Kat's Eyes

NEW URL

noreply@blogger.com (Kat) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 01:06:00 +0000

Kat's Eyes has moved to it's own domain!! Click here to be redirected. Please update your bookmarks to "www.katzeyes.net"

THANKS!!
Kat

Past, Present, Future?

noreply@blogger.com (Kat) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 20:05:00 +0000

I've already established that I'm a geek, and that I wonder about odd things. SO - this post should really come as no suprise.

Okay - I was watching some show on the Science Channel (getting a free preview this month, yay!) about the inside of the earth, and it was discussing the core and the magnetic field and how ours is alive and hot, but Mars' core is cold.

It went on to discuss how Mars had a hot core at one time, and most likely had a good magnetic field, which could then support an atmosphere, water, all that good stuff.

Then I was thinking about Venus, and about how it makes me think of how scientists describe very early Earth - you know, hot, volcanic, violent and hostile to life as we know it (it wasn't until photosynthesis began to occur on Earth that we had a large percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere).

All that led me to thinking - what if Mars was first, maybe it supported life, maybe even sentient life, and then the planet died, along with everything on it.

Now *we're* in the "goldilocks zone" where everything is perfect for life - but we know that eventually the core will cool and we'll be as dry as Mars. What if Venus is next? Maybe, even as we speak, the wheels are turning and life is making way?

Maybe, in the distant future, astronauts from Venus will land on Earth in search of evidence of water - and ponder the possibility of ancient life on Earth?

Mother's Day...

noreply@blogger.com (Kat) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:35:00 +0000

Moms are special creatures. They love us when we mess up, they love us when we don't. If I weren't a mother myself, it might be hard to imagine why on earth they'd love us when we mess up, but I understand that now.

I suppose that's why there's a holiday just for moms; to repay them for all the stupid stuff they put up with!

Case in point: when I was about ten, we lived in the country and had a little pond. Well - it seemed as if there was a continuous stream of little baby frogs coming out of that pond, and I LOVED them. They were my little babies. I would stuff my pockets full of my little babies and bring them in the house. As you can imagine, my mom loved that. Right. She especially loved that I convinced my little brother to do the same thing.

So -every year I look for Mother's Day gifts that say, "Mom, I'm sorry for the dead frog you found in the dryer that time", or Mothers Day gifts that say, "Mom, please forget that time I put the cat in the pool (I wanted to see *why*, exactly, they hated water so much)."

Unfortunately, there are only so many gifts for Mothers Day that I have to choose from. Do you suppose that 1800Flowers has a "Mom, thank you for loving me even when I took off my diaper and smeared poo all over the wall" bouquet? Hey, it could happen!

I love you Mom!

I am seriously remiss....

noreply@blogger.com (Kat) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 20:28:00 +0000

I have been remiss in my blogging duties. When I set out on this journey - I nobly committed (to myself of course, not someone else... .... seriously - who wants that kind of responsibility?) to blog at least two or three times per week. And I succeeded (at first, sort of - well - the first two weeks).

And yet, alas, alack, I look at my last post, and it is for VALENTINE's DAY! I mean, St. Patrick's day has come and gone - so long ago that the green has already faded from our upper lips - and April has fooled us once again - and still I have not updated my blog.

So - I'm here now... and I wanna know - WHO will be at the theater on May 8th? And if I even have to tell you what movie I'm talking about - then you probably won't be there anyway ;).

~Kat

5 Easy Valentine's Day Tips for Clueless Boyfriends

noreply@blogger.com (Kat) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 22:08:00 +0000

Okay, I'm going a bit off topic today because, well, I'm a girl - and Valentine's Day is this Saturday. And for some reason, we girls are hard-wired to expect something romantic on Valentine's day, be it roses, wine, chocolates, or all three (even better!). I don't know why we're like that - we just are. And you know you love us anyway!

Since I write about fun things like space and sci fi - I know I have at least a handful of guys among my ten readers (haha). I thought I might help you out by providing a quick list of easy things to do for/with your gal on Saturday.

#1 Send her roses at work (or whatever her favorite flowers are - if you don't know her favorite flower - you need more help than I can give). This one is so easy a monkey could do it - and it's pretty much expected from you the moment you become her 'significant other' anywhere near V-day. Just call up 1800Flowers or something and you're golden.

#2 Make dinner - or have dinner delivered from her favorite restaurant before she gets home and set it out with the good china and a candle. Trust me - easy AND she'll be uber-impressed.

#3 Take her to a movie that she wants to see .... even if YOU don't want to see it! Amazing! Self-sacrifice is a big turn on. :-)

#4 Do NOT ask her to decide what you two will do on Valentine's day - unless she is the type who would actually type out your proposal for you to memorize - then I'm sure that would be okay. Most girls enjoy being suprised though.

#5 Write a sappy poem, or prose. There are so many male bloggers out there who write the most beautiful copy. Write it for her!

Okay - that's all I have. I'm fairly easy to please though, so this list isn't really breakthrough discoveries about women or anything. Have a great V-Day!

Sci Fi Authors

noreply@blogger.com (Kat) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 14:56:00 +0000

I'll admit it, when it comes to my love of sci fi - I'm mainly limited to TV and movies. Which is really odd give my absolute love of reading! I really enjoy reading a good sci fi when I can find it, but finding them has proven difficult for me. When I look around, it seems that sci fi and fantasy are all piled together - and they are NOT the same thing. And there is such a wide array of "sci fi", that looking for one I'd like is akin to picking through the items at a garage sale.

What I love is a good story set in the future in space - with aliens yes, but also with humans. I also LOVE anything having to do with time travel. That's probably my favorite. I just read The Time Traveler's Wife and really enjoyed it. Not hardcore sci fi - but cool nonetheless.

So I'm asking for help! If you know of good sci fi authors who tend to focus on either space or time travel - I would love to hear about them! Give me authors who produce real page-turners!! I crave written sci fi!!

Not Tested On Animals

noreply@blogger.com (Kat) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 01:45:00 +0000

I'm all about animal... what's the opposite of cruelty - nicety? Anyway, I don't like the thought of testing some chemical-filled-possibly-volatile skin product on Fluffy, causing him to be fluffy no more, or even causing him to be Fluffy no more (no I did not just write the same phrase twice - read it again). It's sad really. So I'm very happy to know that these days, there are so many products clearly labeled "not tested on animals".

Then I noticed a trend in blogging - it's called the "product review". I do it myself from time to time at Kat's Healthy Living, as well as Kitchen Table Medicine... but I just recently really noticed how very many bloggers are willingly slathering unknown products on their skin, or taking new supplements, or whatever, in order to write a product review (because really, people love product reviews - I know for me, there's no better reading than a pro/con list, or a top ten list, or whathaveyou).

It then dawned on me that companies no longer test products on animals because they no longer NEED the animal. Fluffy got bumped. Yep. One day there will be an activist - deep in the trenches - fighting for blogger rights, longing for the day when they can read that label: "Not tested on bloggers".

Un-freakin' Believable

noreply@blogger.com (Kat) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 01:27:00 +0000

Get this... are you ready? Army scientists have developed a technique designed to regrow human body parts. Yep - new body parts. Apparently the scientists combined materials from the intestinal lining and the urinary bladder (yummy, right?) to create something called the "extracelluar matrix" (Sounds like a good sci fi title). When this substance is applied to a damaged body part, it boosts our natural ability to repair ourselves and voila - new body part. (or would that be, theoretical voila?)

One test subject had cut off the tip of his finger in a model plane propeller (...oh come on, we've all been there). The substance was applied to the finger continually for four weeks, and the finger started to repair itself. They didn't specify how advanced the repair was - but apparently it was enough to get them all excited.

Now I'm thinking, what if this doesn't have to be limited to only replacing what body parts we already had - but was expanded to give us extras? Who doesn't need a couple of extra arms these days? Four legs for faster running? Actual eyes in the backs of our heads.

Oh the possibilities are endless...

Why don't they fall through the floor?

noreply@blogger.com (Kat) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 22:30:00 +0000

Okay, now this may seem like a weird title for a post, but you'll understand in a minute (maybe... I mean, does any sane person really understand anything I write?).

At any rate, every sci-fi fan knows that one of the favorite "go-to" plot scenarios is the "out of phase" conundrum. You know, they're out of phase, so they can now walk through walls, objects, people, sometimes they're even invisible. The problem to be solved is, of course, getting back "in" phase so they can again interact with other people.

Well what I want to know, and what has bothered me for years now (to the point that when that plot line comes up, I spend a good 5 minutes arguing with the television about the impossibility of what it's about to show me), is WHY don't they fall through the floor? Why is the floor - or the ground for that matter - somehow immune to any phase shifting that takes place? Why don't they fall through the earth and out the other side? Why can they climb stairs?

These are the questions that haunt me.

Christmas Already?

noreply@blogger.com (Kat) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 02:01:00 +0000

Does it ever seem like time is speeding up? I feel as if every day, the momentum of my life increases and the days and weeks just fly by faster and faster... does anyone else feel that way?

And I just realized today that Christmas is in two weeks! AAAAHHHH! Where has this year gone? I apparently put up my Christmas decorations just to have to take them down again :-). I do love Christmas though; I have a large family and we have several celebrations throughout the week of Christmas. We usually play games - and this year I've decided to be creative (i.e., play something other than Balderdash, lol), by researching some new Christmas party games online. Hopefully my family is "game" (groan, I know, too punny).

So what are some of the games your family plays on Christmas?

I Believe in Evolution!

noreply@blogger.com (Kat) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 02:04:00 +0000

Outlook has been driving me batty lately, so I took Evolution for a test run... and have decided not to look back! Evolution has the same basic interface as Outlook, so it was very intuitive... the only things it did not have were the things I didn't want anyway - like the buggy behavior I've witnessed over the last year or so - like having to input my email password EVERY TIME I opened Outlook EVEN THOUGH I checked the dang REMEMBER PASSWORD button EVERY TIME!!

ARGH! Okay, there's a little residual anger there.. it's alright.

Anyway, Evolution is an open source Linux-based program - and my husband has been asking me if I wanted to give Linux a go for a few years now. So, based on my recent experience with Evolution, I'm thinking of switching my OS from Vista (the bane of my existence, the source of all evil in the world) to either CentOS or Ubuntu... I'm testing them both on different computers right now and deciding which I like best... which brings me to a question... which Linux OS do you recommend?

An American Privilege: Jury Duty

noreply@blogger.com (Kat) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 02:09:00 +0000

How is it that something touted as a 'privilege' has to have the word 'duty' in the name?* I've always wondered that.

Well, for some reason, the "jury lottery" LOVES my husband, lol. I don't know why, but in the 15 or so years that he has been old enough to serve, he's been called for jury duty more times than I can count! I don't envy him this; the one time I was called - I was able to get out of it because I was VERY pregnant and the doctor had advised me (because of my varicose veins) not to sit or stand for long periods of time - and they couldn't guarantee me the ability to stand and stretch my legs every hour or so. The judge actually rolled her eyes - but couldn't go against doctors orders either... I was content to be the object of her derision if it got me out of that big boring room full of people who also didn't want to be there.

Just the other day, in fact, my husband went to get the mail and lo and behold, there was ANOTHER jury summons with his name one it. He got into the car, reading it with disbelief. "Again?" he said, as he turned the summons over and back again and again as if searching for something... "isn't there like an 'opt out' box I can check or something?"

I burst out laughing, imagining jury summons coming with a box at the end: "check this if you wish to be removed from our mailing list".

Wouldn't that be awesome? LOL! Of course then there would be no one (or at least, just the same few people) to serve on the juries. -- Hey! We could make jury duty a "community service"... hmmm....

*now before anyone labels me as "un-American", I just want to say that actually serving on a jury might be fun, but jury duty is about as fun as a root canal. I think we need to rework the whole jury selection process...

Dark Matter Discovery?

noreply@blogger.com (Kat) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 03:31:00 +0000

Is there anything more mysterious than "dark matter"*? Scientists say that the theoretical dark matter makes up about 23 percent of all energy in the universe (matter and energy being basically equivalent, according to Einstein), the even more mysterious dark energy makes up about 73 percent, and only about 4 percent of the total energy in the universe is comprised of visible matter. Which completely makes sense when you think of all the empty (or invisible) space inside an atom. Everything we see is essentially made of empty space.

At any rate, dark matter has been researched but no evidence found until recently. Apparently, some scientists developed a method to detect the energy created when dark matter particles meet and annihilate one another... and then actually found evidence of this in the air over Antarctica! How cool is that?

*no, the actual composition of fruitcake doesn't count

Hi There!

noreply@blogger.com (Kat) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:56:00 +0000

Okay okay, I SAID I wasn't going to spiff up this blog, but I couldn't resist. And now, even though I BACKED UP my template like they TOLD ME TO, the new template isn't doing what it is supposed to and the old one gives me an error message everytime I try to implement it. Great lot of good "backing it up" did me!!

ARGH! And a big fat GRRR!

So - I apologize for the fact that my blog is not at full functionality at the moment, and I promise that it will be soon. The good new is, all of the blog posts are available to read, it's just the widgets that are giving me grief...

My head hurts...

Blogging is HARD work!

noreply@blogger.com (Kat) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 04:38:00 +0000

Ugh... I have just finished changing the template for Kat's Healthy Living, and I'm pooped. My goal is a complete redesign, so I'm nowhere near finished with that - but it took me forever just to setup a new template, and then add everything back in!! (I would love it if you'd go and see what you think!)

When I loaded Kat's Eyes, I thought, "hm, now it looks a little drab in here"... but am I going to vamp this one up? Nope. It's just too dang hard. This site has been around longer and there are add ons and widgets galore - I shudder to think of how difficult it would be to redo all this. Its similar to the feeling I get when I think of moving to a new house. I'm like - HOW on earth will I ever gather and MOVE all this STUFF??

The Sci Fi Channel - The Final Frontier

noreply@blogger.com (Kat) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 23:39:00 +0000

Wow! I didn't realize it had been almost a week since I'd posted here! Between posting here and at Kat's Healthy Living and writing articles... I get confused as to what I've done and what I haven't...

At any rate, I thought I'd ask if anyone here is a sci fi fan? I am (obviously) and love almost any sci fi you put in front of me (can I get a what what for Dr. Who?)

Well, there's a new (new to TV at least) show called Sanctuary. The draw for me was Amanda Tapping, cause I'm a HUGE Stargate fan. The show is done completely with green screen, so there are all sorts of cool scenes they can set up and still stay on the meager sci fi budget that these type of things are always bound to. It's only been on for a few weeks, but I'm really starting to like it.

I mean, I'm usually all about sci fi's that focus on space, but this one is cool too. The premise is that there are logical explanations for things like warewolves, vampires and such - they're just people with genetic mutations. Amanda Tapping's character, Helen Magnus, runs a
"sanctuary" - hence the name- for people and/or creatures like this. She protects people from the dangerous ones, and she protects the "nice" ones from people who would hunt them down.

Overall, I think it's very well done! And Amanda Tapping is awesome as usual.

What sci fi's do you like?

The Universe

noreply@blogger.com (Kat) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 16:42:00 +0000

I am a true geek. I actually own two books dealing with quantum physics and the theory of Schrodinger's Cat, as well as several astronomy books and a few more dealing with theoretical physics. Now, I'm not claiming to completely understand all of it, but I will say that after seeing "What the Bleep Do We Know", I'm much closer :-). (that much closer to ruling the world, mwuahahaha).

At any rate, sometimes I wonder how far the whole "connectedness" thing goes.. I mean, if subatomic particles are all connected and actually communicate with each other - to the point of making joint decisions over time and space - how connected are WE on a subatomic level? When the phone rings, and I automatically "know" who is on the other end, or when I have a song stuck in my head, only to turn on the radio and find that it's on, is that coincidence?

There are times when I'm with people and I know what they're about to say - and I can almost always tell you when someone is sad or upset, even though other people don't see it. What if that's just the default state of the universe but we've somehow moved away from our ability to tap into it?

Just as a disclaimer: I've mentioned before that I'm weird, :-).

7 Things About Kat

noreply@blogger.com (Kat) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:12:00 +0000

Apparently, I've been tagged.... Kden says (and kden, by the way, I'm stealing your cute "tagged" pic) that I must list 7 things about myself, then pass it on to 7 other people who must also list 7 things about themselves. 777? Is it a holy assignment?

Maybe, who am I to say?

Anyway, I'm not sure I can think of 7 interesting things about myself... we'll see

1. I'm human (so far so good)

2. I'm a girl (betcha didn't see that one coming!)

3. Planet earth is the celestial body that currently provides a dwelling place for lil ol me. (none of that Venus crap for me)

4. Ummm.... I have red hair. (so watch out)

5. I am both European AND Native American, so apparently one half of my heritage slaughtered the other, and my inner self is in constant conflict as a result.

6. Wow, we're just at six? I figured we'd be at seven by now. Hmm. Uuuhhhhmmmm... I'll bet if I stopped here, at six, the entire world would stop spinning and we'd all fly out into space... should I try it?... Nahhh... better not risk it. Okay, I love the way the air smells when the seasons change. There.

7. And last, but certainly not least, and without further ado... and yadda yadda... Lucky number seven: I can't stand toothpaste that tastes like anything besides regular minty stuff (like strawberries). Yuck.

How boring am I?

Alright, I'm going to tag some of my most recent blogcatalog viewers:

Mobabs
Dunn
Brad Hart
Blank Pixel
Health Miracles
Angie Alaniz
Crawler

Kat's Healthy Living

noreply@blogger.com (Kat) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:11:00 +0000

I toyed with the idea of making Kat's Eyes a niche blog, but I wanted the freedom to post silly random stuff anytime I wanted... So I created Kat's Healthy Living to explore the wonderful world of all-natural health and beauty.

Some of my more "all-natural" or "green" posts will be cross posted over there, and any new posts along that line will be posted exclusively at my new site. It's a little bare at the moment, but please stop by and let me know what you think about the layout and design so far!

Thanks!!
Kat

White Walls

noreply@blogger.com (Kat) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:24:00 +0000

I LOVE art. My kids have this awesome book full of famous paintings designed to introduce children to the wonderful world of art. Little Einsteins does it too, to a degree. Imagine my surprise when I opened up the art book and my six-year-old could tell me the painter's name! LOL!

Anyway, finding reasonably priced art is close to impossible, so when I discovered White Walls, I was in love. Beautiful paintings, decent prices, and occasionally they run free shipping offers. If you'll look in my right sidebar, you'll see a nice little ad you can click to see their totally awesome website. I figured... since I loved the site, I might as well benefit from loving it! :-) Happy art shopping!

Public Service Announcement: Exploding Dryers

noreply@blogger.com (Kat) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:36:00 +0000

Who would have thought that so mundane a task as washing your clothes could turn into a life threatening situation? As I was filling my washer today, my eyes wandered to the DIRE WARNINGS label.

You know... the section you never read?

Anyway, there it told me to make absolutely certain that none of my clothes were soiled with any kind of oil, because that oil can still remain once the wash cycle is finished (what an amazing cleaning machine, eh?). Sooo, if your clothing has any trace of oil on it when deposited into the dryer it can result in "Death, injury or fire". (!!!)

Can you imagine that eulogy?

"We are gathered here today to mourn the passing of our dear friend, Kat. She died, nobly washing the soiled garments of her family. I certainly hope they appreciate the sacrifice she made to ensure that their whites were the whitest..."

I suppose all we can really hope for is a really cool death, or a really mundane one, because dying like that, well, that's pretty much all anyone will remember... death by dryer.

Shhhh....

noreply@blogger.com (Kat) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:06:00 +0000

...I'm supposed to be working.... but I don't wanna. Is it sad that I work from home, (in my pj's if I want) whenever I want to, doing what I love (writing and editing), and yet here I sit (not in my pj's - by the way) on my couch, reading reeeaaaallly funny blogs, procrastinating the work that I used to only dream of doing? The previous sentence would never pass an edit, by the way; that's how NOT in the mood I am to work right now -- not even editing my OWN STUFF.

I suppose that goes to show you that ANY job, even your dream job, is still a job. Wow. Do you think Mariah Carey (firefox spell checker wanted to change her name to "pariah" - hmmm) sits at home, surfing the internet thinking, "Dang, I don't want to go to the studio today, I'd rather read funny blogs"?

No?

Me neither.

I could email her a link to my blog though, see if she thinks it's funny. Don't you think it would be awesome to have the distinction of being the blog cool enough to derail Mariah Carey's career?

No?

Me neither.

(yeah right)

Ok. I'm going to work now.

Global Blog Action Day

noreply@blogger.com (Kat) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:13:00 +0000

Did you know that today is global blog action day? It's a day set aside for bloggers across the globe to discuss important issues that affect us all. This year's topic is poverty. Poverty affects people around the world and if we could find a way to fight against it, so many people would benefit. Growing up, I would say that we definitely lived below the poverty line. If we hadn't always lived near family, we would have been in trouble several times, possibly even ending up homeless.

There HAS to be something that we can do. I was thinking the other day, if millionaires everywhere would take those millions of dollars they waste on extravagances, and give even $100,00 to a person here or there who needed it, what kind of impact would that have on society?

If I ever had that kind of money, I would find a way to help those in need who lived in my city... what it people in cities all over the world did that? Even at my current income, I can certainly afford to buy someone dinner now and then, or give to a local food bank or church pantry... things my family benefited from when I was a kid. Can you?

How's Your Word Power?

noreply@blogger.com (Kat) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 01:36:00 +0000

I LOVE Reader's Digest... always have. In fact, I can remember even as a kid, anxiously awaiting the arrival of Readers Digest so I could play the Word Power section and beat "the grownups". I truly believe that all that time spent with the magazine as a "youngster" contributed to my love of words (and knowledge of words) that prompted me to want to become a writer.

Well, I love it no less now than I did back then - and I was excited to find that they have a completely interactive website now (I don't know why I didn't check to see if they had a website before). They post all their great Readers Digest jokes at RD Laughs Main , there are also Stand-up Videos, Funny Cartoons and you can even add ReadersDigest.com Widgets to your blog. If you have Facebook, you can add a photo app that lets you do crazy stuff to your pics. If you'll scroll down to the bottom of my page here, you'll see that I have downloaded my favorite, of course - Word Power. Anyone want to challenge me? Come on... you know you want to... even though you know I'll win...

Allergies... Lookin' on the Bright Side

noreply@blogger.com (Kat) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:23:00 +0000

My allergies have been giving me fits for the last few days. I don't know what's wrong honestly, generally I only have allergy issues in the spring but this ragweed season has really hit me hard. When I woke up this morning, my head was pounding, my eyes were itching, and I felt like I had a hangover (ok, so what I imagine a hangover must feel like... goodie goodie me really has no idea).

When I walked into the bathroom and flipped on the light, my eyes actually popped out of my head and exploded. Since I had lost the ability to see (given that my eyeballs were now serving as wall decor), I made my husband clean it up.

Ewww, right? Try being the one whose eyes exploded.

Seriously though, there has been one (very vain) perk assiociated with this allergy invasion. See they eyes at the top of the page? Those are mine... and although my work in Picasa has morphed them into smooth, ageless eyes, in reality I have lines under them. However, due to the slight swelling from the allergies, all lines have been smoothed out and my eyes look about 5 years younger... amazing... I'm thinking of calling Estee Lauder. I can see it now "The new under eye miracle, RAGWEED by Estee Lauder". Now if I can just eliminate the redness so I don't look like I've just come off a 3 day bender...