Ericka profile picture

Ericka

I am here for Friends and Networking

About Me

..Profile modified by: The CricketSoda Myspace Profile Editor

Paddling (kayak), Caving, Hiking...

Outdoorsy. I love to be out on the river in my kayak! Getting into whitewater paddling in 2007 has been one of the most amazing things I've ever done. Caving.. I like to get underground. Places where relatively few people go.
www.caves.org
www.masondixoncanoeclub.org

PHOTOGRAPHY...

I love lighting... Cave photography especially, which is so challenging. Yet you can have so much creative control because of the total lack of ambient light. And macro photography has always fascinated me. Seeing things from a different perspective.

MUSIC is another passion.

I used to work in the music industry, but in spite of that, I still love music!

(Mr. Cash and I have similar opinions of music industry politics!)
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side." – Hunter S. Thompson
....I do a little singing and guitar playing for my own amusement... I play with friends sometimes. Would like to do that more often.

Life in General...

....I LOVE TO LAUGH AND SPEND TIME WITH FRIENDS. That time is so precious! The people who have touched my life. I'm very thankful for the wonderful friends that I have!
....PETS: I have three Ball Pythons (a small breed). A male and 2 females. Crowley, Lilith and Trillian. It's amazing what personalities they have. I would never have thought that about reptiles. They're great little beasties! Also..."Auxiliary Pets": My landlady's dogs - Kasey ("the dog-cookie ho'") and Stitch (with the white toes!). They're my buddies.
....I drive a Toyota Tacoma TRUCK named "Sapphire". I love road trips, and high gas prices suck!

CAREER:

I work in marketing for a really cool Non-Profit as an ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE. Love it there!

I ALSO DESIGN & MAKE JEWELRY

(necklaces and earrings mostly) from natural stones, Austrian crystal, art glass, etc. That's my latest creative outlet. I've just set up my own business, "Running River Creations" to sell my jewelry and photography. Check out the myspace site:

http://www.myspace.com/
runningrivercreations


Or you can just click on the link in my top 8 "friends"!

FAVORITE PLACES TO GO

Fun things to do and great friends to see!... THE GRAND TETONS... YELLOWSTONE... WEST VIRGINIA... Greenbrier, Pocahontas & Pendleton Counties... Caving!... the PACIFIC NORTHWEST: Washington & Oregon: Mount Rainier and Mt. St. Helens and surrounding areas... Columbia River Gorge... SAINT LOUIS & MISSOURI... family, friends, rivers, canoeing, boating, blues bars, Irish pubs... LOUISVILLE, KY... SANTA CRUZ area of CA... NORTHERN CA - Rt. 299! JOHNSON CITY, TN... The Down Home... VIRGINIA... Prince William Forest Park... Hemlock Overlook Park... Smyth County Caving... PLUS OTHERS too numerous to mention!

My Interests

Paddling, Caving, Hiking, Music, Photography, Jewelry making and marketing, Reading.
adopt your own virtual pet!

I'd like to meet:

People with similar interests... or not. Cavers, Paddlers, Hikers... Interesting people.

Music:

Roots or Americana music; Good rock with a melody and good lyrics; Bluegrass, Blues, Jazz, Traditional Irish and Scottish Music. I like music that's hard to categorize! Some of my favs:
Richard Thompson John Hartford Tony Rice, Guy Clark, Johnny Cash, JD Crowe and the New South, Scott Miller and the Commonwealth, Sam Bush, Sonny Landreth, Bob Dylan, The Who, Alison Krauss, Miles Davis, Drew Emmitt Band, Railroad Earth, David Grisman, Battlefield Band, The Beatles, The Byrds, Bonnie Raitt, The Seldom Scene, Gordon Lightfoot, John Coltrane, Roy Orbison, The Moody Blues, Altan, Sonny Rollins, Townes VanZandt, Jimmy McCarthy, Dolly Parton, CCR, John Cowan Band, Norah Jones, Merle Haggard, Rodney Crowell, Jerry Douglas, The Kinks, Bela Fleck, John Coltrane, Delores Keane, John Fogarty, Django Reinhardt, Keb Mo, The Kinks.

Favorite Songs: 1952 Vincent Black Lightening (Richard Thompson); Steam Powered Aereoplane (John Hartford); Angel From Montgomery (John Prine); These Days (Jackson Browne); Tomorrow Is A Long Time (Bob Dylan); Dimming of the Day (Richard Thompson); Shadows (Gordon Lightfoot); The Water is Wide (Trad. Irish); Lodi (CCR); Long Hot Summer Days (John Hartford); Blue Bayou (Roy Orbison).

Movies:

The Big Lebowski Fargo, Young Frankenstein, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Adaptation Monty Python's Holy Grail (and all else Python!), Men In Black (both movies), The Fifth Element (and most Bruce Willis), Fisher King, Good Morning VietNam (Robin Williams at his best), Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas Lord of the Rings Trilogy, National Treasure, well-done super-hero movies (like the Spiderman trilogy and Ghost Rider). Anything with Nicholas Cage.

Television:

Bones, House, Monk, The Simpsons, Meerkat Manor, 24, Psych, Mind of Mencia, Dirty Jobs, Law and Order Criminal Intent, Mythbusters. Old shows: Fawlty Towers, Black Adder, Red Dwarf, All in the Family, Andy Griffith Show, Land of the Lost.

Books:

Writers: Carl Hiaasen (His novels aren't really fiction. If you've lived in FL, you know what I mean!) Kathy Reichs, Douglas Adams, Hunter S. Thompson Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Dave Barry... um... well, that's the first few who come to mind.

Heroes:

Childhood heroes: Carl Sagan Johnny Cash, John Entwhistle Hunter S. Thompson and Great-Grandpa Jacobson. Adulthood heros: I've become more cynical, so this list now includes people who I actually know: My parents; My girlfriends - strong women who ROCK!; The great paddlers who have helped me hone whitewater kayaking skills now and in the past year; And still my Great-Grandpa Jacobson ("Super-Swede"!); You get the picture... people who touch my life and my heart!

My Blog

Whatever happened to freedom of religion?

I just have to respond to the forwarded email below. I find it highly disappointing and disgusting. And there are so many holes in the "logic" of that email below, that it's almost laughable... w...
Posted by Ericka on Mon, 19 Nov 2007 08:56:00 PST

2007 - Crazy year. Old friends, new job, kayaking, great concerts!

Has this been a weird year for anyone else?! Wow. What a crazy ("Razy!") year 2007 is turning out to be. Some incredibly tough times, and some incredibly great times. A main theme is seeing old friend...
Posted by Ericka on Sat, 14 Jul 2007 10:44:00 PST

Free Speech, Grammys, Patriotism, etc.

I started this out as a very tardy reply to a buddy's blog. I decided that it needed to become a blog of my own... First of all... let me get this out of the way... I think it's AWESOME that the Dixi...
Posted by Ericka on Tue, 13 Feb 2007 10:14:00 PST

Cave in Australia Yields Huge Collection of Fossils

Check this out! From BBC News... Link:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6296029.stm   Caverns give up huge fossil haul .. S BO -->.. S IINC --> The Australian landscap...
Posted by Ericka on Fri, 26 Jan 2007 09:45:00 PST

More on that new cave in Sequoia Nat'l Park -

This sounds absolutely gorgeous! Lucky dogs who found it! This article, from the San Francisco Chronicle, explains how it was discovered. I want to go!  Click on the thumbnail photos below ...
Posted by Ericka on Fri, 29 Sep 2006 10:09:00 PST

Huge New Cave Discovered in Sequoia & Kings Nat'l Park in CA!

Wow! This sounds really exciting. I'm so envious of the folks who get to explore this place. I want to go! It looks and sounds gorgeous! See the below article cut n' pasted from MSNBC.com... http://ww...
Posted by Ericka on Tue, 26 Sep 2006 09:35:00 PST

OTR Recovery!

Ahhh... the week after OTR. A very rainy OTR. Still drying out my gear! Still in a bit of a fog... What a great time, though! Cool cave trips; Cave photography with Ken... always great... bouncing ide...
Posted by Ericka on Fri, 08 Sep 2006 02:35:00 PST

GREAT MUSIC! Blue Plum Fest - Johnson City, TN!

WOW! Just got back from an amazing weekend in East Tennessee! If you've never been to the Blue Plum Festival in Johnson City, TN... you need to go if you like great music and great atmosphere! T...
Posted by Ericka on Tue, 06 Jun 2006 04:51:00 PST

People like freedom of speech unless it conflicts with their opinion!

OK... There's been a big stir about the Dixie Chicks' new CD that streeted a couple days ago. And it's resurrecting the huge flap about the comment that Natalie Maines made at a concert in England&nbs...
Posted by Ericka on Thu, 25 May 2006 08:08:00 PST

New Kayak!

Whoooo-hooo!!! I finally got my very own whitewater kayak! It's a Perception 8.1. I've wanted one of these ever since my friend Mary let me try hers out! Awesome boat! I can't wait to get it in t...
Posted by Ericka on Fri, 12 May 2006 03:22:00 PST