First off, let me post a group pic from Laura’s recent 40th Birthday Bash which was held at our house here in Henderson, Nevada.  Like our wedding in 2005 it was a costumed affair and this time the theme was Secondary Characters from the Wizard of Oz.  In keeping with the “secondary” theme we awarded the Second Best Costume Award because Laura, by virtue of her tailor-made custom FLYING MONKEY costume, had already by defacto won First Place because hers was an incredible costume, it was her birthday and I was the judge.

Miss all my far flung friends A LOT and hope all of you can make it to our 5 Year Wedding Reunion in 2010 ESPECIALLY if you didn’t make the original pirate fiesta / party / thing!!!

Enjoy!

“The technology is the easy part.  Figuring out …what drives people is the hard part.” - paraphrased Dean Kamen

(Isabella got those words televised and heard on the Sundance Channel series “Iconoclasts” because she too is a visionary!  She recognizes greatness and genius because she was born into a genius household.  Consider the risks her starlet mother (Ingrid Bergman) took latching onto an Italian filmmaker post WW2 with a voice of reason and retribution.  Although he was never accepted by the U.S. media, he polarized thought between the educated and the privileged.  She has followed in his footsteps and now gives a small platform for genius’s like Dean Kamen to offer the world solutions instead of problems.  Too bad bull-headed ignorance is the norm over progress.)

I wish I was still living in New York.  I would like to buy Isabella a glass of wine.  I think our dogs would get along too!  I’m afraid Mr. Kamen might scoff at my Trader Joe’s wine palette, but nonetheless, if ever i got the chance to buy him a glass of wine, i’d spend my last nickel on it.

http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/mission.php

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/

SEE MY LEFT FOOTPRINT THERE TO THE RIGHT?

YEAH, MAN, VENICEDUE TOTALLY OWNS MARS!

See ya in the sky,

Erok

But it’s NOT OKAY to be okay with it again!

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/diebold_accidentally_leaks

This is our totally authentic Alberta, Canada sleigh ride cowboy who led us to the frozen falls at Banff Lake on February 9, 2008 the day before Joy Burkhardtand Jay Hasler’s wedding.

(Joy was my wife’s “Wench of Honor” at our pirate wedding in Las Vegas on November 25, 2005. More about her later. She’s a trip.)

This pic is funny because as we were are totally freezing our asses off, he was telling us how he goes to Las Vegas and the South Point Casino every Fall for the annual Rodeo Fest. The South Point Casino is my favorite locals casino in Vegas and it’s not far from where I’m currently residing.

So there we are, in Canada freezing our asses off as a local cowboy was telling US how much he loved Vegas!.

I raised (and raise again!) my flask to him!

More pics to follow.

It’s a fun, interesting and fact-filled website and I’m working as one of seven staff writers covering the beat so there are multiple points of view about living in this desert oasis. I believe I’m the shortest term resident on the staff. Most of the writers have been living in Vegas ten or more years. At least one of them has been here for more than twenty-five years, so the writing and perspectives are unique even though our topic (life in Vegas) is rather consistent.

It’s been a real pleasure working with Managing Editor Mark Sedenquist and our AP editor Nancy Zerby and I look forward to a long, fun-filled collaboration with them.

My first article was about the Las Vegas 51s, the local AAA affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Check it out at http://living-las-vegas.com/2008/05/baseball-las-vegas/. It was initially published online on May 22, 2008 and will be stored in the website archives as new articles are released.

My next article is going to be about caring for long-haired dogs in the desert heat and low humidity. I believe the pub date will be Thursday June 19, 2008.

These new writing assignments and deadlines are going to be good for me. Progress on “For Rent:Dangerous Paradise” continues, although not at the pace I expected. I’m writing the ending now, but am going to have a lot of editing to do in order to tie up the spider web of intrigue and lies.

All in all, it’s going quite well and I’m happy with the way it’s shaping up (just not the time it’s taking!). I think my next book, if there is a next book, will be a much faster process. Primarily because it will involve some of the characters already fleshed out in “Dangerous Paradise” and because my initial research into the mystery genre won’t have to be repeated.

Cheers and thanks for all your continued support. I’ve received lots of inspiring email since getting this launched and again I send out props and thanks to Matt Ley of Novamedia for getting the ball rolling with Word Press and making it happen!

~Eric

But that’s because too many people from Texas have confused the word with impunity.

Exemption from punishment is a privilege that comes from something in the U.S. Constitution called due process. It is not a right. And no matter how many elections are rigged, or false idols (i.e., benjamins) are worshiped, the privilege is always temporary in a truly honest, God-fearing country.

Basking in the glow of immunity is a short-sighted opportunity to plan for the future. The recent results of the CBS show “Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites” exemplifies this.  People that held the Immunity Idol (Ozzy and Jason), didn’t play it because they thought they were immune from getting voted off the island.  Someone (Eliza) tried to play a false Immunity Idol and looked like a fool on national television.  And lastly, my too-gullible-to-win namesake cast member, Erik, turned his immunity necklace over to serpant-in-a-bikini Natalie at the behest of a cadre of pretty girls and then was immediately betrayed and voted off the island five minutes later.

Don’t get me wrong though.  I’m glad Parvati won. She deserved it and I think she’s going to put the prize money to good use promoting girl fights and charitable events. (what a world we live in! :- )

Although God help us all if a right-wing demigod with a flat stomach, perky breasts and a winning smile every ascends to the Republican presidential candidancy!  We would all be doomed!

The fact is, none of us are immune from our actions. Parvati Shallow exemplifies this fact.  Taking pride in your day-to-day choices, not compromising to a fear-based, war-profiting ideology, living with honor in your day-to-day life means immunity will not just be a false god idol searched for, prayed to and surrendered to corrupt politicians who only pretend to protect the freedoms our Constitution granted!

Oil profiteering and no-bid “defense” contracts have gotten us into a huge economic, military mess and given us a global black-eye politically.  We are hypocrites with body armor and high-velocity bullets.  But we are not immune from our actions in the gloabl village. These policies were terrible, self-serving (i.e., Haliburton/Cheny/Bush) decisions and absolutely are NOT the way forward. After eight long, insufferable years of self-serving government, the so-called United States of America have deterioted into a fear based, survival mode that is not conducive to long term growth or creative problem solving or even exploration of our next frontier. 

Immunity does not come with force of arms. It comes from honor, brotherhood and reaching out to those who already want to have the freedoms we enjoy.  Coca-cola, Levi’s and Madonna/Britney Spears music had already won the idealogical war in the very countries that we now fight and label “rogue.”  In November of this year, we have the opportunity to stop creating new enemies and get back to winning the idealogical war not by declaring our God better than their God, but by opening markets to the free exhange of goods and services.

The European nations did not hate us for taking the tenants of the French Constitution and making it our own. Many laughed at our folly but then came to see that a representative government was the best kind of government and all the European monarchies fell out of favor.  But, greed and especially greed for power have stoked the flame of ambition for too many dunderheads in this country.  We are living and suffering in the Age of the Bush monarchy that dates back to Greedy Racist Bush Bastard Number One’s rise to power behind the puppet Reagan.  Political power should NOT mean immunity from responsibility.  But clearly it does to these racist, evangelists that hide behind the rhetoric of their venegful gods and false morality as they in actuality build higher fences and buy each other’s silence with our tax dollars.    

Immunity also doesn’t mean the opportunity for revenge. But don’t give John McCain the chance to cloud immunity with impunity like Lil’Bush did. We didn’t need a war with the Muslim world and we don’t need a war with China. McCain should not be a presidential candidate merely for being a prisoner of war. He wants to push the button to get even with his persecutors because he thinks he can with impunity. But anyone who votes for him ALSO wants to push the button - effectively annihilating the human race because they think they’re somehow immune from the consequences because they believe in a vindicative god that is on their side.

Clearly none of these people understand the Nature of God at all, yet they live their day-to-day lives trying to convince the voting public of their paranoid fears against the facts of life all around them. “Do unto others …” is the Golden Rule for a reason. Anyone who justifies hate-mongering and a ‘our-God-is-better-than-your-God’ war is just trying to make a clandestine profit and point fingers away from themselves because they have NOT done unto others as they would have done to themselves.

Immunity does not mean impunity.

It means the chance to set a good example. Which is why the U.S., it’s Constitution and it’s citizens once held the Immunity Idol in the first place. The strength of our immunity is equal to the strength of our mutually beneficial alliances. Parvati and Amanda both deserved to win on the latest season of the CBS reality show “Survivor.”  As in real life where there is a level playing field (as opposed to tampered election results because the bullies knew they couldn’t win a fair contest in 2000 or 2004) the bullies on “Survivor” got voted off the island relatively quickly. 

Likewise it’s time we finally vote the bullies off this island once known as the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

The writers conference has been great. The HWG has done a fine job of organizing a quality event. The conference is NOT genre specific like many writer’s conferences (mystery, romance, western, etc.) but that’s okay. Whenever writers can get together and glean some sliver of community with one another it’s a good thing. Today’s presentations by Penny Sansevieri of www.redhotinternetpublicity.com and Bob Mayer’s (www.bobmayer.org) presentations on giving structure to a core idea were especially inspiring.

I met people writers today from as far away as Florida, but especially for any writers working in the Southwest or West, this is a good conference to attend.

I’m very much looking forward to tomorrow’s crime panel.

Writing sucks more than sometimes, but sometimes it can put you in interesting rooms with interesting people …if you’re curious enough….

venicedude

If not, I would definitely recommend them. If you need help following their guidelines or setting up your own store, let me know. I’ve learned a lot about .php, paypal, picture formatting and especially on-demand merchandising.

If “Metaphysics of Nudity” and “Venicedude” t-shirts aren’t your style. Let me know what you’d like and I can customize something for you.

Cheers!

Venicedude