For those that think it was just made that way...
Being the geek that I am, I deconstructed the gif and it is made up of only 34 frames, not nearly enough for there to be a 'fix in the mix'.
It truly is all in your head...
James, who first saw it counter clockwise and then when I went to change something on my other screen, it changed direction. It would never change while I was watching it, only when I was indirectly looking at it.
James