bierkergaard

At the start of the Summer, a brother of mine (biological) and I went to an epic concert down at the Mann Music Center to experience The Nationals perform. I had blogged about it previously on Bierkergaard. Front row and center. The lead singer took my iPhone and filmed two minutes of on-stage footage. Pretty epic. On the drive down to the Mann, my brother mentioned (suggested) that I use Cruise Control, which I disdained. Philly-area is active in-your-face driving. However, I did make a mental note that Cruise Control was certainly an under-underutilized feature of my automobile. Most of my driving doesn't lend itself to Cruise Control. Yet, I considered that I should use should the opportunity manifest itself. I had the prime opportunity going North in Pa and West in New York State last weekend. Large swaths of straight highway particularly in NY with NY State Troopers manning the garrison, where staying within the posted speed limits was wise. I turned on the Cruise Cont...

A Holiday Service on Christmas Day 2018, Portland. I will tie in the picture at the end...just you wait and see! I heard from some of you about the blog. Thanks for the kind and encouraging words. Particular shout out to my dad and brother (to keep him from being associated with my blog, which are my thoughts alone) he shall remain incognito. He knows of whom I speak. My dad really wouldn't care. He is an impervious 80 something long past giving a rip what people think and blowback. I have three brothers. Ponder this... I am fixing to start packing for my travels Buffalo to visit my good friend H. We are going to go to the Eagles vs. Bills game tomorrow. The Eagles got flogged by the Cowboys on national television last Sunday night. I sensed it was going to be a stinker after the first turnover. Only confirmed by the second turnover. Both turnovers lead to touchdowns. Eagles down by 14 points before Joe Philly Six-Pack could chug his first can Natty Ice. I went to bed. ...

I have to share an inside thought: I have thought recently about killing off this Bierkergaard Blog. I have been at it for a decade or so. I have seen many other blogs begin, launch, crash, and then die. The blog world is a junkyard. Once bright and gleaming, now rusted and decrepit. Warning: This becomes a rant...if you are still game, hop on for the ride. I have a larger readership than most. I am approaching 400,000 page views overall ( 373,543). Yet, sometimes I feel as if am blogging into the abyss. I get some feedback occasionally from my dad who is probably my most faithful reader which really flatters me. My dad is no fool and he also really doesn't subscribe to my faith perspective in the least. Besides knowing that it is important to me and that religion is useful to guide social norms. He is Nietzsche-Lite. A philosophical Nihilist who is not nasty about it. Intellectually, he thinks Christianity is not really True but has truths in it if that makes any sense. T...

I have returned from the Birthday Weekend in Leesburg, Virginia. A quaint little city a lot like Lancaster and designed to suck cash out my bank-account. The weekend was dedicated to victuals and I had the pleasure of hanging out with a college friend of over three decades. When I travel to new towns and cities where I don't know anyone, I typically will attempt to find lodging that is close to where I want to spend time, must be walkable. It will usually be a hotel, maybe a B & B, but never AirBnB unless I am totally separate from the host and have a dedicated space where I don't have to interact and relate. I don't want to negotiate that and prefer a cordial yet  professional interaction with the staff. I want to do my thing with no drag. One of the guilty pleasure of staying in a hotel is a full Cable TV package. At home, I am Basic Cable and spend my time watching CSPAN 2 BOOKTV and related geeky programs. Plus, Eagles football because I apparently enjoy pain...

Deuteronomy  32:2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distill as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass: Every year around this time I have to seek out a new Devotional for the coming year. For some reason, I have it keyed to October. I'd like to say that I have it aligned intentionally with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. But, I can't say that this is the case.  Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew:  ראש השנה ), (literally "head of the year"), is the Jewish New Year. It is the first of the High Holidays or Yamim Noraim ("Days of Awe"), celebrated ten days before Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashanah is observed on the first two days of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar. It is described in the Torah as  יום תרועה  (Yom Teru'ah, a day of sounding [the Shofar]). Rosh Hashana begins at sundown on Sun, 29 September 2019. I think it happens in the calendar because I have several school events at ...

A couple of weeks ago, I stopped by AJ's Surplus Grocery. It is close to my house and I was hoping it would be one of those quirky groceries that had some semi-healthy foods interspersed with all of the other snacky-snack and uber-carb stuff. Think proteins, Guac, nuts, etc.  This coupon came up on Facebook a week later. It was like trying to find water in the Sahara. It was crap junk food up and down the aisles and all over. Metabolic Disorder Dumpster Land. I wound up buying a couple of pieces of pork, some peanuts, Buffalo Wing bites, a couple of cans of beans, and three small containers of lime juice to flavor my seltzer. I walked out with my purchase and an employee of the store came out soon after me to corral some shopping carts out in the parking lot. He engaged me in conversation. Asked me if that was the first time I had visited (it just had opened) and how my shopping experience was. It was one of those moments where I was cornered. I didn't want to lie or ...

Ever since I have been a young child I have been fascinated about railroad tracks crossing roads. I am not really sure why. I think I have found it intriguing that different things can cross and still go their way with a little bit of give. Maybe an illustration on the need to just chill out in our society and let things go. It will pass. Social Media train-wrecks. We are all so easily offended.  Christians in particular should have a deep peace not so easily riled. A calmness, a consistency. The last half of summer, I spent a lot of my time driving back country roads all the way from West Virginia through Pennsylvania to upstate New York. All the same type of terrain and people. I like rural folk and enjoy the country and I tend to see more of these railroad crossings on rural roads. Nothing quite as fun for me than cruising in my Civic on a sunny day through the back country with the sun roof open.  I will until the end of my days always have a sun roof on my automo...