Katie loves photoshop

Something you may or may not know about me is that I heart Photoshop. So much. In fact, I have spent so much time over the last few years playing with this little gem of a program that I have actually developed what might be called "madd skillz." But I would never call it that, because that sounds incredibly stupid. Anyway, I love tweaking photos so much that I'm seriously thinking about adding a "Stuff Katie has Photoshopped" section to the Gallery. My latest foray into digital manipulation may be my favorite yet. For your viewing pleasure, I present - Katie is Totally Hanging Out with Spock on the Backlot Between Takes:



I have no idea if posting this breaks any copyright laws. Ach so.

Katie
01:15 PM 05/13/2008 - Permalink

The adventures of Captain incredibly-late-posting-this!

Here's a thing! It's a video! It's about the ongoing project over at Artemis Eternal. I've already linked to it a bunch of times on this site, but this video is new and exciting! Whee!



So that's that.

Also, if you've seen the new episode(s) of Battlestar Galactica, do NOT talk to me about it. I have to wait till next week to see it. If you so much as spoil a hair on its head, your judgement will be swift and merciless. End of threat.

Katie
05:40 PM 04/10/2008 - Permalink

springter

For some odd reason, the temperature here dropped significantly over the past week and we ended up with a few inches of snow last night. Quite bizarre for this area.



Well, not bizarre really. It seems like we usually get one last kick in the pants from Winter before it lets go. But it still surprises me every time.

Katie
11:40 AM 03/29/2008 - Permalink

goals and grassmoss

So Marc is pretty much hilarious. You should definitely read his updates, if you aren't already. Highly entertaining. Especially if you actually know Marc.

However, I must say his consistently funny and regular updating leaves me feeling like a total slacker, being as I hardly ever, ever update my own site. So I'm going to work on that, I guess (translation: eh... maybe). I also need to get my program stuff up and running to modify the actual look of the site. I'm kind of tired of the format now. I think I'm ready for a sidebar, just like a real big kid website.

Today I actually had a job! Work has been slow and I've essentially been laid off for the last 3 or 4 workdays. Which seems like it would be awesome, but in reality, there's only so much nothing a person can do. Sleeping in is great for a day or two, but then you start to feel like a complete waste of carbon. So you go to clean the kitchen, because at least that's something, then you realize you just cleaned the kitchen yesterday. Shoot.

I was so bored Monday that I actually drove out to my parents' house just to mow the lawn, which turned out to be mostly moss anyway. It felt very odd mowing a 75% moss lawn. Like walking on carpet on top of a giant sponge. On the plus side, it's very green.

Katie
07:15 PM 03/26/2008 - Permalink

well hello there! Come on in...

So lately a lot of people I know are visiting my website for the first time, because of the link on my brother Marc's site. Marc is in Taipei, Taiwan right now and updates his site regularly. Many of our friends are going there to see what he's been up to lately. Namely, if he's done anything like, say, accidentally electrocute himself with a mosquito zapper (answer: yes). So if you've taken a look at his site, send him an email. I'm sure he'd love to hear from you. (Note: he doesn't seem to have his address on his site, so if you want it you can email me and if I can determine that you are a human being and not an evil junk mail robot, I will give it to you. My address is in the Contact section.)

Now, if you've linked over from Marc's site and you're here for the first time, welcome! Have a look around. I haven't been updating much these days, as all my website-making stuff was in my old computer and I haven't gotten a new one yet. Not very interesting to anyone but myself, I suppose, but anyway, do look around. People seem to like the comic book style photo-story I made of the time my roommate Tegan and I made a very special graduation card. You can find that in the Projects section. There are also a few photo albums you might enjoy in the Gallery section. Make yourself at home. If you want to leave a note or say hi, you can click the "chat here" button up in the menu bar and a little chat box will pop up. It's easy to use.

In other news, my other brother Dustin is just getting over chicken pox. He's 29, so he got them as a full blown adult, ergo, much worse than children get it. I was petrified that I would get them too, because I never got them as a kid and I was around my pestilent brother while he was contagious. But I got a blood test (which took three tries - ouch) and it came back saying I was naturally immune. So yay for me! But feel sorry for Dustin. He was really, really sick. And itchy. I think he's better now. I should call him...
Okay bye!

Katie
11:00 PM 03/12/2008 - Permalink

wow.

Jessica Stover, Champion of the Awesome, and Greg Martin, Creator of Wonderful Things, have just launched a new website showcasing and explaining the film-in-the-works Artemis Eternal. The site is beautifully executed and explains this project vastly better than I am able. So if you remember that one time and then that other time and you still don't know what in the world I'm talking about, let the master explain it for me. Plus, she gives us JSDC Wingmen a nice pat on the back (thanks, Jess). Pop over there and see if you can find my star (admittedly the first thing I did). Then read on. It says everything.

Katie
011:50 PM 01/29/2008 - Permalink

I live!

Well, I'm all work-at-home now. No office for me. Except the one in my Mom's house. I guess that counts. But anyway, I am making this entry from WordPad, no fancy nice html editing program for me right now. I finally came to the realization that I don't actually need the nice pretty program as long as I'm just making regular, run-of-the-mill(-but-still-awesome) entries. Besides, all the cool kids code from scratch, right? Yeah. Now maybe I can be in that club. So anyway, I just downloaded FileZilla and pulled my little index.html file right up in WordPad and here I am. I love technology. Always and forever.

Katie
06:20 PM 01/18/2008 - Permalink

Be a high rollin' film sponsor... again!

Remember when I encouraged all you dozens of katiedurham.com visitors to help sponsor a film? Well, that fundraiser went very well and we reached the goal - it's good to go. Unfortunately, the filming of Artemis Eternal was delayed until Spring due to battles against mighty foes and monsters, so we're still waiting on that. However, there is another exciting project brewing over at JSDC. J.Sto has completed filming a side project - already done, already in the can. But it turns out post-production, aka editing and junk, is ridiculously expensive. So J.Sto is again calling on the JSDC Wingmen (which could be you) for help. We're trying to get as many people to chip in to cover post-production costs as we can. So that's pretty neat. But what makes it The Awesome®? Once again, you get your name in the credits. What makes it more The Awesome®? If we reach goal to get the post-production done, J.Sto will release the film right there on her site, so we all get to see it (with your name on it, maybe). That is beyond rad. So it's not so much wanting a few people to give a lot of money, it's more hoping a lot of people give a little money. So, if you can spare a few bucks, pop over there and chip in for something great. And if you don't trust that it would be great, wise up. Check out J.Sto's project page. Read her archives. It's all worthwhile stuff. I really, really want to see this, so if nothing else, do it as a favor to me. We'll be friends and I'll totally tell the other kids that you're cool.

While you're here, go back and read my post about Artemis Eternal. The reasons remain the same. And again, please spread the word.

Katie
02:30 PM 11/26/2007 - Permalink

hiatus maybe?

Here's the deal: soon I will be changing my employment. I'm going back to working at home as a medical transcriptionist (insert ecstatic cheer here - pajama pants all day!). While this is going to be awesome for me, it likely will mean I won't be able to update the site for a while. Why? Well, all my website programs, files, pictures, etc. are on my work computer, which will soon not be at my disposal. I've copied them all onto my iPod (aka handy little portable hard drive), so they will be preserved and everything, but I'm not sure my aging laptop at home will be able to handle the website stuff as nicely as this work computer does. I won't be buying a decent home desktop for another 3 or 4 months, so if my laptop can't take it, there will be a bit of a break in updates. I will still frequent the yaplet chat, though, so it won't be a total ghost town. And it's likely that my little laptop will work fine and I won't have to take a break at all, but I just thought I would take this opportunity to post something. It's been a few weeks since I put anything up. Anyway. I'll update about whether the laptop works when I try it - probably some time next week.

Oh, and I changed the menu bar font back to Arial Black. I like it better.

Katie
02:40 PM 11/21/2007 - Permalink

slight redesign

I changed some fonts and a few little layout choices on the site today. Most noticeably, the menu bar and the title posts are now in Century Gothic font instead of Arial Black. Less noticeably, the main text is now MS Sans Serif instead of Arial. Not noticeably at all, I've reorganized the HTML source code to make it easier on myself behind the scenes. So if anything looks wrong or isn't working, again, let me know. I'm just going to leave the Archive posts the way they are. After all, that's what archiving is for, right? Well no, actually, but I don't want to go through and change them, so feh.

Katie
02:35 PM 11/05/2007 - Permalink

MOVING SOME STUFF AROUND

I'm in the middle of reorganizing some of my website files, so there might be some weird gaps for a while, mainly where pictures should be, as I'm moving all my images to a central location. So if you spot any holes, let me know.

Katie
02:32 PM 11/01/2007 - Permalink

SAMURAI CATS

Have you ever heard of Jeff de Boer? He's an artist. He does amazing work with metal. The kind of stuff I would do if I had the time/ability/money/education/gumption. I'm especially fond of his cat and mouse armor. I remember he had an exhibit of the armor in Vancouver years ago, when I was probably about 13. We never went, but now I'm regretting it. His stuff is awesome. Go to his site and click on 'Galleries.' Pay special attention to 'Cats and Mice' and 'Space Stuff' - they're my favorites. Also, the 'How To' section is pretty sweet. It shows the whole designing and building process. I think I have a new hero.

Katie
11:00 AM 11/01/2007 - Permalink

GOODBYE, MAGGIE


We had to put our cat, Maggie, down Saturday afternoon. We adopted her about four and a half years ago from the Whatcom Humane Society. We never really knew exactly how old she was, but we think she was 11 or 12 when we got her, so she was probably around 16, which is a pretty good old age for a cat.

We picked her out of all the eligible cats because she was old and most likely not going to be adopted before her number came up for euthanization. She was so pretty and so sweet that we couldn't stand the thought of her being put down just because she was too old for anyone to want her. Later we realized she was just nervous and clingy when we met her - not necessarily "sweet." But anyway, we took her home and she immediately hid under a bookcase, where she stayed for the better part of a week. Soon enough, though, she got comfortable and ventured elsewhere, eventually establishing the house as her property.

I'll say it right now: Maggie was an idiot. I don't think she ever fully figured out how to be a proper cat. She constantly needed her claws clipped because she didn't know she needed to scratch them off, she couldn't jump higher than a foot without five minutes of calculation and planning, and she had absolutely no ability to make herself comfortable in someone's lap. But what she lacked in finesse and cat sense, she made up for in character and ridiculous personality traits. My favorites:

- I timed it once: if you left a room (or her sight, basically) for six seconds or more, then re-entered, she would squeak at you. Not an actual cat meow, but more of a "enh!" sound. Every time.

- I gave her a little bit of smoked salmon once, to see if she would like it. Instead of leaning down and eating it, she literally picked pieces off with her claws and brought them up to her mouth, little by little. After that, I noticed she ate with her paws rather frequently.

- The first time she slept on my bed, instead of sleeping next to me, she burrowed down under the blanket and slept in a ball by my feet. I knew she couldn't breathe down there, so I kept lifting the blanket to check on her. Every time I did it, she went "ehn!" without even opening her eyes. Eventually, she claimed the direct center of the bed as her spot, causing me to develop very odd sleeping positions to conform around her.

- If she was on the couch (which was later banned by my dad) and someone wanted to take her seat, they would have to wrestle her for it. It was funny to see guests try it for the first time. They would expect the typical cat's reaction, where if you go to push them off the couch, they run away. Not Maggie. She dug her claws into her blanket, went "EEEEENNHH!" and held her ground. You would literally have to pick her and her blanket up entirely and put them on the floor.

- I used to play games on my laptop while lying in bed. Maggie would swat at my hand moving over the keyboard, then would finally stand in front of it, basically filling my face with cat until I gave her some attention.

- Maggie was an indoor cat her whole life before she came to us. We encouraged her to go outside, but it was always a huge production with her. If she actually ventured into the Great Outdoors and managed to survive the wilderness and get back through her cat door, she would announce it. Loudly. A constant stream of "enh!" until someone acknowledged her feat with a pat on the head or a freshly filled food bowl.

- One typical cat behavior she had down was the whole "poke the sleeping person in the face until they wake up" trick. Her favorite target was my eye. I never really knew why she did it. She always had food.

- If she wanted to look at you but her body was facing the other way, she usually didn't turn her head. She would just look at you upside down. There's a picture of that at the top of this post.

She had been starting to show signs of her age for a while and when Mom called me Saturday to say they were taking her in, I wasn't surprised. I almost didn't go out to their house to say goodbye, but I changed my mind at the last minute. I drove out there and went into Mom's office - Maggie's favorite place. She was curled up on her blanket on the floor, too weak and tired to even "enh" at me as I came in. I scratched her ears and petted her little head. When I picked her up to go, she was at least five pounds lighter. She was done. We wrapped her in a blanket and I held her in the car for the drive to the Humane Society. While Mom was inside filling out papers, Dad and I sat in the car with her on my lap and I got her to relax and purr one last time. Then the vet lady came out and Mom went in with her. She said it was easy and peaceful and she sang to her while she went to sleep. The lady there thanked us for giving her such a good home.

We loved her very much. Goodbye, Maggie. We'll miss you.

Katie
03:03 PM 10/29/2007 - Permalink

CUE THE FANFARE

I just added a brand new section to this here website: a place for games, videos, and other things that I think are cool but don't really have a place for elsewhere. I call it "Diversion." It had a working title of "Happy Fun," but I decided that it was a tad limiting. I might eventually have stuff in there that is neither happy nor fun, and let's face it: that title would just be ridiculous. So I decided to go with "Diversion" because, well, that's generally where the bulk of my own time on the Internet is spent. Diverting my attention from other things I should be doing. And thanks to Google Gadgets, I can embed neato little things right into my own site, like Pac-Man; a beloved classic game which I have discovered I am hopelessly terrible at playing.
So go ahead and take the new section for a spin. Let me know what you think, e-mail, yaplet, whatever. Are there any must-have games, videos, or other cool stuff that I should add?

Katie
2:45 PM 09/26/2007 - Permalink

BIRDS ARE INTELLIGENT (AND WEIRD)

This story was on Google News this morning. I had no idea birds could be so intelligent. I mean, I heard something about crows and problem-solving, but apparently this parrot Alex had the intellect of a 5-year-old. Unfortunately, he just died young for some reason, which is what the article was discussing. Anyway, the research these scientists were doing was pretty cool. Check it out.

By the way, you also need to head over to Marc's site to see a sweet video of some amazing Transformer costumes (they actually transform! whee!).

Katie
>09:15 AM 09/11/2007 - Permalink

UGH...

I'm at work. This is so not Guitar Hero.

Katie
11:35 AM 09/10/2007 - Permalink

TERRIBLY INTERESTING

I came across this video while driving my truck around the Intertubes this morning, so I stopped and picked it up. The facts are terribly interesting, and I personally find them somewhat disturbing. Anyway, watch it for yourself:

Did You Know?

Katie
10:17 AM 08/27/2007 - Permalink

NEW GALLERY PAGE

Heya. I just put a little mini-gallery of photos from Monday night's excursion to the Lynden Fair (or "Northwest Washington Fair" if you're picky about names). Simone and Grant came up and we all went to the Demolition Derby. We go every year because it marks the anniversary of when me met. So as of Monday, we've been best friends for six years. Well, five and three-quarters. We've known each other for six years. But anyway, check out the pictures. I rearranged the Gallery main page a bit, too. I like it much better now.

Katie
11:17 AM 08/17/2007 - Permalink

GASP! SOMETHING IN THE PROJECTS PAGE!

Well, I finally have something ready for my poor neglected 'Projects' page. Though I must admit, I can't really decide if it should be a project page or a gallery album. I opted for Projects because it took so long to do, unlike just snapping a photo here and there. Anyway, it's a behind-the-scenes look at a very special, very awesome graduation card my roommate Tegan and I made for our friend, Erik. I put it together in a comic book style (which took forever, so you better love it). And yes, I am going to make you click 'Projects' on the menu bar to get to it. Because I'm lazy, it's my website, and I do what I want. So there.

Katie
4:35 PM 08/03/2007 - Permalink

SPOCK, BONES, AND UH... RODRIGUEZ: YOU'RE ON MY AWAY TEAM

Somebody posted this link in the comments on Wil Wheaton's blog. It's an analysis of the Red Shirt Phenomenon on Star Trek. It's really quite hilarious and interesting. It certainly renews my desire to buy this shirt. Enjoy.

Katie
10:20 AM 08/02/2007 - Permalink

NEW HEADER

So I have a new header image up there. I'm still not quite sure what I think about it. On the one hand, I love that picture, and it was super fun to make the beat up X-wing looking text and I like very much how that part turned out. On the other hand, it's very dark. Black, even. I think it makes the site look a little... dismal. I think the solution to my header image/color scheme indecision is to make some sort of randomizer for them, kind of like the main page at Homestar Runner. That way, I can use tons of different ones instead of picking just one. Indecision enabled. Then it's fun for visitors, too, because you never know what you're going to get.
Whoo exciting! Eventually, I'll move into making katiedurham.com Collectible Header Image Trading Cards™ and make millions. Or perhaps even a katiedurham.com Collectible Header Image Trading Card Game™ for the kids (more millions). Then merchandizing, lunch boxes, etc... then the online version of the game. Pretty much all of it.
Anyway, I have a new header image. For now.

Katie
3:51PM 07/02/2007 - Permalink