bierkergaard

Hey, just a quick note that I am going to take a break from blogging. It could last until next week or until Labor Day (or somewhere in-between). I never want writing to be a burden for me as I do it for enjoyment. So, I am taking a break. Just wanted to let you consistent readers know. No need to worry. I will be back at some point. Until then, remember it is OK to lay things down. 

Ever since the COVID-19 shutdown, I have done almost all of my grocery shopping down the road at AJ's Surplus Grocery. I am calling it asymmetrical shopping. Whereas COSTCO is the very definition of predictable, AJ's changes like a chameleon week-to-week. It is the Wild West. The stock is not very consistent outside of the eggs. In attempting to stay away from large crowds, AJ's has worked out great. This last week I bought ten pounds of ground sausage for $15.99. The two tubes are light sabers. One could go to a street fight with these frozen pork bats in hand. Whole Wheat bread loaves were 94 cents a piece so I loaded up on those and put in the spare freezer. Starbucks Coffee Reserves bags, normally in the $20 range were $2.99. I had to pass as I have enough roasted and green coffee until 2021. I never run out of coffee. Never. That is a non-negotiable. I can't imagine people running out of coffee. When AJ's first opened, I found precisely three products ...

A friend and I have discussed how our worlds have become smaller since the COVID-19 shutdown. Our gaze is more microscopic personally versus telescopic. So, I am going to write about my neighborhood again this week. Social Media of course has opened up the skies bringing the world to our smart phone, for good and for ill. A Pandora's iPhone for sure. I am not sure we are equipped neurologically for all of the images and inflammatory rhetoric that gets downloaded into our minds. I suppose it can be a good thing that those things that are disturbing, we have to deal with and not ignore, but I think we are also being concussed, I, for one, am attempting to disengage from the dissension unless I think I can add something productive. I am using my snooze, block, and hide features a lot these days on both extremes Right and Left. I also know that it is hard to be constructive considering the current state of affairs in our Trumpian Dystopia.  I am not sure the Center will hold. I ...

For the last ten weeks or so, I have been gazing upon a discarded living room set across the street in a front yard of a townhouse. With a combination of irritation and humor, I practiced forbearance. It did become somewhat amusing to see how long it could go before something gave. I named it Abraham's Acres, a place of rest for weary travelers between Lancaster and York. I posted weekly updates on Facebook which at least some of my friends found funny. I thought about knocking on the door to ask them if I could assist them with its disposal. I didn't want to act like a jerk but I am a firm believer that neighborhoods degrade because no one seems to care about trash, loud music, barking dogs, ignorant parking, etc. All these minor signs of incivility grow like weeds. And once there is enough weeds, it chokes the health of the neighborhood. The bad element moves in, crime goes up. Yada, yada, yada. Maybe I am selfish, but I just don't like my car windows broken for spar...

A few days after the COVID-19 shutdown, I bought this book. I figured it would provide hope in facing a crisis. After reading about 90% of it, I stalled. Then, with tomorrow being Memorial Day, I thought it would be good to finish it up and then blog about it. The kayaking trip can wait a week. Or, it may be gone forever as a blog topic. Who knows. The day that we got word, Friday, March 13, that the schools were closing the following Monday, a casualty of that close-down was the SAT on March 14.  Technically, before the close-down order was going into effect. We were one of the last high schools in the area to cancel the SAT. I knew that it would affect over 150 students who needed to take the test as a part of their college planning process. I will save for another day whether these tests (SAT and ACT) should have the weight they do. But, the reality is that they are important. And pulling a test should be done with great circumspection and caution. The shut-down has obvio...

Well. I said that I'd finish my thoughts about the bench, so here goes. In order to make sense of this, if you didn't read last week, go back and do that first. Here are some points: - Good equipment matters. You have to find the right tools to do the job. My old bench press did one lifting movement, the bench press. Every other lifting move was constrained by the arms of the bench. The incline bench does 95% of the lifts I need to do and provides good back support. - Good technique matters. In the age of the internet, as long as you go to a reputable website, you can glean a ton of information about good technique. Most of it at no cost. Gone are the days where we have to pay to be informed. There is also a lot of garbage. Know enough to know the difference. Get a decent book to start. Chance are, the book has had at least some vetting.    - Good equipment and good technique, however, do not add a lot to motivation. Some, but if you lack motivation, the best of bot...

The above incline weight bench was bequeathed to me from a neighbor that I will call "Rambo" when I lived the town east of where I am now. He was a body-builder and when he pushed the lawnmower looked like a colossus striding the earth.  He shared an abiding and mutual hatred of groundhogs and operationalized the hatred from theoretical to practical through his acute skills in hoisting his 22 rifle out the back bathroom window of his domicile and pegging said diabolical creatures in their foreheads as they peered out of their holes. The poor vermin never saw it coming which preserved a serene look on their face when in state. The day just seemed so promising to ravage my and others' gardens. My history with lifting weights goes back about 40 years. My dad purchased a set of concrete weights covered by plastic and a wobbly weight bench in my early teen years. We didn't have a basement so it had to either go up to the attic, which became infernal or cold dependin...