Rory's Journal

Has anyone tried to use the new web browser Firefox? If your wondering what a web browser is specifically, it's what Internet Explorer is. Basically, Firefox is a competitor to Internet Explorer. Firefox is free, first of all, which makes it that much better. It's also more secure and keeps crap from the internet from infecting you, such as popup windows and installing ActiveX agents as toolbars and privacy sniffers. Those are bad things if you don't know. The thing is, Internet Explorer allows these things to be installed on your computer whether you like it or not! Unless you set your security settings so high you can't surf the internet anymore. Firefox still makes everything easy and security is tight with it. I've never had a problem. So, if you want to protect your security and stop spyware, then install Firefox and give it a try since it's free. You can find it at Mozilla Foundation's Website.

Some of you may not know that I am a manager at GameStop here in town. Today during my usual period of drooling on myself a couple of guys walked in looking about in there late 30's. They calmly walked around the front of the store and looked at a few of the items, then proceeded into the back where we have our top titles. When one of them stopped at the section he was interested in he promptly let out a "boom" sound effect that you would normally hear from a little kid. Don't laugh yet. I talked to these guys a little bit later and they are two mature and intelligent people. Now you can laugh. The fact that these two normal, smart adults came in and one of them made a "boom" sound just goes to show you that we are all young at heart. I love to see that. It shows me that these guys aren't afraid to have fun and still be "a bunch of guys" like they were in college. Now, you might be asking if I make those sounds when I see a game I like. My answer is: "No, I prefer to make sword swinging sounds."

We are taking care of a cat for some friends right now. This cat has what most kittens have: Angry Cat Syndrome. The kitten will be really calm and then all of sudden it attacks your foot or back, coming out of nowhere and latching on to appendage or clothing. It took me almost the whole first day to realize that the cat seems to be teething. Can cats teeth? Well, it seems like it. The thing is a vicious monster at times. I want a cat, but I think I want one that has just come out of it's kitten years. Hmm, that's funny. I feel the same way about children.

So, I've decided to accept this job that offers me an Assistant Manager position. The only problem is that I have to compete with another guy that wants it, too. The idea is that we will both work for the position and the one that can motivate the people we work with to get the best sales numbers or stats will get the job. I don't like competition. It makes me feel like I've already lost. I think this comes from High School. I blame the public school system for not stopping the people I grew up with from making me feel inadequate. Well, ok, it's not that. It's more like I think that I have enough background at this place already to just step into the position. But, it's all up to the "Holy District Manager" and his evil entourage of corporate flying monkeys. "I'll get you Rory! And your little blog, too!! Ehehehehehehehehe!!!"

I've realized that letting go of things that happen in our life is tough. There are things that happen to us that we never forget or get over. And most of them probably happen young, before you even know how to deal with it. I remember borrowing my parents car to drive to a town almost two hundred miles away, just to see a girl I loved. I think the times I spent on that road, traveling somewhere, were a powerful reality of what life is in general. A journey. Everything we do in life is meant to be a journey. A trip to achieve greatness, a trip to save your life or another's, even a trip to buy food. This perspective is something we have all lost for our lives. We have become corporate thinkers. We have to have jobs to perform in life and in the process of getting that job we lose site of the "us" that is the key in life. It's only in the later years of retirement that we regain that perspective on ourselves. When we no longer have to fight our own need to be part of a working social order that we can take the time we should have long ago to actually live life, and make that journey that we couldn't before. If you are worried about money being an issue then there is a real problem there. Money indeed hinders us from doing many things, but it will never stop you from making the journey you started when you were younger. As children we start to see what we want to do, all the "magic" that you stop believing in is more important than any corporation you will ever work for because that is the very spark of your imagination and life. Don't stop dreaming. Just like my trip on that long highway road, the feeling I had that drove not only the car, but me as well, you should never let go of that. I will always remember my time at Finley Point, even in the darkness of my days when it will seem more like a fairy tale then something I once did. Always.

We are entering into an age when energy consumption and energy expense are starting to be problematic. I just paid $32 for a tank of gas which I feel is an insane thing to have to do. So, in the spirit of thought and trying to fix things myself I have come up with the answer to all our energy needs. Buttered Cat Perpetual Motion Engine. Say it with me. We take a cat and tie a piece of toast to the back of it, buttered side up. Then we launch it into low earth orbit with wires situated all around the space craft and the cat. After you release the cat it will spin around and around as physics tries to make the cat land feet down and the buttered toast land buttered side up. Trust me and think about it, it works!