.: July 23rd, 2009 :.
I saw Journey and Heart at Red Rocks the other night. I was 16 all over again and loved it! THANK YOU FRANK for a wonderful time!


So my mom asked me for the layman's version of how to understand your computer. I forget how long I have been using this as a tutorial, but it seems to help her understand what is important when looking for a new computer. So I thought I would share it with you. Feel free to copy or send this to any seasoned folks you think needs it. :wink: OH! If you want to add to this, feel free to use the contact link at the top and let me know your version.

Cheers!
Victoria


Your Desktop

Operating System / Windows XP = Your home builder or construction company. Never purchase from a new construction company. Always purchase tried and true builders.
- Fun fact: My first computer was a Windows 95... and we got it in 1994!

Hard drive = Your kitchen cabinets and how many you have to hold stuff.
- 250 gigabytes or "gigs" is good to have.
- Fun fact: My first computer had 2 gigs on it, and I was the bomb!

Memory / Ram = How big your kitchen table is. The bigger the kitchen table, the more stuff you can have on it.
- 2048 Megabytes or "megs" is what I have.
- Fun fact: 256 kilobytes was pretty much the norm about 10 years ago.

CPU or processor = How quickly and efficiently you can pull stuff out of the cabinets and work with them.
- 2.00 gigahertz or "hertz" is what I have.
- Note: Some processors are a dual core. This is a good thing. From what I can gather, this would be like having two of you pulling stuff out of your cabinets and working with your programs simultaneously rather than just one of you pulling stuff out and working with it. I have a dual core with the description of "256 kilobyte primary memory cache and 1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache".


Toys or appliances in your kitchen

CD drives = There are cd drives and dvd drives for playing cd's and dvd movies. You want to be sure to get a writable cd drive so that you can burn cds. MOST computers these days have cdw or dvd writable. I am unsure of the exact jargon for it though.

Display / Video Card = Your video card which displays your programs nicely. A normal video card would show the trees waving in the wind. A super good video card ALSO shows the leaves waving in the wind. I have a Radeon X1600 and it shows me wonderful things in my game. If you are not a gamer like me though, I highly doubt a special video card will matter to you.

USB = Added plugins on your computer. The tiny picture above this slot on your computer looks like a tree branch. This allows you to plug in your memory card from your camera, a plug from your ipod, or perhaps your newfangled mouse. Very nice to have, but not a must have.

The Internet = Going to the city. Some folks use a limo with all the fancy stuff inside it to get a ride to the city, others drive a cab to get there. Either way, you are going to the city. It just depends on how fancy you want to make the trip. Some use the limo with AOL and I use the cab with IE.

.: February 14th, 2009 :. To Frank; my love,

Today I will have been married to you for 16 years. How can I begin to express how deeply find myself in love with you. Someone once said that Love is friendship set on fire. Our friendship burns brighter than the sun on an August day. Even in slumber I yearn to crawl under your skin to feel the fullness of your warmth and love. Every thought of you is filled with a completeness that can not be described.

How shall I hold my soul that it may not be touching yours? It cannot be, for without you there is no me. When we first met, my heart was closed upon itself, crying, weeping for the loss of faith in what love could have brought. You came to me in the nick of time, showing me that there WAS a true love to be found. It only needed to show itself at the perfect moment. And in that moment, that small moment that I discovered true love.

Through a single glance my heart was cemented to yours forever more. Never did anyone know such tenderness, such sweet rapture than I. Could you possibly know what I feel each time you speak my name? Could you ever feel the joy that your breath brings to my skin? Will you ever truly comprehend the way my body murmurs at the mere whisper of your smile? It is impossible to express how you touch me in body and soul. Every day you show me in the small things that I am cherished and loved beyond any human measure, and for that I would follow you through the gates of hell and beyond.

What did I do to deserve such a man as you? Was it by the many prayers I sent to the clouds above asking for a companion, a husband who truly would understand me? Truly my prayers for a real companion were answered with you. My faith lies with the belief that God himself desired a true love to happen through us. By his decree, his Angels brought us together to meet and learn from each other, to grow, to live, to learn, to develop together. To love each other in perfect submission.

How can I possibly express my gratitude for what I have been given in you. Your friendship shares the day to day joys that I could not plan in the most perfect movie. Your nights are a delicious chocolate to discover, and your mornings snuggles my heart like a new teddy bear.

To the most wonderful husband in the world... Frank, I thank God every day that he chose YOU to be the instrument of my happiness in life. We are not rich in coin, but wealthy in love. We do not have possessions to brag of, but possessing your love; I guard with a fierce heart. Frank my love, on our 16th wedding anniversary, happy Valentines day, happy Anniversary.

For now and always your wife,

Victoria

.: January 20th, 2009 :. There appears to be a ray of hope with Nathan and dealing with his ADHD. You see, it is a problem because as long as he is taking the medication, he has no appetite. The doctors all say that his weight is still within range of a normal healthy boy, but I am scared with the way he is looking. Skin and bones. Dinner time is always a struggle.

As you know, Nathan my 11 year old has ADHD. Now as Isaac reaches 4 1/2, I am finding he is starting to exhibit the same out of control ADHD behavior that Nathan did when he was his age. As you can guess, it is truly concerning me. Enough to where I will try anything to help my children. This leads me to a recipe that was given to me by a friend of a friend type thing. A recipe for a tea. Yes, an alternative to medication the child for ADHD would be to give them some tea. According to the instructions, I am to give the tea to Nathan 3 times a day and it will naturally help him with his ADHD without the medication. I had been giving it to him over his Christmas vacation, and I may be wrong but it does seem to help him. Then again it could just be a placebo hope I am experiencing. The true test is to find out how he is in school while taking tea rather than his medication. We shall see. But I am praying it will help so that he can get his appetite back and start eating again. At any rate, here is the recipe. I recommend anyone dealing with ADHD children to take a quick stop to a vitamin cottage or other herb grocery store to try it out.

2 parts Chamomile
2 parts Oatstraw
2 parts Nettles
1 part Scullcap
1 part Lemonbalm
1 part catnip
1 part Linden (it is a flower)
1 PINCH Stevia

Use 1 Tablespoon of mixed herbs per 1 cup of water and steep for 20 minutes to overnight. Drink 3 cups per day and make fresh daily. One other thing is to take 1 - 2 teaspoons of fish oil per day. Think of it as keeping the brain moist and well oiled as we all know fish oil helps brain activity. Right now Nathan is taking it as a liquid, but due to the horrible taste I am going to see if I can get it in pill form next time we need to get more. I am unsure if it makes a difference... the original recipe paper only says "Fish Oil ~ try vitamin cottage for flavored liquid" :shrug:

Victoria
.: December 31st, 2008 :. Today I reflect on my year. As with any other ordinary year, there were bumps and bruises along the way. Some a bit painful and others a lot painful. Some things to make me and my loved ones stronger, others I am not sure we will get over so easily. One thing remains in all this. God is still in control and continues to teach us about ourselves. Sometimes the lessons are new lessons, sometimes they are old lessons needing to be learned again.

You know, I continuously tell my children that life is not about getting to the end goal. Life is how you get there and what your character becomes as you make choices. I learned something disturbing about myself recently. In all my proud behavior, I fooled myself into thinking that I deserved what I had. Not that I am nothing, but that my attitude had shifted. With that, I put burdens on others that should not have been put there. Is it any wonder that when push came to shove, they didn't do what I would have done had I been in their shoes? If I had been given the same problem, it appears I might have compromised my character in order to ensure I didn't loose my friends. Yet I still feel anger towards them even though they did not compromise. I am supposed to be the Christian doing the right thing, yet it appears I needed to go back and learn some of the "basics" again. Anyway, that is my burden to take care of in 2009. Cuz once I think I got it, God will be sure to send a test to make sure the lesson has been learned properly. Why do I know that? Because it is the same tactic I apply to MY kids! LOL!

Here is to a great new year for 2009! Hope still lives in me through Jesus Christ my Lord!

Victoria
.: November 30th, 2008 :. The Black Mesa mod that I am involved with released some pretty awesome media and trailer today. See the trailer here. I am feeling pretty proud of being a part of the mod.

On a more personal note, I am currently on the market for a new job. My background is Account Development Manager and Training and Development Manager. Email me any networking or leads you may have and I will be your friend forever! ;) mail at catzeyes93 dot com. Thanks!
.: October 8th, 2008 :. OK, I got sick of coding thumbnail gallaries, so I am testing out how Picasa / Google albums work. The links found in the above dropdown "My family" bring you to the gallary, but I am concidering changing that up a bit. Not sure if I need to force it to open a new browser or if I should continue with the standard "Open in this window" frame. Anyway.. email me your opinions. mail at catzeyes93 dot com. Oh... and the guestbook is back up. Please sign in so that it doesnt look so bare!
Cheers! =-)
.: June 8th, 2008 :. Not much going on right now but I wanted to give a big shout out of thanks to Marden on gamernode for updating my buttons on my home page for me. You see it was kindly pointed out to me that the "webcam" button was misleading. So.. I wanted to change it to webcams but couldnt remember how I did the font and style and shade and all that. So Marden took care of it for me. THANK YOU BUDDY! Also, I had some updates to do to my voice acting resume below so I took this opportunity to add info on the Human Error mod. Check them out and support your modders!
Cheers! =-)
.: May 6th, 2008 :. So I guess it is time for an update. I guess you could consider this a rather big update cuz of how drastic it is. Anyone who knows me knows I have had long hair forEVer. As in, I have had the same hairdo since I was 16. Long with bangs. Well, I cut it. It is shorter now. Frank is not happy but I am. I will probably be trying out different versions of shoulder length hair but I highly doubt I will ever go back to waist length again. Sorry baby... it was just time to grow up.

Oh..also I got promoted at work, that is something important to report right? Well, actually, it wasnt really a "promotion" but just me being creative. You see, I wasn't really impressed with the 1% raise I got this year, so I had to be creative in how to get the raise I know I deserve. So I applied for a position within the company that pays more, is a step up in the world of business, is hard to find good candidates for, and would get me out of this training manager position that somehow I have pigeon holed myself into. Other than that, I guess there is nothing much to report. Oh, kids are fine, Frank is super happy with his new job and life is going to be a big blessing this year. THANK YOU GOD!!!! Cheers!
.: January 18th, 2008 :. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! Ya know, I learned something reciently that perhaps others might find useful. You see, I update my site on a somewhat regular basis. But I do it all through FTP. Problem is, IE7 and FTP dont always mix very well. Plus, I personally like to keep a shortcut on my desktop for accessing the FTP. So here is a tip for others that would like an easy FTP shortcut on your desktop.
  • On your desktop, right click and then select "New" then select "Shortcut".
  • Where it has a text box labeled "Type the location of the item" insert this "explorer ftp://username:password@domainname.com" Click "Next"
  • The next screen says "Type a name for this shortcut" Insert the name of your shortcut "My FTP" then click "Finish"
    Bingo! and ftp shortcut!

    Cheers to ya!
    • .: November 8th, 2007 :. So there have been some changes here and there on my website, tweeks on the site, blurbs added, pages added and such. Some are readily available in links area, others are just simply there as a holder. Such as my latest issues with my web host start logic that could otherwise be concidered comical. One page I did reciently that some may find interesting and fun is the TF2 Costumes page. Anyway... Not all of the pages are valuable or even facinating, but some may find them quirky, unpredictable, or interesting enough to check out once in a while. Others you find may be prizes or other cherished items. Whatever the case is, you never know what you will find on the internet. Some folks like to listen to quirky sounds on the internet, other folks make music, some good some bad. In the end it is just another information highway that is nothing to be scared about. Just as long as you eat cake. =-) ~MeOw~

    Also, in case ya'll missed it on the black mesa page, I have been doing some side voice over work for not just Black Mesa, but other projects that are out there.

    Voice Over Projects:
    Black Mesa: Source
    ----- Creators: Black Mesa Dev Team
    ----- Subject: A Half-Life 2 total conversion remaking VALVe Software's award-winning PC game, Half-Life.
    ----- Role: Announcement system

    Human Error
    ----- Creator: Au-heppa
    ----- Subject: In Human Error, become part of a small Civil Protection team that is pitted against the remains of the Xenian forces, who are making a last ditch effort to escape Earth. Utilize a variety of new tools such as controllable manhacks, as well as using new vehicles such as the APC.
    ----- Role: Alien Controller

    Cthulhu Mythos: Lost in the Darkness
    ----- Creator: James Tingle Creator / Project lead
    ----- Subject: A hard-boiled detective movie in a game form. Play the role of a 1920s detective in a fictional New-England city investigating a corrupt mayor.
    ----- Role: Innocent (?) Dame

    Half Life: The Portal Storms Trailer
    ----- Creator: Jon "I sure hope I'm not known as Psyborg for the rest of my life" Phillips.
    ----- Subject: Movie adaptation of the Half Life video game universe, set shortly after the events of the original game as Portal Storms sweep the Earth.
    ----- Role: News Anchor

    Windows Sound Theme by: El
    ----- Creators: Aaron Clark
    ----- Subject: A few files put together by request of El..
    ----- Role: Windows system voice


    Support your modders by checking out the sites!

    Catcha later! Cheers!
    Victoria

    .: June 14th, 2007 :. Sersoft is now my new bestest friend in the whole wide world! I put out an SOS to some folks on some forums saying I needed a new flash banner, and I quote "Sersoft delivers!" I know I was rather a pain to the guys, but it was somethign that was really bugging me. Thanks again Sersoft. I really appreciate it!
    .: May 1st, 2007 :. I just noticed that my news has not been updated recently so I thought I would drop in. To my utter joy, I recently was accepted as a voice actor for the Half Life 2 Mod called “Black Mesa”. You may have seen a bit of information under my “Valve” dropdown box up above, but what is not truly apparent is how much of a fan I am of this project. A bunch of genius kids got together and decided to remake the original Half Life game in the new Source engine originally built for the Half Life 2 game. While there is no official word from Valve about what this excellent team is doing, after winning a few awards around the internet Valve has offered a “nod” of approval our way. My involvement comes in the form that I have officially been assigned the voice of the Black Mesa Transit System voice as well as the Hazard Course voice. Since its inception back when Black Mesa was part of Leak Free a couple of years ago, I have been patiently awaiting the moment I could submit an application. (Go to Black Mesa in the valve dropdown and you will hear my application voiceover) So for me to wind up becoming a part of the team… well… it is just so awesome I can’t describe it. Till next time... Victoria
    .: January 18th, 2007 :. GEEWIZZ it is cold here! Wow... record breaking snow and windchills that rival good ol' ChiCAgo! Anyway... I gave up on the multi color thing cuz it was just too much work. I also found out that my calendar is not going to work for too much longer, so it may get wiped from my page. I am still debating the value of having it, but hey.. how else do you see what you want on your site if you dont put it up there and see what becomes of it. :::shrug::: So right now I am going to be working on my mom's website Cordially Invited by Elizabeth cuz the gal that set it up was a noob. I am green as far as html but even *I* know that site was pretty basic. Anyway.. so I dont anticipate doing to much around here for now. Then again, if I see something cool someplace else, I might impliment it. So do you like the transition to the site? Hate it? Love it? Leave a note for me! Catcha round!
    .: October 16th, 2006 :. Saw a webcam on Brian's website and thought to myself, "Ya know... I bet I could do that!" I may have done it wrong, and some of the links might get old and need a refresh once in a while, but so far it looks like it is working rather nice! Notice the new button "WebCams" to the left. Click and take a look at the webcams that are set up around the state. One of them (19th and Blake) is set up RIGHT outside my work door. So I bet if I stood there for like 5 minutes, I could get a pic in waiving to my family! LOL!

    Also, my next project is setting up different color schemes for the site. That way you can click what button colors you want. It is stupid, I know. But I wanna do it. Cheers!
    .: October 6th, 2006 :. So you made it. You found me. As you can see by looking around, I have made a couple of changes. I may have liked my old site with all the cute pictures and awesome colored background, but quite honestly I was getting tired of the "old school" site and decided to update it. It has been years since I last did an update, so I was due for one.

    Also, as you can see the hosting has changed. For many years I had a free website set up with Anglefire but as you may know, that freebee site meant we had to put up with banners at the top. I also had to use a redirect capability to get people to actually find the site without having to type in a humongus url (You may remember http://pop.to/catz) which also caused additional banners/pop ups. (grrr!)

    Well, as a result of attempting to make some files downloadable on my site, Angelfire slapped my hand and said it wasn't allowed. It got me thinking... just because I was with Angelfire for a good portion of 10 years doesn't mean they are the only free hosting sites out there. So when I started to grumble here and there, a good friend by the name of "Flakk" over at [DAD] clan told me about Clans.net which offers free site hosting.

    I thought I hit the jackpot! That is until I found out they had some limitations as well. 1. ZERO support 2. Can't play music on the site (I MUST have my "Love on a real train" music!) 3. No download capability. Well crap... that was the main reason why I left Angelfire! Anyway, the short of it is, I found I didn't care for them either, so I finally caved and actually PAID for my hosting.

    I have to say I am extreamly happy with the service I have been getting from Start Logic and I anticipate I will be a customer for a long time. Great tech support, great features, and all the bandwidth I could ever hope for.

    So again, I am glad you were able to find me and I thank you for coming. I still have lots of updates to make but feel free to poke around, drop me an email or sign my guestbook while I work on getting the pages up and running with updates.

    By the way, from what I hear there are a couple of things on my site that Fire Fox doesn't like. However, I happen to have become rather attached to my kewl dropdown menus, flashy image and navigation. So for those of you that use Firefox and you are having a hard time... for the time being... tough cookies. Either switch over to IE, update your plugins or perhaps visit another time. I will eventually get an "anti-flash" site up, but quite honestly it is at the bottom of my list of things to do right now.

    CHEERS! Victoria