Pneumonochrome

I don’t have any research to back this up, but I bet it’s out there somewhere. We live in a world where the average computer user probably has at least 5 different “accounts” that require that user to have a password. I’d be willing to bet that most of them have between 10 and 20 such accounts. Some of these accounts are going to require the user to occasionally change that password, no two accounts, it seems, do this at the same time.  I think there are laws against it.  These laws were developed by people who hate sanity and happiness.

So we’re left in a situation where a person could potentially have to remember 20 different passwords at the same time.  The best security, of course, would be to have a different password for each different account, each of which follows the conventional rules of password security, and all of which are changed on a regular basis.   But for the user who has 20 different accounts, that means remembering 20 apparently random strings of 8 or more characters, and is beyond the abilities of most people I know.

Have you ever sat at a website, trying to log in, but unable to remember what your password was?  I know I have.

Most people get around this problem in one of the following ways, or a combination of both:

1)They use weak passwords.  Weak passwords, such as dictionary words or names, are easier to remember than strong passwords that resemble something like this Jlw#s2Ml&.

2)When the mandatory password changes come around, they cycle through a short list of passwords, and do their best to change all their passwords whenever they have to change one, keeping all accounts on the same password, and cycling through 4-6 strong passwords.

This second method is, in my mind, the better way of doing it.  Ultimately, if you use a strong password, the second way should be fairly sufficient.  Unfortunately, some organizations require you to use a unique password each time you change it, keeping a history of old passwords.  These organizations also tend to be the ones that require password changes the most frequently, as much as every 2 or 3 months.

I happen to have an account with such an organization, and to be honest, it’s one of the biggest pains in my butt ever.  To reduce the craziness that would ensue from changing 50 or so passwords every 3 months, I don’t keep that account in sync with other accounts, but because of this, I have to keep the password recorded somewhere to reduce the number of times I have to call the stupid helpdesk to have the password reset, thereby reducing the security of my account.

It seems that by being so draconian regarding the creation and changing of passwords, they are being counter productive, resulting in poorer security than there would be if they relaxed a little bit.  If they allowed passwords to be reused after a certain amount of time, or a certain number of uses, for example, I’d be able to treat this account like every other account I have, and I wouldn’t need to write the password down in order to make sure I knew what it was.

So, we spent Thursday and Friday in a condo with Messy’s family.  That was a wee-bit crazy.  You see, 7 adults, 2 teenagers, 3 small children (4 years, 18 months, and 1 year) in a one bedroom condo is most of the combination for the lock on the gates of hell, I think.  I don’t know why we didn’t think before we went about how in the world we were supposed to get the Bug to take a nap, and without his nap he turns into the world’s crankiest little boy by about 4 o’clock in the afternoon.

Don’t get me wrong, it was fun.  I got to spend a couple of days playing some of my favorite board games with a few other adults because we were all there in the same place, and not doing much of anything else (except eating and trying to keep the kids from killing themselves or anyone else), and it was great to get to relax a little and let the Bug see and play with his cousins and grandparents for a couple of days.  I didn’t have a horrible time, but I would also probably not do it again unless it were in a bigger condo.  It was just way too cramped in there, and it was up in the mountains, so it was cold and we didn’t want to take the kids outside to play when it was that cold outside, so they got stir-crazy and started doing dumb, irritating things and being ultra-whiny all the time, and it just got to be a little too much by the time we all decided to go home.

Then today we went up to my parents’ house and I ended up helping my dad remodel one of the bedrooms there because my little brother comes home from Thailand in less than a week, and they want to make sure he’s got someplace to stay.  Again, I didn’t mind doing it, but it left Messy alone with Bug for a long time while they were both still recuperating from this weekend, which was hard on them, and I’m now wiped out and really sore from spending all afternoon on my knees putting mud in the cracks in the floor.

On the upshot, I got some ideas for the book that I want to write someday, so that’s cool.

Blah.  I’ve got a migraine, and my tummy is getting involved.  I hate when that happens.  It’s been a long day, too.  I’ve got tons of reading I should be doing tonight, but I just don’t have the time to do it, so my 3-hour Psychiatry marathon and my Biochem tomorrow will just have to be caught up on tomorrow, because right now I can’t read anything and actually comprehend it.  sigh

So, Messy and I have been off contract for quite some time now with Tmobile, and we decided to renew our contract and get new phones.  I did some researching, and decided on the Samsung t429.  It appeared to be quite a nice little phone, and even had Bluetooth, which I was interested in because I don’t like having to spend the $0.75 on a picture message to send my pictures to my album so I can get them off my phone.

So I got it home and set up and tried to connect it to my computer.  Yeah.  The Bluetooth, contrary to what Tmobile’s website says, does not allow me to connect it to my computer, only to a headset or handsfree unit.  The irritating thing is that the phone supports the profiles necessary to do it, it just doesn’t allow me to.

I think I’ll be calling tomorrow and complaining.

So, we changed our clocks Saturday night. The fall change used to be one of my favorite nights of the year because I always used to get an extra hour of sleep. It was awesome. I could say up just as light on Saturday night, but be far less tired the next day because I set my clocks back an hour before going tobed, and slept until the same time I usually did.

This doesn’t work so well, however, when you have a toddler. Benjie’s clock didn’t change, despite our efforts to help it do so. He just woke up an hour earlier, and the day was really hard for hime because all of his meals were an hour off, his sleep was off, and he was tired, hungry, and cranky all day. I sure do wish I knew how to get his internal clock to change. Messy’s and Mine change fairly easily, just not Benjie’s. When we finally got him to sleep, poor Messy was tired, laying next to me trying to fall asleep herself while I finished up a few things before crashing too.

I’m dreading the spring switch, it was hard for me anyway. I can’t imagine how hard it’s going to be with Benjie not adjusting then either.

I’m beginning to understand the complaints I’ve so often heard from parents of small children about how stupid Daylight Saving Time is.