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I'd like to introduce you to one of my favourite people in all the world. We have never met in person but we have established a firm friendship over the last year. We met in the Accessible chat rooms, which are used by visually impaired people from all over the world. Lone Wolf is probably the most exciting, action packed game on the market for blind users. Since Dan received his copy, he has thrust himself in to the role of submarine commander with such great vigour and enthusiasm, that I thought I should share with you, some of the e-mails I've received from him since and in this way you will get to know this wonderful person a little better.
Hello Mags! I just received the product key for Lone Wolf in my in box. I already have Lone Wolf installed on my computer. Do you think I should uninstall it and download a new copy? Or, do you think the version I have now is the same as what I may get if I download another copy now?
The Email message from David Greenwood from GMA Games said I was eligible to receive any new upgrades of the Lone Wolf game since I now had the product key. Mags, you are lucky you live so far away or you might be in danger of being squeezed to death by one of my hugs of gratitude! LOL! By the way, I take it congratulations are in order for you.
Congratulations on being the winner of the StarFight League championships! Hmm, does this make you Master of the Universe now, or does it make you Mistress of theUniverse? Hehehehe, sorry, but I just had to ask! I'll bet you must be a force to be reckoned with, huh? I imagine Robin already knows this doesn't he? Hey, if Betsey can threaten to smack me bald headed every so often, then the same must apply in your case with poor Robin! Let him know this.
Please tell Robin something for me, ok? You must use my voice when you tell him the following and use a manly and sincere voice when you do it or it will not seem as sincere as it is meant to sound!
Okay, here goes. Robin, keep your stick on the ice! We're all in this together! I'm pulling for you! lol! Mags, thank you very extremely much for the Lone Wolf game! It was extraordinarily nice of you to do that for me. I appreciate it so very much. It means a great deal to me. I do not know what I can do for you in return, but I hope I will be able to repay your kindness some day. I know one thing is for sure. If you and Robin ever decide to pay a visit to The United States and happen to visit Minnesota, you can definitely spend some time with us in our home--free of charge! We will even leave a mint on the pillow just like most classy hotels do! How is that for service? Oh, and we may even sweeten the pot a bit by providing free laundry and meals, too! Oops, almost forgot to mention that I will find out where I can get some of that Napoleon brandy that you like so much...I might even join you in a bottle or two! lol!
My job as a computer trainer for the blind is taking off. I have gone out and trained my first student twice so far and am planning on meeting with him again on Monday by phone. Then, again on Tuesday at his college. I have a two hour minimum training session written into my contract. I have told people around me that I charge State Services for the Blind $45/hour and many of those I have told say I am not charging enough. Not enough? Wow, and I thought I was charging quite a bit! I took a look at the vendor's list and saw that there were others charging $50/hour and $55/hour. I figure I would start out at $45/hour until I get established as a computer trainer for the blind. Perhaps, after I have proven myself, I can raise my rates. Anyway, I feel pretty great about it because I am finally earning a paycheck. I have not earned one since I lost my sight over 17 years ago. It really gives me a sense of worth and a feeling of accomplishment to do this! Man, I am psyched! Can you tell? Hehehehe!
Well, speaking of working, I better let you go for now and get back to learning more about the Excel program and this new version of JFW. Take care Mags and Robin. Hugs to both of you. Oh, alright Robin, I will take that hug back and give you a hearty hand shake in its place! lol! We got to keep up our manly images, isn't that correct? Hehehehehehe!
Bye for now you two lovely people. You are the best. Don't ever change cause we need more people like you in this world! Sincerely and with great appreciation and a few well placed wags and woofs,
Dan and Grady
Well that was the first e-mail re Lone Wolf, but very soon after that the next one arrived.
Hi Mags, Yes, you are correct in guessing that I am excited about the job/training I am currently doing. If the student would only ask questions in class of his instructor, I think he would get a lot more out of the class he is in. Oh well, it is his life I guess. I cannot live it for him. I can only teach him what I teach him. It is totally up to him as to what he wishes to do with that information.
Mission 17 is a beast, huh? Hmm, will have to watch out for that one whenever I get around to it! So far, I have not installed the product key and have only played the two demo games from before. I may be Emailing you with tips and tricks that you use to get around in the game! Have you used your deck gun yet on any targets? If so, how did you get it to work? I need to try out the game in its full blown format with all missions available to me and then expect me to be giving you daily updates on my missions, Admiral Clayden! Hehehehehe! Lol!
Well, Admiral, Captain Ellingsberg and First Officer Grady will be taking on our first mission in the coming days! Wish us luck, Sir! damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead as they say! Over and out.
First Officer Grady, let the crew know we should man all battle stations. Prepare the boat for silent running and quit clanging that food pan around the bridge or the enemy will be sure to hear us with his passive sonar! Dive, dive dive! Wondering what all these bells and whistles do when one pushes them,
Captain Dan and First Officer Grady!
Hmm, do you think he will enjoy having the full version of Lone Wolf? Let's take a look.
Hi Mags, You don't use your deck gun? Hmm, what will the Admiralty have to say about that? I know, we can just keep that little bit of information to ourselves! There, that tragedy has been avoided, huh? Maybe I will make Rear Admiral before too long! LOL!
When will the next league take place? Is the information available either on Scottie's web page or the Accessible Games web page? If so, let me know and it may save you some typing. If I decide not to go back to school in the immediate future, then, I will more than likely join the league this time.
Guess you got dropped from your internet connection while doing the instant message with Betsey earlier this evening. I forgot to tell you that I have untold powers of cyber persuasion when it comes to making sure that Robin and I are not talked about too badly in these instant messages between our respective women folk! lol! Do they call that psychokinesis? Hmm, guess some would just call it plain psycho! Hehehehehehe! Betsey is downstairs making up some of her world famous chile and a batch of corn bread to go along with it. Yummy! *smile* She wasn't able to send her last message to you on MSN. But, she said that she is currently on strike along with the other members of her workers union. The strike is state-wide and it just began on Monday, October 1. She is hanging in there, but I know she is wondering how she will be able to pay the bills if the strike should happen to last very long. I am working as a computer trainer for other blind people, but I am officially employed by State Services for the Blind/SSB. Luckily, I had a signed contract for the month of October, so I will at least get paid for this month. However, my counselor (the one who made up the contract and signed it) is also a member of one of the unions which are currently on strike. If this strike lasts very long, I might not be working next month either. What a bummer! I just hope the contract dispute between the union of state workers and the government of the state of Minnesota will come to an agreement and resolve all contractual issues soon. If they do not, be prepared to bring your Lone Wolf submarine into one of our harbors along the river and get ready to fire those torpedoes! Hehehehehehe! Well, if not the torpedoes, then at least show Betsey and the other state workers some support by hoisting a flag of support up the old flag pole and hope for the best with us! lol!
Man, I better get downstairs and give my shot before the chile is placed on the table along with that good smelling corn bread! My mouth is watering right now! So, I better not lean too far over the keyboard or it might short out on me! Goodness sakes alive, I wouldn't want that to happen! Do you know if they make such a thing as a drool proof keyboard cover? I know! I will just keep my mouth shut! That should work...I hope!
Thanks again for the Lone Wolf game, Mags. You are the best! Here is a great big hug for you! HUGS AND SNOGS!!! Did you notice the capital letters? lol! Got to go. Catch you later.
Hugs and laughs,
Dan and Grady
Think he's beginning to feel his way in to the game now and what's going to arrive in my mail box next I wonder.
Hey Mags, hugs to my favorite up and coming author! You have a great talent there. I read the first part of your story and liked what I read. Hmm, I wonder what will happen to Aunt Sally? Do you think her niece will come in contact with a big bad wolf in the forest? Or, if I get a wild hair, I may add something of my own to the story line. Oh no! Look out, because I am a fan of Stephen King and might be tempted to put something in there about the super natural or something similar! ...only the shadow knows for sure!
I may or may not add something of my own to the story. However, not knowing for sure, I can speak with no degree of accuracy. LOL! I am definitely going to let Betsey know about this section of Scottie's web site. I think she will really like it. Knowing her as only I know her, I bet you may see something written by her in the not too distant future. Stay tuned!
I need to get going pretty soon so I can switch some of Betsey's clothes from the washer to the dryer before I forget. I promised her I would switch them before I went to bed tonight so she wouldn't have so much to do in the morning when she opened her eyes. Yep, that's me--a man of numerous titles! Marauder on chat; Dan to the rest of the world; Mister Wonderful to my one and only Babycakes; oh yeah, and of course, Rear Admiral Ellingsberg of the submarine, USS SuperStealth--nuclear powered, naturally! Man oh man, I sure hope you are wearing your hip waders because it is getting pretty deep in here! Hehehehehe!
Take care, Mags. I will hopefully catch you around sometime today if possible. Today being Thursday, that is. Getting ready to put Babycake's bloomers in the dryer,
Dan and Grady!
OK, it was more about our lovely Betsy and her, hmm, undies but hang in there.
Hi and hugs Mags, I wrote Betsey a message early this morning and sent it to her at work. I am going to paste it into the body of this message for you to take a look at when you have the time. The subject line of the message I sent her was something like: I have won missions 2, 3 and 4!! Please let me know if you think I should make an appointment to see the Naval base's psychiatrist in the near future for my problem with wanting to go out and destroy all the enemies ships, oil platforms, islands, mine fields, etc! Maybe he/she might be able to help me with my addiction issues--then again, maybe not! LOL! Ok, here is the reply which Bets sent me regarding my message to her early this morning before I finally hit the hay. Take care, Mags. I hope your run with Gypsy this morning was a fun one. Later Gator!
Bucking for a promotion to Admiral along with my innocent guide pooch,
Dan and Grady!
Howdy Commander!
Well, I'm glad that I make it just a little ahead of the game. I am
comforted that this isn't an entirely realistic game--at least you
don't die when your sub sinks. It's a lot easier to lose when you
can walk away and have dinner, afterward. I think it's great that
you enjoy the game so much. We'll have to check out some other
games from the same company. Maybe they'll come up with a Risk game
that is an audio game. I love you, too, Commander!
10/17/01 05:10AM
Good morning, Babycakes!
Hey, I think I am finally beginning to get the hang of this Lone Wolf
game! I am no longer running into objects and sinking myself and losing
to the enemy! Man, this game is so totally cool and fun to play, Babe!
Like Mags said a few minutes ago, it is the most realistic game she has
ever played. It is, too! Believe you me! Man, it is just as I would
imagine a real World War II submarine warfare scenario taking place. It
has all the elements you could possibly imagine--the intensity, the
waiting and the suspense, the planning, the thrills and chills, the
chase, the close calls, the near misses, and, of course the glorious
victories and the agonizing defeats! Wow, it is so damned neat! Can
you tell I am just ever so slightly pleased with it?
Hahahehehehehehahahaha! I love it, Babe. But, not quite as much as I
love you, Babe! You are my one and only Cookie Bear's Gal, my Porkless
Hunks, my all around Harpo Honeybunch! You are the greatest, Betsey
Babycakes! I love you to no end! Hugs and squeezes from your one and
only Cookie Bear, Matoe Nose, and all around Goomer Extraordinaire! I
yust yuvs ya, Tootsie Frootsie! Have a super terrific great day today.
See you when you come home. Take care.
Love, hugs, squeezes, and smooches and wags from your two guys from home,
Dan and Grady!
This was my response to Dan's e-mail.
Dan,
you ask if I think you are hooked on Lone Wolf! Well, I sure do!
You paged me last night on messenger, I was in the kitchen making coffee and when I returned to the computer my ISP had dropped me but there was your message on my task bar hehehahhaahah. I went to chat to give Scottie a game of SF and you were there with a star against your name, you were playing SF, in a private room or just sitting there, I dropped in a few times to catch you but couldn't unfortunately.
Anyway commander, I think you are doing just great, even though you are costing the admiralty millions on refits and in some cases brand new subs. Love hearing of your exploits, speak to you soon,
hugs Mags,
P.S. not to forget the snogs!! ehehahhahahah
I had intended to put just one and only one three letter word in this message in reply to your last message to me! You may be wondering what that word was? Heheheehehahahaha, it was: LOL!
However, me being me, I just couldn't resist the keyboard's allure! So, here I am sitting at the keyboard pounding out another message to my favorite gamer from Scotland! Since my new computer was delivered way back on July 30, I have been having stuttering problems with my JFW. This was getting to become rather annoying to say the least! Do you hear, the least, I say? I thought it might have something to do with my antivirus and firewall program. The antivirus program was suspect because of the background file monitoring feature which it uses. I also noticed JFW didn't stutter as much whenever I shut down my firewall program and so thought it might be because of this, too. However, shutting down the firewall program defeats its purpose if you know what I mean!
Consequently, I had a revelation this afternoon and decided to call JFW's technical support number and got some extremely helpful information from a gentleman who worked there that used to live just across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. After explaining what my problem was, he had me look into my system resources to see how much of it was freed up and available to me. I found I had only 52% free which was not good. We went into the system and freed up a bunch of memory by unselecting many of the programs which I never use or seldom use. After doing all of this, I had increased my available percentage of resources available to my system to 83%. It seemed to have a miraculous effect, too. Prior to the changes we made, JFW would begin acting slow and become choppy after being up and running for less than two hours. It is now 5:40 p.m. and I have had the system operating for over five hours now with no stuttering problems! Eureka! I think it has been cured! I am so happy! My boy is no longer suffering from lack of memory! ahahahahahahehehehe! Hey now! I wonder if it will help me to have more successful missions in Lone Wolf!! Hmm, probably not, but one needs to dream, right? LOL!
Well, as you can see, my intended, three letter worded Email message has turned into another of my mini novels! Hmm, wonder if I have a verbosity switch somewhere on my body? I better start looking for it or my keyboard is going to be in danger of wearing out just like Georgia Lady's!! Take care, Admiral Clayden and I will hopefully catch you in the Garden of Eden tomorrow night! I would come in as rutabaga, but I don't think I can spell it correctly! I hope the spell checker catches it! smile, grin, chuckle! Take care, Mags! By the way, do you think the Admiralty will begin handing out paddle boats to those submarine Commanders who show a proclivity to park their subs permanently on the bottom of the sea/ocean floors? I certainly hope this is not the case cause I have no idea where I would store 24 torpedoes on a tiny little paddle boat! hehehehe!
Diving into my computer's innards looking for problems,
Dan and Grady!
Don't you think this guy is just the best? Unfortunately I've lost a few of the e-mails he has sent me but this next one demonstrates the flavour of them very nicely.
Lone Wolf mission 15, Coordinates for heavy water plant are located near c3 sector 3-3 or sector 3-2, or possibly sector 3-1...cannot remember for sure. take out gun batteries with deck gun, then, after destroyer discovers you and you hide out on the bottom for awhile, rise to 15 feet, home in on destroyer with deck gun and destroy it. Maneuver between various mines located in cave and stay as near the bottom as possible. Do not get over confident just because you have the heavy water plant in your sights! Repeat, stay near the bottom of the sea floor, or you will collide with the cave roof and die a terrible and unnecessary death! Call Admiral Clayden and tell her to send reinforcements as soon as possible! Let her know that you have only scratched the bottom of the sub's hull so far and might even be lucky enough to destroy the enemy's heavy water plant with any luck! Send the Admiral an extremely urgent, coded message requesting huge amounts of Napoleon Brandy to soothe not only the crew's frazzled nerves, but also yours and your First Officer, Grady's, too!! Drink plenty since this could be your last and final mission unless help arrives soon!
Ahahahaha, Well Admiral Clayden, what did you think of my mission notes?
I think I will hopefully be able to conquer the enemy next time around! Yep, you guessed it; I got too cocky when I saw that the heavy water plant was zero off port and only 3,200 some odd yards away from my
devastating torpedoes! I thought I was out from beneath the roof of the
cave, started rising to torpedo firing depth...and hit the bloody roof of the cave and heard those infamous words I so hate to hear--glug glug,
you are sinking!
I am gaining experience if nothing else, huh?
Ahahahaha! Resting up before getting ready for our next mission,
Dan and Grady!
Well, we are more or less up to date, but no doubt there will be more missions, more defeats and best of all more victories to report in the coming months. *smile*
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