Saturday, October 30, 2021

Passwords be crazy sometimes.




 Except for my phone, I have not had internet the past three weeks. And I missed it. It is hard to believe that I am so attached to surfing the internet. But it is not just surfing, it is the programming by netflix, hulu or discovery+ which interesting enough, I rarely use. Paying bills and checking my bank balance are other big items. 

I have always found it interesting to need a password to pay a bill. I paid a large amount to keep the electricity on for my brother's house. I sort of had to hack my way into the system to keep the bill paid. I can't see having to spend the day getting service shut off and turned back on. Plus the presentation of legal papers seem like counterfeit to the person working in the window. Obviously, I am a very suspicious woman.

It has been a chore getting his house ready to sell. I now understand why people start giving items away willy nilly after a death. Truth be told, I have not been ready to let go of my brother. I took papers to be shredded and I felt like my brother was left there. I had the mental urge to go back and get him. Ridiculous I know. It did make it easier to take the next batch.

Isn't it interesting how businesses who collect debts can't divulge private information but they will tell you the X amount of money they want to be paid. When my younger sister had a stroke, I had to piece together her life for awhile. She was out of the mental business. For some bills, I waited until the second billing to make sure she had not paid it the first time. 

I will say Verizon was very kind to reactivate my sister's phone number after the bill had gone unpaid for much too long. Some things had to slide. It is difficult keeping up with someone in the hospital or rehab. A hospital rehab insisted I spend the night in a chair to make sure she didn't fall out of bed. It was a hellish three weeks for me. I would rush home, catch a few hours sleep, take care of everyone a little bit and then return.

The worst experience was the naïve clerk at my sister's insurance wanting me to pay her premium. I would call her the idiot but that was me. I paid the bill. What were they going to do? Cancel her car insurance? The car is still unused in her driveway. 

My sister was a civil service employee and the only way to get her W-2 for taxes was to access her federal account. This is why I needed her phone reactivated. The phone had a yahoo account active which I could access. I did my sister's taxes for 2015. To get her W-2 to do the taxes; I had to access her federal email account. One benefit of being a sister, I guessed her security questions with her permission. Good thing I could guess them, at that time she could not recall the answers. They sent a temporary password to her home address. 

I've heard of people who give way off answers to security questions to foil people like me. I have tried that in the past and found myself permanently locked out of an account. There was no remembering what I had put down and I am sure there is a scratch of paper that I carelessly scribbled it on in my office somewhere. I can see myself puzzled after reading it and wadding it up to toss into the trash can. 

This brings me back to passwords. My sister had borrowed money from an annuity. They would not let me make a payment. My sister says, she will pay the penalty which turned out to be quite expensive. But at least I was able to file her taxes. I printed several years worth of W-2s in case we needed them. We didn't. 

My internet was repaired on a Tuesday. And another man came and repaired the line last Monday. Apparently, lightning had damaged the phone lines on the road where I live. The first man went a mile down the road. But as the technician said, one side was not working. Hmmm.  

My DSL has a history of working well and then slowly going downhill until it does not work. On the same day that someone bombed the AT&T, by coincidence my internet began it's latest descent into not working. Then boom, lightning must have traveled down the line to disrupt my internet. 

I know I should immediately contact AT&T when it first starts. It is always a bit of a hassle. It is a shame that getting something repaired should be as easy as they collect the bill. They ask, did you check x, y or z? Then they ask, could you check them again. I do. I know I could lie but what would that really help. By some miracle someone in India may fix my internet. My truth serum would be the potential of being embarrassed by the technician doing the suggestion to fix the problem.

I've seen on twitter where people are saying quit AT&T over their support of a right wing news channel. First, I don't boycott over politics. Second, the news channel is a business decision (They's money in them strong opinions). AT&T also owns Times Warner which includes my favorite news channel, CNN. 

I did get on Facebook via my phone. I follow several "I smell Bacon" sites which really is I like the updates on car wrecks, and gossip.  Anyway this woman was blasting a "Karen" for running her off the road. I was so relieved it was not my SUV. Can you imagine going on line and finding out your car has been outed. This post erupted into a fight and the "Karen" basher stopped comments. Those comments can be a riot. My fellow "Baconites" were not sure her story was the only story. Have you ever noticed that those that can dish it out can't take it tossed back to them. Oh well, that is another blog post.

This plant has a myriad of names. I have always heard it named Mullein. It grows well on the sides of the roadway. The plant has been used to make a tea which helps the lungs. The jury is still out as to whether this is true. The plant is not indigenous to North America but it is not considered invasive. It is a naturalized plant in that it can reproduce without human help but never to the point it disrupts the ecosystem. 



23 comments:

  1. Superb yellow flowers!
    Well, internet, passwords can cause headaches sometimes. We all go through this now and then. Glad the issues are fixed for you now.

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    1. They are very pretty and look more like what you would plant in a flower bed. I thought I would return and collect some seeds. They may not do well. They grow in sorry soil.

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  2. Beautiful, beautiful flowers.
    Sigh at the internet. If I could only access it through my phone I would be stuffed. Aging eyes and recalcitrant fingers.
    I hear you on the password thing. And on the peculiarities about which information can be released and which can't. After my mother died we cancelled a health service. And returned the equipment. I was allowed to do that. Then she started getting letters from a debt collector. If the service is cancelled without good reason (and it seems that death isn't a good reason) then the customer is liable for the cost of the whole contract. Frustrating phone call after frustrating phone call I was eventually told that to have told me that when I cancelled the service would have been a breach of my mother's privacy!!!

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    1. They do like to pull the privacy thing when it suits them to dun you for money or to wiggle out of an obligation. I challenged an insurance company many years back.

      The flowers are quite beautiful. Roadside flowers can be the best.

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  3. So many things that you cannot do in life anymore without the internet!!! Last night we tried to book a table in a restaurant and we were told to go to WhatsApp get the QR code and arrange that way over our head I am afraid. As for passwords, we have far too many and then we keep being told to change them !!!!!!! Keep safe Diane

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    1. I hear you. Sometimes the demands to pay or do anything electronically is a bit overwhelming. I've got to do some computer work that I frankly don't know how to do. I'll sit and puzzle it out soon. But I need some space in time to do it.

      Thanks Diane and you keep safe too. Ann

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  4. I HATE passwords!!! And then they said you should change them after a while and should use different passwords for different sites. Honestly? It's crazy. They have got to come up with a better way. Somehow. You're amazing to take care of your siblings' financials and personal accounts. Wow! I could never do that.

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    1. We all do what lands on our plates. I would like to have to take a cruise around the world. But I don't think that will happen anytime soon. laughs.

      They say they can recognize you by your pattern of typing. I wonder is the one where I surreptitiously unlock my iphone to look up a phone number as I drive has the same rhythm.

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  5. I have a password notebook. I told my daughter if anything happens to me at least she will be able to get into all of the accounts and pay bills, or whatever.

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    1. I need to do that. I do have one computer that you can access the settings and passwords without a password. The problem is having someone find it and use it.

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  6. Settling the estate of someone you love is both hard work and emotionally grueling.

    I absolutely rely on internet now that I work from home. I'm online all day.

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  7. The only benefit to settling an estate is how to leave an easier path for those who will follow behind with my estate which is not a pleasant thought.

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  8. Taking care of all that is an emotional drain. And a hassle with passwords.
    I've discovered these past two years there are a lot of people who dish it out but can't take it.

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    1. You get where you roll with the punches Alex. I don't like some of the things I have to deal with but who does. We all have our "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune".

      We are a sorry generation in our big-mouthedness. I'm bad too. But at least I have stopped voicing so much opinion.

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  9. Passwords. Ugh. I thought it was a big deal to memorize my SS#

    When I worked in an office, skirts and heels and all, and had to call the internet company they would instruct me to re-do everything I'd already done - climb under the desk to unscrew the connections, wait 30 seconds, re-attach and repeat when I'd call back to say it didn't work. So frustrating.

    Did you know if you report someone as deceased (for instance, my dad) on Facebook, they won't inactivate the account without a password?

    As far as forgetting a password, You'd think they'd give you a hint or something. I remembered a password once, while trying to think up a new one. When I tried to use it they said it was wrong. I said it wasn't and that they knew that. They wouldn't budge.

    Stay safe and be kind - to yourself. You deserve it ;-)

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    1. As much as my older brother cautioned me about google, I let google store my passwords. Even then, I have to guess which of the stored passwords I am currently using. It is a mess for sure.

      I guess with Facebook, we should break a terms of agreement rule with a post to get them to close one down. lol I had a friend who I can't imagine posting anything objectional just get out of Facebook jail.

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  10. Goodness, it's exhausting just reading about all your trials and tribulations! I admire your persistence in sorting out all these knotty problems. Talking of payments, I got my landline cut off by BT because of an unpaid bill. As they now send bills by email, I looked at it and then promptly forgot about it. Previously I got bills by post and there was always a hard copy to remind me to pay.

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    1. I need to quit writing about it for sure. It is not that bad believe me. I just have a lot of problem solving in my life. Perhaps it will keep my brain in good shape. For the most part my mother is very alert mentally and God willing, my mind will stay alert.


      I've forgotten bills too. I have an enormous mess in car with papers. I've sorted papers for recycling, paying attention to and for shredding. But a lovely dog made a bed amidst it. So I need to give everything a quick glance through and hopefully get the important things out. I do live in a paperwork hell.

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  11. For some reason I missed this post.

    Passwords - OMG, seems every month when I pay my bills, I have to make up a new password. I find myself, looking around the room to come up with something. You know, like sHelves#47 or liTTerBOX@945 - I've become brain dead, when it comes to passwords. Ugh.

    We don't use ATT My mom retired from ATT and they used to be good. Now their service around here is bad. I'm thinking about getting rid of our voip phone we get from our internet service and just use our cell phones. But I am sentimental about my phone number...how crazy is that?

    Like your pretty photos. And has anyone told you, what a nice sister you are?

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  12. Passwords are horrendous generally, but can't do without them also. Dealing with bureaucracy, whether in person or virtual, is exhausting.
    Rough times, hope the issues are sorted for now and you're back on an even keel.

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  13. I can't imagine life without the internet, we all seem to do everything online now. I'd hate to be doing everything on the phone too. As much as our online accounts need passwords for security reasons they are a right pain!

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  14. ...I hate passwords, but I do love your flowers!

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