Controlling the direction of face selection? I may be missing something really simple, but I'd like to know if there is a way to control which direction my selection goes when selecting with  Shift +Alt. A simple example is shown in the attached gif, it is just a sub divided plane object. I just don't understand why I can't control the direction (x or y) of the selection. It seems that I have to figure out the best way each time, and select the leftover faces afterwards.
It really depends on where you click with your ALTRMB. 
If you click close to the vertical top or bottom of your face, it will select the vertical loop. If you click on the horizontal area, it will select the horizontal loop.