UPDATE 03/14/2010: Due to the large amount of posts to the item drought thread, earlier posts have been deleted. Anyone suffering from the same issue should click on the “I’m having this problem too” link and post a comment.

It’s been almost 2 weeks now since a Gowalla user posted about an issue on their support site at GetSatisfaction.com about the lack of bonus items dropping when checking into spots. Since that first post, Gowalla marked it as “Not a problem” yet more and more people are adding replies to the post about having the exact same issue, including me. The issue has quickly been labeled as the “Item Drought”.

I stumbled upon Gowalla back in the late summer/early fall of 2009 and quickly got addicted to it. I used it all the time, creating new spots in my spotless area and got others to start using the app. I was in love with Gowalla. I loved the fact that it had items to find and collect and I got addicted to finding the new bonus items. Then all of the sudden no bonus items were appearing.

Gowalla users have been getting quite upset and frustrated due to the lack of response from Gowalla until yesterday when a Gowalla employee finally responded. Some users where relieved that Gowalla had finally said something, although for some what was said didn’t make much sense. And with 2 new updates released this week for the iPhone, the issue was still there. I, for one, was hoping that the new updates would fix the issue. Sadly, I was disappointed that they had not. The issue isn’t related to the iPhone app alone, Android and Palm users are also experiencing this problem.

Last week Gowalla tweeted that the “item drought was over”, but it wasn’t and that tweet was eventually deleted when users continued to inform Gowalla that it wasn’t.

With the world’s attention now on SXSW (South By South West), thousands of people have flocked to Austin, Texas to partake in the interactive, film, and music parts of the conference that started today, including Gowalla. A lot of their recent changes where in preparation for SXSW, like the redesigned web site and smartphone apps. They quickly got a semi-working Android version and a WebOS (Palm) version recently to add to their original iPhone app.

One thing that has pissed off a few more Gowalla users is that a Gowalla employee said that we should have “Patience while we work (really hard) on your free app, please!” I was a bit ticked at that comment as were a few others that stated if it wasn’t for all of us Gowalla users that their app would be nothing without all of the data that we’ve been supplying them.

Some users are starting to believe that the issue has continued due to a glitch on Monday when many spots suddenly disappeared. Spots that did not go missing seem to be dropping items, while spots that went missing and new spots are not dropping any bonus items. I plan on testing this out, if possible.

So far, it seems no one at SXSW are having issues with finding the new items that are only at SXSW. Gowalla did release four new bonus items for everyone last night, but how can we find them when there are no bonus items dropping for many people? That is what is pissing me off. I’m no longer interested in using Gowalla, as are other users. Without the bonus items, Gowalla is just like Loopt, Brightkite, and Foursquare, and other users are saying the same thing. They’re removing Gowalla from their iPhone’s first home screen or deleting the app altogether until the issue is resolved. Some users think that we won’t see anything fixed until SXSW Interactive is over and for some Gowalla addicts that is too long of a wait. And I’m trying to wait and be patient. ARGH…

The Empty Pack: 20+ Check-ins, 13 days, ZERO bonus items thread at GetSatisfaction.com/Gowalla.

                          

Nothing instills faith and trust in your local police department than being accused of staging a break-in into your own house on a Monday night (a work night) 1.5 years ago.

                          

1. Is it good if a vacuum really sucks?

2. Why is the third hand on the watch called the second hand?

3. If a word is misspelled in the dictionary, how would we ever know?

4. If Webster wrote the first dictionary, where did he find the words?

5. Why do we say something is out of whack? What is a whack?

6. Why does “slow down” and “slow up” mean the same thing?

7. Why does “fat chance” and “slim chance” mean the same thing?

8. Why do “tug” boats push their barges?

9. Why do we sing “Take me out to the ball game” when we are already there?

10. Why are they called “stands” when they are made for sitting?

11. Why is it called “after dark” when it really is “after light”?

12. Doesn’t “expecting the unexpected” make the unexpected expected?

13. Why are a “wise man” and a “wise guy” opposites?

14. Why do “overlook” and “oversee” mean opposite things?

15. Why is “phonics” not spelled the way it sounds?

16. If work is so terrific, why do they have to pay you to do it?

17. If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?

18. If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?

19. If you are cross-eyed and have dyslexia, can you read all right?

20. Why is bra singular and panties plural?

21. Why do you press harder on the buttons of a remote control when you know the batteries are dead?

22. Why do we put suits in garment bags and garments in a suitcase?

23. How come abbreviated is such a long word?

24. Why do we wash bath towels? Aren’t we clean when we use them?

25. Why doesn’t glue stick to the inside of the bottle?

26. Why do they call it a TV set when you only have one?

27. Christmas – What other time of the year do you sit in front of a dead tree and eat candy out of your socks?

28. Why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?

                          

Dear spammers,

All comments to any posts here on my site are moderated. I have to approve them before they are public. There is no fucking way in hell that your comments will ever get approved. They’re all marked as spam. You are wasting your time and my time by posting your fucking shit garbage that no one will ever see. So please, stop posting your fucking shitty spam comments on my blog.

Thank you and go fuck yourselves.

The_BORG

                          

So, I’m driving home from work. Leaving the parking lot and I come to a stop sign so I stop. Across the intersection at this 4 way stop sign a pedestrian is starting to cross the road. A car comes to the intersection to my right and stops. The driver motions for me to go. I motion to him that there’s a pedestrian walking across my path and if he doesn’t want me to hit them, I’m going to wait for the pedestrian to cross. That other driver was a fucking moron!

Next intersection: I’m still in the parking lot of where I work. I come to a 1 way stop sign at a T-shaped intersection of the main road. The straight away I want to turn onto does not have a stop sign in either direction. Two cars are approaching from my right. Just before the intersection on the straight away, there is a speed bump with a sign that says “SPEED BUMP”. The first car stops and the driver motions for me to go. The sign says “SPEED BUMP” not “STOP”. I motion for the driver that HE has the right of way. He drives through, maybe thinking I’m an idiot. Second drives pulls up now, stops, and motions for me to go. WHAT THE FUCK PEOPLE? Are you fucking stupid??? YOU HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY. Don’t you remember ANYTHING from Drivers’ Education in school???

I can understanding that drivers are nice to other drivers most of the time, but there is still something called the “Right of Way” that are basic rules for drivers to follow. Ignoring those can cause accidents. And yes, stupid people cause accidents. YOU STUPID DRIVERS could have caused an accident from trying to be nice because you were too stupid to remember who has the right of way or to even read the traffic sign that said “SPEED BUMP” not “STOP”.

For some reason, this stupidity drives me up the fucking wall!

Don’t get me on YIELD signs. It seems mist American drivers believe that a Yield sign means “speed up and merge into traffic very fast”. According to Wikipedia a Yield sign “indicates that a vehicle driver must slow down and prepare to stop if necessary — usually while merging into traffic on another road — but needn’t stop if the way is clear.” Obviously, most American drivers do not know this. How many countless accidents do these fucking morons almost cause? Too many.

I HATE STUPID PEOPLE and I hate stupid drivers that don’t know the rules of the road. YOU SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO DRIVE!

                          

iDon’t need vague information
iDon’t need scare tactics
iDon’t need to imitate
iDon’t need a droid…unless it’s R2D2
iDon’t have a problem with iTunes
iDon’t buy brands who bash other brands

Video from DroidDont on YouTube. Nice job!

                          

So, the big news today was the boy in the runaway balloon. I saw many tweets saying something like “Oh, this is going to make me sick.” Even Shepard Smith on Fox News said it. (I hate Fox News, but we’re stuck with that as the only cable news channel at work.) OH FOR FUCK’S SAKE! THIS makes you sick to your stomach? A little boy is stuck in a runaway balloon and your stomach is upset. How about the fucking repeat sex offenders that are out in the public, eventually return to their disgusting ways, and that go out and kidnap, rape & kill little kids. THAT SHOULD MAKE YOU FUCKING SICK TO YOUR STOMACH!!!! The U.S. Judicial & Correctional systems are completely FUCKED! They do NOTHING to prevent and/or deter criminal activity. How about the injustices done with zero tolerance policies in school districts and the innocent kids get screwed from these. See this post for an example. WAKE THE FUCK UP AMERICA! You want to puke, watch your local news with all of the crime stories on there. Repeat offenders leave prisons and go out and commit MORE crimes! Eventually some gets murdered. Gang violence. Innocent people are killed from this crap! REPEAT SEX OFFENDERS ARE LIVING ON YOUR BLOCK! REPEAT CRIMINALS ARE LIVING IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD SELLING DRUGS! HOW ABOUT DIRTY/CORRUPT COPS ABUSING THEIR JOBS & POSITIONS. THAT SHOULD MAKE YOU SICK TO YOUR STOMACH!