DarkWolf here, filling in for DPW today...

Brainless Coworkers

Tuesday I come in to work, and the other person in the cube with me starts telling me about how he started playing Counterstrike again the previous night. Wow, neat. So he's going in detail about how he camps in dark hallways with his nightvision, and double barreled shotgun, and when someone walks by him, he comes up behind them and blasts 'em. Wow, great. His handle is Lord_Pagan, or something like that... so if you see him, make sure to frag him for me, and tell him that was from DarkWolf. Anyway, he then asks me if I play, to which I reply "No." Because I don't. I don't really have that much time to play games anymore... which sucks, because I do so enjoy them. Thinking that's the end of things, I go on with my day.

Wednesday I come in, and guess what? He goes on about his Counterstrike missions last night, and begins again to describe to me how he plays. He then asks me... if I play. Ummm... didn't I just say "No." yesterday? Did you think it was going to change overnight or something? So I again say "No." and think this is the end of his questioning.

Thursday rolls around. Again. In detail. Thanks... I already know. And then... heh... and then... HAHAHA... and then he asks me... "Do you play Counterstrike?". BWAHAHAHA!!!!

There's something wrong with his brain, I'm sure of it. Nobody can be that dense... can they? I mean, I've already told him "No." twice... why the hell would he ask me a third time? Explain that to me.

- DW

DarkWolf again... fear not weary travelers... DPW will be back shortly.

Popcorn

Here's a topic of much disgust for me lately. Solely due to my experiences at work, mind you.

Ok... on the package, it says, pretty frick'n plain and clear... place in microwave for 3 - 5 minutes, watching, and remove bag once pops are 3 - 5 seconds apart. No where does it say "throw it in the microwave for 5 minutes, and go back to your desk to take more calls, letting the popcorn burn to a frick'n crisp, and letting that putrid smell permeate the building."

Jesus Christ! It's nauseating. Why can't people just follow simple directions?

- DW

Day 3 of my substitution...

Pop-Up Ads

Pop up windows, ads, auto installers... all in the name of marketing. Whatever happened to just the plain old banner adds? You know? They were unobtrusive. They weren't annoying as hell. They didn't kill your system because they could all be displayed
in the same browser window, rather than opening fifty gazillion instances of the browser. Jesus Christ.

Internet marketing has gotten WAY out of hand. Gone are the simple days of a small little graphic strip... which gave way to the animated gif... which gave way to java... which has given way to Flash. And now the trend is pop-up windows. Now, pop-up windows are just fine if you click on something and the window pops up containing the content for which you clicked the link. I'm cool with that. I frick'n hate going to a website, and having 6 other browser windows open up, loading up advertising automatically. My connection is slow enough at 28.8... I don't need graphic laden 640x480 flash presentations loading up in a pop-up window... UNLESS I FREAKING CHOOSE TO OPEN IT!

Advertising pays the bills. I know. It's a necessary evil. But when it gets to the point where you want to rip your hair out in
frustration... it can't be good.

- DW

Hey! It's-a me, DarkWolf!

The three most annoying typing schemes are as follows:

The Shouter: I THINK I'M COOL ENOUGH THAT I NEED TO SHOUT EVERYTHING I SAY! NEVERMIND THAT EVERYONE THINKS I'M A LOSER BECAUSE I CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO TURN OFF THE CAPSLOCK KEY, NOR CAN I COMPREHEND THE PROPER USAGE OF THE SHIFT KEY!

... which is not as annoying as our next specimen ...

The Wanna be Hacker: I TiHiNk I'm CoOl BeCaUsE i LiKe To WaStE 10 mInUtE's TrYiNg To FiGuRe OuT wHiCh LeTtEr To CaPiTaLiZe NeXt. I ToO cAnNoT cOmPrEhEnD tHe PrOpEr UsAgE oF tHe ShIfT kEy!

... and neither of which are anywhere NEAR as annoying as our final specimen ...

The Hax0r (or dillusional teen who thinks he's some elite hacker because he writes so cryptically, that not only does it take 10 minutes to write one sentance, it also takes 10 minutes to decipher that sentance): | +h||\||< |'m c00l b3c4u$3 | \/\/r|+3 3\/3ry+h||\|9 ||\| l33+ h4x0r c0d3! Ph34r |\/|3! |+'$ +00 b4d 3\/3ry0|\|3 +h||\||<$ |'|\/| 4 l0$3r, |f 0|\|ly +h3y c0uld b3 4$ c00l 4$ |\/|3, +h3y'd b3 \/\/r|+||\|9 ||\| l33+ h4x0r c0d3 +00! Ph34r |\/|3!

Translation for the Non leet hax0r types:I think I'm cool because I write everything in leet hacker code! Fear me! It's too bad everyone thinks I'm a loser, if only they could be as cool as me, they'd be writing in leet hacker code too! Fear me!

- DW

Guess who?

Man, this is turning into DarkWolf's Guest Thoughts week.

Winter driving in Texas.

Fear for your life, if you live in Texas during the winter months. I don't know what it is, but it must be something in the genetic coding that Texans CANNOT drive when the road is even remotely not dry. And this, coming from the mouth... or hands... of a native born and raised Texan. I'll be the first to point the finger at the morons in this state who can not drive. It's like precipitation triggers the dyslexic bipolar disorder that lies dormant in Texas drivers. These people simply abandon everything they were taught in drivers education (presuming most of them even went to drivers education...). They drive faster than is safe when the roads are potentially icy, and when their car gets a little squirrely on a patch of ice... instead of taking their foot off the gas, and coasting through it, trying to keep the nose pointed forward... they slam on their brakes and launch into an uncontrollable slide. Until hitting the wall, or the median, or the curb... or another car. Then they get pissed off because "THE DAMN ROADS ARE A BITCH!" ... not because they were a complete moron... that's not why they got in an accident. It's the roads fault.

- DW

Yup, me again...

December 1st! Holy Crap! Where the hell did this year go?

That's right folks. Only one more month of 2001. Another year wasted away not doing what you love doing. Well... me at least. I'm finally getting back into doing what I love doing... but it's taken me almost 3 years to get up the motivation to do so. Funny how when you work somewhere that you hate with a passion... how all your ideals and ambitions are just sucked out of you. I made my 2001 resolution to get back into doing what I love doing... graphic design, web design, animation... drawing... art in general... and it took me 6 months to even start. It's been a slow process, and it's still ongoing. I'm nowhere near where I was 3 1/2 years ago. But I'm getting there. Maybe this next year will prove to be a very fruitful year... new job... and a renewed creative drive that I've been lacking the past few years.

I'll drink to that!

- DW

Maybe this is the last one! Maybe...

Can I get an AMEN?!

I'm a sucker for religious debates. I don't know why... I'm just drawn to them like a moth to the flame. I ... I can't help it. It's a sickness, for sure. I just wrapped one up on one site... and I turn around and find myself involved in another one on another site. Holy Christ! There's something wrong with me. This stuff is like digital crack. Screw video games and porn... it's all about the religious debates baby!

You do know that a new catagory of pathetic was created just for me, right? Yes, it is true.

- DW