these experiences have in common? Tears. Tears of joy, tears of sorrow, often coming from the same eyes at the same time. Graduation? A celebration...but also a door closing on high school and a time for good-byes. Sorrow...

Years ago, I pretty much cut out soda, because of the excessive sugar, saccharine, or Nutrasweet. As bad a sugar is in 12 oz soda doses (and it is bad), the two other lab manufactured sweeteners are even worse. Sugar should be a treat, not a mainstay of a diet. The elimination of soda was an easy way to enhance health and save money...a hard to beat combo. Into the liquid vacuum, came plain water and more recently seltzer. In the warmer and hot weather in particular, I drink about 1 chilled quart a day. The seltzer is great after working out. The carbonation gives it some bite and it has natural flavoring and no calories. We go through the bottles pretty quickly as a result. It also helps me to not drink a lot of beer. Despite my recent posts about beer and even having a beer blog , I drink less beer than the average American male. I do drink better beer, but less of it. So, all of this to say, we ran out of seltzer a couple of days ago, and the way this week was looking with graduatio...

Kevorkian has died naturally....no assisted suicide in his case. Kevorkian relished the renegade role of Dr. Death and it is quite easy to demonize him as an an end of life assassin. I think that too often Christians can paint individuals in the darkest light imaginable in a way that distorts their humanity and makes them monsters. Monsters are easy to hate and doing so resolves the tension of dealing with such grave issues of life and death in an in-depth and thoughtful manner. Although I disagree with any notion of suicide being acceptable (more than once growing up, I wanted to end it all and the only thing that kept me from doing it was the conviction of suicide's inherent wrongness). Yet, we really need to be much more realistic about trying to prolong life when it is clear that we should step out of the way and let nature take its course. Extraordinary efforts to prolong life in the face of indisputable degeneration is cruel in a different manner. Both premature ending and ...

When my first Homebrew bottle, in the second fermentation/carbonation phase, blew up the other day, I thought "big deal." Since then, 4 more Jihadi Brews have exploded. "When will the carnage end?" I keep asking myself that question. Something in quality control went awry...and the frustrating part is I don't know what. I have brewed three times previously, same bottles. No explosions. We all expect to have problems in life. And, I know as far as problems go, this is just a gnat versus a snarling dog or a 100 mph locomotive ready to ram me to heaven in a trillion pieces. I just heard today that a friend of mine has been diagnosed with cancer. So, no need to call Crisis Intervention. However, what I struggle with problems great and small is the inability to solve them....the chronic reappearance of the same issues over and over again, just change the date. The same old battles, same old struggles, same old failed strategies. Just waiting for the next bottle to ex...