Random musings and activities of a 30 something mom, potential sprint triathlete, vegetarian, dog and cat owner, and a evolving urban homesteader just trying to do the right thing in life for my daughter and the world around us. If the blog seems random, it's because life is and hits us all at 100mph.
Monday, February 15, 2010

PostHeaderIcon Attn Gmail users. Can you answer these questions?

Dear Gmail Users,

Below is a link to a form to regain access to your gmail account if it is ever hacked.  I suggest looking at the form closely and writing down the answers PRIOR to your account getting hacked.  Or loose your gmail account forever.  Really.

I blogged earlier in the month about getting hacked ( I was hacked ).  I got everything covered and back except one thing.  My valued gmail account.

My gmail account was obviously somehow linked with the yahoo account that got hacked.  It's not just ANY gmail account (like this blogger account), it was MINE:

MyFirstName(dot)MyLastName@gmail.com 

I'm sure you're wondering right now why can't I email someone.  I did.  I have.  MANY, MANY times.  They refer me to this link:


I'm not sure what the d-bag hacker changed, but obviously my answers to these questions (like 5 of my contacts) is wrong.  I've attempted this form 14 times.  14 times I get the following auto-response:

Thank you for your report. We've completed our investigation and cannot return your account at this time. We were unable to verify that you own this account based on the information you provided.

If you can provide additional information to verify that you own this
account, please visit:

http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/request.py?ara=1

and submit another report. Whether we can return access to this account depends on the strength and accuracy of your responses, so be sure to provide as much information as possible. If you're unsure about specific dates or information, provide your best guess.

To create a new account, please visit
https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount

We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your cooperation and understanding.

Regards,
The Google Team
 Inconvenience?  It's more than that.  My daughter's school communicates to me through that, my registration for anything important (sorry gap.com, you get my throwaway yahoo), and my friends and family are linked through there.
I can't remember when I opened that account.  I could probably look at my emails and see when I received the first one.  Oh wait.  I can't.

I can't tell you when I first starting using google docs.  All I know is that I have tons of info in there, and even my houshold budget, and can't access it.

I could go on and on about how I try that form with each month of 2007, but it's pointless.  If the dbag erased all my contacts like he did while in my yahoo account..... I'll never answer that bot-form correctly.

So, dear Gmail users.  Take a lesson from me, and if you don't use outlook or other programs that downloads your emails (ie you do it all online) you risk losing it all and despite having 12.675 forms of ID to show it's yours, Google and Gmail don't care.

Good luck.

Sincerely,
Me.

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Quotes as I come across them......

“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, an hour, a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it last forever.” ~~~Lance Armstrong

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." ~~~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I like running because it's a challenge. If you run hard, there's the pain----and you've got to work your way through the pain. You know, lately it seems all you hear is 'Don't overdo it' and 'Don't push yourself.' Well, I think that's a lot of bull. If you push the human body, it will respond." ~~~Bob Clarke, Philadelphia Flyers general manager, NHL Hall of Famer. (Will-Weber's "Voices From the Midpack" chapter.)

The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don’t define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them.~~~Denis Watley

Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the first lesson that ought to be learned; and however early a man's training begins, it is probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly. ~~~Thomas H. Huxley (1825 - 1895)

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