Starbucks is love.

Unless you are a white privilege racist. How many did you discover on Tuesday?

Personally I stayed away from anything that would put me “face to face” with any so not to annoy myself. I do believe my Facebook is pretty cleared out of those types of people, although there are a few who have learned not to show their racist white privilege side.

I suppose the last year has been a double edge sword. On one side we have discovered the true sides of friends and family when it comes to white privilege and racism (although we did get a glimpse of this with Obama- it’s just been turned up a few notches since trump). On the other side trump and everything that has to do with this idiot.

Many of the changes Starbucks has been making recently are good changes. Changes that may other businesses should think about making themselves (then just doing it because it’s the right thing to do, but this is the US after all). Changing the rule about needing to buy something just to sit in the cafe or use the bathrooms is brilliant. I get why the rule existed in the first place, but to be honest, I have spent many hours in Starbucks after buying the cheapest thing on the menu (and then whatever coffee I was jonesing for at the time), and sometimes not even then. It used to be you had to have a code to use their Internet, and it is how the Starbucks in Cuernavaca do it. The password is always on the receipt.

I think they should close the stores more often to talk about pressing issues at the moment whether it be just refreshing the training on how not to be a complete cunt to people to venting the air the baristas have about things. How could that go wrong (yeah, okay so this would have to come with that anything shared, unless against store policy will not get anyone fired because cunts manifest themselves in many different ways)?

I also love the changes they have been making in regards to supporting and helping out their partners (which everyone else knows as employees). Uneducated people still love to rag on the chain for employee themed issues, but usually it’s because they are ignorant to the change and are relying on their memories or rumors they have heard.

And I love the christmas cup outrage that hits every damn year no matter what is on the cup. This year, my suggestion is to have a cup that features the tolerance of EVERY human on the planet. LGBT, race, class, origin, and religion– I mean we already mingle with all types in the cafe whether we know it or not.

Changes I really don’t like that Starbucks has made deal more with their Rewards program. The changes they made now make it where you HAVE to do something RIGHT NOW or you won’t be able to do it at all.

Take the birthday drink/food. I don’t always get to Starbucks on my birthday. In fact I actually cannot remember a time where I did go to Starbucks on my birthday, but now that is the ONLY day I can use my birthday reward. It was until the end of your birthday month, then I think it was until the end of the week. Originally I think you had a year, but I did mange for the most part to get in at least by June to use it, so I’m not 100% sure.

Same goes for any free drinks you earn with stars; although if I’m honest I haven’t dealt with this for awhile now that my stars EXPIRE if I don’t use them or collect them fast enough. I have a gold card which they sent out to me when I became a gold member for the first time by collecting enough stars. Stars that didn’t expire so even as infrequently as I made purchases (or forgot to use my card to do so) I could still collect enough to become a member for those special rewards the gold level gave you. Yes you had to collect a certain number of stars within a given time to be or stay in gold level, but they never expired. They’d disappear once you “use” them.

And any rewards I did manage to earn would stay on the card (or you could print out a ticket) until they were used. Now everything expires so if you don’t use it, you loose it. And with that I ask what is the point for those of us who are not popping in daily to buy Starbucks? I mean I *could* but I don’t think I get anything for popping into International Starbucks. Also the US economy makes it that I really cannot do this, even on a weekly/monthly basis for the most part.

Also the desire to do so just isn’t there anymore. I do still have my Starbucks radar however. I think anyone born in Seattle Washington is born with one.

Until next time, remember that a real patriot is someone who loves their country enough to speak up when they see something that needs to be changed; not someone who blindly assumes that their government knows best and is always right no matter what. Since the US currently disgusts me to the core I consider myself a European born in the US. Because honestly, all my blood is from Europe, I have no native American blood or anything that would firmly tie me to the United States beyond my birth.

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Ready Player None.

I saw Ready Player One yesterday. I finished the book a couple of days before I found out there was a movie coming out later that month.
My first gut reaction to people? Skip the movie. Read the book. They are not the same stories. The book is a better story than the movie and is more exciting. If you want to see the movie, I’d read the book first. I wouldn’t want you to ruin the book with the movie.
This really isn’t a simple case of “The book is *always* better than the movie.” this is a case of “The book is a different story than the movie but with the same underlining theme.” It’s like the movie is a fan-fiction of the book. I think that is a good way to explain it.
Movie was entertaining, but a lot of the things that made the book marvelous wasn’t even mentioned in the movie. Movie had it’s moments, not as much nostalgia as Rock of Ages but a few things if you know your 80’s, (you could tell who the 80’s kids were in the audience…mainly hubby and myself) and it’s always interesting to see how the characters look on screen compared to how you saw them in your mind. None of the on-screen characters will be replacing the ones I created in my head like Daniel and Co did for Harry Potter.

The more I think on it, the more I am confident to say that the movie is fan-fiction. Same characters, same theme just a different author. Which is sad since the author of the book, Ernest Cline was part of the script writing team and was a great part of the film production. I guess he was so fanboyish over Spielberg that he forgot what his own story was about.

As it’s very own entity the movie is okay. Needless to say I am quite disappointed in the movie.

The book is fantastic. You could see the movie then go and read the book and never have a “This is was in the movie, I know what happens next.” moment. Seriously they are that different. There are plenty of “I remember an event similar to this, but this isn’t how it happened.” and “This was in the movie, but that’s not who was doing it.” and so forth.  I will say one thing; the book and the movie have different challenges for the keys.

But that’s pretty much my thoughts on it. If you’re a book  person, grab a copy, it’s been out for quite a while now and I’ve had a copy of my own for almost the same amount of time, but just kept it on the shelf, until the end of February when I was looking for something to read. An actual ink and paper book. Not eInk. And so I grabbed this and read it. Couldn’t/wouldn’t put it down and encouraged my hubby to read it (although he did the eInk version) and he loved it as much as I did. So we both were excited about the movie.

Yes, I watched the trailers. They went quite quickly so I wasn’t quite sure, beyond Wade who I was looking at. And the race scene made me think as well. As a talking point, it can be really fun. I’d defiantly have a Back to the Future DeLorean. There is no question about that. And a Firefly class ship. Probably a few Star Wars class ships as well. I’d also have an Eleanor. This could go on for quite awhile, and that’s not getting to armor or weapons! Or clothes. Or what I’d look, sound and act like.

Don’t let me make any decisions for you. Read the book. Watch the movie. Have your own opinions. It’s really great to be an individual who doesn’t follow any crowd. Try it if you haven’t.

Until next time, I did some staining of the wooden chest of drawers I purchased yesterday and I look like I have been two knuckle deep in some serious gore and forgot to wash my hands. I just love the curious looks from people upon seeing my hands. I could probably say anything to them while gesturing and they’d not hear a word. Unless blood, murder or autopsy come up.

Leave no one Standing.

 

May the odds be ever in your favor, may mischief always be managed and may you always remain angry but never green.

You’re not getting your money or item so f*ck off.

If you are familiar with my last post (go ahead and read it) then you know what the outcome of everything is.

Ebay: 

When I pushed Newegg about it, THEY were able to escalate the problem to ebay who in only 10 minutes they decided my case no longer qualifies for their buyer protection. 10 FUCKING MINUTES.

Oh and Paypal?

And how long did it take for them to come to this decision? Keep in mind I had to go through my mom as it was her paypal we used because she had loaned us the money to begin with so you can add a few minutes to the times if you wish.

21. MINUTES.

It’s good to be a big company who can say fuck you to their customers and not care how many customers they loose because of it because they can afford to loose “a couple” of people. And they always come back. ALWAYS.

Because if you don’t want to share your credit card/bank information when you shop online, where are you going to go to?

Or if you need to send or receive money now and you don’t live in the same city/state/country?

If you want to sell or buy something from other people on the planet, where would you do such a thing?

Or where can you find no longer in production items sometimes at good prices?

Thankfully Newegg isn’t the last and only place to buy electronics.

Until next time, forgive me all of you who have played The Evil Within. And for any artists looking at my 10 minute redo of the image. All rights belong to the people who paid for them and etc. I own nothing, not even those items I paid for or the money I used to purchase them.

How hard is it to get my money back?

When you inform someone that you had not gotten a package due to the address being an old one, they will usually either replace the item and send it to your new address or they refund you the money and that’s the end of it.

Unless you buy from Newegg.

It appears that since the tracking shows that it was delivered to the house, Newegg says that’s enough for them and will not even talk about the situation anymore. Ebay is of no help on this matter so far. Next will be contacting Paypal, but why do I have to go that far to begin with???

A tracking number isn’t actually a good way to determine who gets the package. Yes it does show that it was delivered, but no proof it was delivered to the correct address nor to the person whose name is on the box. Only a signature can do that. Not sure if this is how it would be viewed in a legal venue, but for most it is how it is viewed. USPS Delivery Confirmation is acceptable evidence for proof of delivery by Paypal, GlobalPay, NPC, and many other credit card processors if shipped to the credit card holder’s billing address.

Of course, this was actually shipped by FedEx.

When we went to the old address to talk to the person living there, she told us that she took the package to the USPS office on a certain road a few days prior. So we went to the USPS office in question who then informed us that if they get packages like that they’ll hand them off to FedEx when they show up. So then we talked to FedEx they told us they haven’t gotten anything new on that tracking number. At this point I’m fairly certain the lady kept the item.

So we went to Newegg on ebay and explained it all to them. But according to a person at Newegg, that since the tracking shows it was delivered, then it was delivered to me and if it was coming back to them they’d reject it since we didn’t have permission to send it back.

WHAT. THE. FUCK???

Newegg rejects packages that are sent back to them??? What horseshit is this? So who is going to get my $250 item? It certainly isn’t me. After looking at the Policy & Agreement page, I found nothing about misdeliveries. I will admit, I don’t quite understand the Risk of Loss part as it’s not terribly clear. I then decided to escalate this to ebay since it had been three days since I opened the issue.

If you have ever had to do this on ebay you’re probably familiar with the resolution center and how after three days if the seller and you can’t agree on a solution, ebay will gladly step in and help. They can only do that however, if you select to have the issue escalated. Which means clicking on a button that let’s them know. Which requires a button to be there to click. WHICH. I. DON’T. HAVE.

Seems like if you are a big enough company, you don’t have to worry about customers escalating any problems they may have with you up to ebay.

I don’t know about you, but I have noticed that ebay has been restricting things for some sellers across the site. For example, if you are a certain star seller you no longer have to worry about negative feedback (as buyers can no longer leave you any; it is either good or neutral feedback only) and now apparently not having any issues brought up against you should a problem arise.

I have actually reduced my ebay usage because of that. The last thing I ordered off of ebay was a digital item and I had no problems.  I only ordered 6 times from ebay in 2017. 5 times in 2016. I am actually looking more to Amazon now then ebay when it comes to low prices; with exception of hard to find older items (think My Little Ponies any year before 2009, or any other old not yet redone by an unimaginative group; and then usually poorly corporate america).

Hopefully Paypal isn’t going to be the same. As it wasn’t sent by USPS, I am wondering if the rules will be any different. I just want my damn money back or the item I ordered!

Until this is settled, and let’s be honest, done so to MY satisfaction, I’m not buying anything from Newegg and would greatly suggest you not buy things from them as well.

And to be completely honest, I really do think the lady kept the item as something would have been seen at least through FedEx about it and there has been nothing. Pretty sure she’s kept other items that were accidentally sent to the old address. Can’t prove it, but from the few places I know sent stuff there, none of them have gotten anything back. Wish I could prove it as this family made my mother-in-law’s life a living hell the last month she was there.

Until next time, it’s good practice to make a list of online businesses you buy from on a regular basis so if you move, you know who needs your current address. Instead of waiting until you get a shipped notification on something to see it wasn’t delivered to your new address and having to go through the hassle and headache of either tracking down the package, rerouting the package (I had to do that with UPS and managed to get it to my local UPS so I could pick it up there, wish we had done that for FedEx) or getting the package resent/refunded.

Much makes sense to me now.

Like many out there, yesterday I gave up two and a half hours of work to go see a movie. Granted I didn’t have to give up so much time, but I did it nonetheless.

And I am sure you know what movie it is I’m talking about.

And I hope you understand what is coming next.

But before I share my thoughts and feelings, I’m just going to say that if you were [insert any emotion here] about Star Wars The Force Awakens ignore it, trust me and go see The Last Jedi.

JUST TRUST ME ON THIS ONE.

So without further ado…..

There’s a word for that.

There is a name. A phrase. A moniker. I know it and I’m not really bothered by it. I however do find it a little funny. Maybe just the universe looking at me and going “Take that then!”

If you’re familiar with this blog you’ll roll your eyes in the moment and possibly even use one of those phrases, monikers or names if not all of the above.

Despite all things I managed to land myself in a work from home job as a CSA (Customer Service Agent) at least for the holidays.

For Amazon.

Yep. Go ahead and read that again if you wish. It’s not going to change. This doesn’t mean all is forgiven just because they’re giving me money to sit at home in my pjs (or less if you want to imagine that one next time you’re on the like with a csa and are upset at them). But I did figure you would all enjoy this little twisted universal role that is being played out at the moment.

And for anyone who might not be familiar with why this is a thing, read this and then this. And this too I suppose, but it’s not really all that relevant.

Don’t even start thinking I’m going on the inside to fix anything. I’m way too far down the pecking order/totem pole/directory to be able to do anything like that. And currently I’m not even helping out the customers who order things, but rather the drivers who deliver the packages the customer’s order.

Oh, didn’t you know that Amazon has their own drivers now? At least in most areas they do and not just the Flex areas (where you can get groceries, or order of food delivered from a grocery/restaurant) but others as well.

However that being said and all, I still had a HELL of a time getting started with this job. And for once it isn’t really entirely Amazon’s fault.

Appling and getting the job was no problem. Easy actually and I suspect so since they are looking for the extra help for the holidays. I had to go back up to the US in order to do a I9 form (this shows proof I am who I say I am and can work in the US) which with a little shuffling wasn’t too terrible either. I’d go up, do the form, wait for the equipment to arrive then come back home, do training and then work.

Universe is wearing a shit eating grin at all of that nonsense!

Getting to the US wasn’t a problem. I flew straight to El Paso Texas instead of the normal fly to Juarez and walk across the border way we usually go. I’m a little white female. I shouldn’t have to explain to you that going to El Paso would allow me to not spend too much time alone and therefore less likely to get harassed by anyone of any sex, religion, race or ethnicity on the planet. You know. Besides the Immigration officers who are generally awesome people anyway.

I got to take off my shoes for the first time ever when going through security (nope, I don’t go through US security often at all) and I even got to snag an Einstein Bro Bagel and a good cup of Starbucks coffee before hopping my next plane in Houston Texas. Oh, and Hi Houston, you were a wee bit warm!

Didn’t even have a problem getting my bag or meeting up with mom in law. The ride back to her house was uneventful.

In fact, everything that happened up to October 05 was pretty normal and boring. I drove, did the I9, got Starbucks. Normal. Boring.

Then UPS arrives with my equipment for my job and even that went okay for the most part. Obviously as they were sending a laptop and some sensitive materials I had to sign for it which I was expecting and reason I was waiting around for it.

The UPS driver set the small rectangular package on the ground while I signed my name strangely on his electronic device then he picked it up and handed to me and hot footed his ass out of there. Which by the way, is ALWAYS a sign that something is about to go topsy turvy on you. ALWAYS.

With the package in one hand I place my other under the corner and walk into the house and as the fingers of my left hand is playing with that corner they discover a hole. I flip the package over and of course it’s not a small hole. it’s a relatively large hole. I can stick more than one finger in this hole.

This is a hole I have pictures of because I just KNEW I was going to be missing SOMETHING important from that package. And I was. Something that I needed just to sign into the device!

I make calls, send emails, ask on Quora just for an answer. I was suppose to get the equipment a week before I was due to start training. I started training October 9. A week is still 7 days.

First day of training comes and I do not have the tool I need to log into my device but of course I’m calling in to the conference and have already contacted my Team Manager about the situation. Since there was nothing I could do, after roll call I could hang up and do whatever. I wasn’t the only one however who was having problems. Some others too had lost one of the tools in the mail as I did (although I’m starting to wonder if they were even packed to be honest) so I don’t feel too left out I suppose is the appropriate state of mind.

The next day I still hadn’t gotten my tool. In fact I won’t get it until that Friday. My Team Manager has decided that I’ll just start the training with the group after hers but I still get paid for that one Monday as I was there.

Tool comes in. I get to train. Long story short but not short enough, an at most week long trip turned into a month. Hubby ended coming up for the last week as Mominlaw was in the process of moving, which really didn’t effect my training or starting on the phone at all. I did however have a major panic attack when I first started on the phone but took a pill that made me too tired to have a panic attack and I have been fine ever since.

I’ve already gotten my first full pay check (by full I mean working full time for two weeks) and do not mind the job all that much. It can be a bit boring at times as there has been some pauses between calls.  But it’s pretty easy.

Of course I say that before the SEASON kicks in. Before people go crazy with stress and all those silly notions that they’re the only people on the planet that matter. Hopefully they’ll keep me on drivers as I’m going to pretend they’re not going to flip their lids as bad as purchasing customers will. But they have their own set of stresses as well.

That is what I have been up to for the last month. Travelled back to the US on September 28th then back here on Halloween. I am very glad to have my fur babies (furbies…can’t really call them that as there are some who are all too aware of the toy of the same name but it really fits) around me again, but I discovered that I’m not entirely happy with the house we’re in and so am actively looking for a new place to rent.

It’s amazing what you discover about where you live when you’ve been gone from it for so long.

Until next time, remember that should you have to call into customer service for any reason and any business, the person you get on the phone is no way connected to your problem. They are just learning about it and although they can tell you’re upset or distressed over the issue, you are going to get further by showing some kindness instead of trying to force an issue. Just think of how YOU would react to how you’re acting and adjust your attitude accordingly.

What is the answer to gun control?

In light of every mass shooting the United States has had in the modern era, I got to wondering what can actually be done about this type of horror we keep seeing.

I know people will never give up their right to own guns. Why should they when a great number of them are gun intelligent? In other words, you give them a gun and they won’t shoot themselves or others on accident.

What’s left to do then?

I’ve come to the conclusion that the answer lies in the lives that we lose.

Upon some poking around and doing some research I discovered that the people who are dying from gun-related incidents are not from mass murders. Don’t get me wrong, 58 dead with more than 500 injured is no small thing.

Neither is the 49 killed and more than 50 injured on June 12, 2016, at Pulse nightclub.

Certainly not the 32 killed with an undetermined number of others injured on April 16, 2007, at Virginia Tech Blacksburg.

The senseless killing of 20 little ones, and 6 adults on December 17, 2012, at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The 23 killed on October 16, 1991, at Luby’s Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas.

21 adults and children dead in a San Ysidro California McDonalds on July 18, 1984, because of some old white guy.

16 were killed and 30 others wounded at the University of Texas in Austin Texas on August 1, 1966, where it was later discovered that two more were killed earlier that same day.

San Bernardino: 14 killed on December 2, 2015

Edmond, Oklahoma: 14 postal workers killed on August 20, 1986, with handguns.

Fort Hood: 13 are killed and 32 injured at Fort Hood, Texas military base.

There are five other instances where 13 people lost their lives because someone has been pushed to the edge of tolerance.

Here are some other numbers for you:

33,000* – the approximate number of lives ended by guns in the United States every year.

Two thirds – how many of those gun deaths in the United States that were suicides.

1 in 5 young men (15 to 34) killed in homicides often related to gang loyalties or other street violence.

1,700 – the number of women murdered every year generally as the result of domestic violence (quick note: I am more than aware that domestic violence goes both ways. I feel that the laws against domestic violence need to be enforced onto both sexes. Here the focus is on women deaths due to domestic violence as women are more often killed then men).

333 – the number of people who have lost their lives in mass shootings.

All these numbers are horrifying. But please explain to me how a blanket law for gun control is going to help?

Australia. Yes, they have a nice ban on guns but look at the number of mass shootings they have had. Not enough to actually make the ban show any difference in overall numbers.

In both Britain and Australia, bans have not reduced the number of mass shootings or gun related-crimes. And gun restrictions had an ambiguous effect on other gun-related crimes or deaths.

Now let us look at some of the blanket ideals for gun control:

Assault weapons*: You do not go in and buy an assault weapon. This is a classification that includes any semi-automatic with two or more features. A bayonet mount, rocket-propelled grenade-launcher mount, folding stock or pistol grips. Anyone who is gun intelligent can tell you that these features can easily be added or removed to a gun like Lego sets.

Silencers: Not so silent. Or rather forget movie silencers. An AR-15 with a silencer is about as loud as a jackhammer*. These are more for the shooters then quietly ending lives.

Magazine limits: A bit better, if you ignore the practiced shooters* who can change magazines so fast the limits are quite meaningless.

There has been no proposed restriction that would make it harder for people with guns on hand to actually use them.

A blanket gun control law is not going to help. What possibly will help is narrowly tailored interventions. All the deaths listed above need different protections.

People who think about committing suicide need better access to people who could care for them and get them help. These are usually older men!

Women who are endangered by specific men need police to get off their asses and enforce restraining orders that prohibit these men from buying and owning guns.

Mentors are needed who can help de-escalate conflicts and keep young people at risk of being violent from becoming so.

New Orleans has the right idea with their gang member identification practice*. The numbers are there, but they have to be disarmed one by one, personally.

When we can make the small individual changes then we can see a large scale difference in not only the not often seen numbers but in those publicized mass shootings ones as well. Most of those shootings are caused by someone, usually a white male that has problems that we know how to begin treating that just isn’t given the chance to be treated.

*33,000 gun deaths a year in the United States

Data of Mass Shootings (suicides, gang/street related, domestic violence)

Mass Shooting Analysis

Suicides in the US

Domestic Abuse towards Women

*Assault Weapons

*Loud as a jackhammer

*World’s Fastest Reload

*New Orleans gun control

This was spurred by an article with many of these points laid out, but it’s a Washington Post article and they really limit the amount you can read on their site without a subscription. Here is a 30 day pass for The Washington Post. As a subscriber I do not know if the Washington Post will hassle you into buying a subscription or not. Only you can choose if this is something you wish to do or not. Do not come at me because of anything the Washington Post may do to or for you.

Until next time, we as a nation need to look closely to laws that help the ones that need it the most. There has never been a successful blanket solution that works for all.

The most famous adult day care center in the US.

It’s a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.

— Senator Bob Corker (@SenBobCorker) October 8, 2017

Corker made headlines last week when he starkly suggested that the national security team provides the president with badly needed adult supervision.

And of course, you are aware of the tweet storm the dotard did this lovely Sunday morning (October 8, 2017) raging against the Senator when Corker decided not to run in 2018. When I saw the headline “Corker calls White House ‘an adult day care center’ in response to Trump’s latest Twitter tirade” I knew this was going to be an article I just HAD to read.

Although I cannot find where Corker suggested that the national security team provide the president with badly needed adult supervision. It’s probably buried in an article or tweet somewhere. But not in any of Corker’s tweets it appears.

I with millions of Americans (not just in the US) agree with the Senator on this topic greatly. The dotard has made it his “signature” to tweet storm like an angst-filled teenager about anything or person who dares stand in his way or suggest he is anything but awesome.

As if the tweet storms themselves were not bad enough, his spelling and usage of American English are appalling. He has no grasp on how to use simple things as quotation marks; which he displayed prominently in his latest tweets this morning.

If nothing else what his tweet storms actually do is provide great fodder for comedians and people worldwide to mock and ridicule him. And he also uses them to distract the public from certain agendas and missteps his administration are continuously making.

I suppose these storms wouldn’t be as bad if they were thoughtfully and inspiringly done. Hell, Kim Jong-un brought back an old English word that had been long forgotten in these modern times and made it popular again. If that wasn’t enough, it’s a word whose definition speaks the truth on how many US citizens (here and abroad) and the rest of the world think of and feel for the adult toddler in the White House. Who knew such a word existed that fully in all totality conveyed how we think of him?

What other forgotten words are missing from our vocabularies that should be brought back? We could have a whole lexicon of wonderful words that people are clueless about, almost as if we’re speaking a whole new (old?) language! Should there be classes on this old forgotten language, and what words should we bring back.

Perhaps most importantly who is going to unearth those ancient dictionaries, brush the dust from their covers and read those fragile pages that hold a wealth of information and possible verbal ammunition?

Where do these tombs hide I wonder, besides long forgotten places known as libraries?

The dotard has successfully embarrassed an entire nation of her citizens and made the other nations push us to the side as if we’re that annoying relative that has lost most of their minds and only on rare occasions actually brings something useful to the table.

We went from an awesome nation who was proud of their first African-American president to almost making another first but failing with such brilliance as to leave many absolutely baffled at the turn of events.

It’s understandably ironic to think that we went from 8 years of having an African-American President whose racist oppositionist’s voices were smothered by all those who had open minds to a White Supremacist whose close-minded supporters gleefully and violently stomp on all those whose beliefs differ in any way from theirs.

Because darlings, the type of person we choose to sit at the head of the table greatly influences the type people our nation becomes. While the beliefs of the people may never change, the voices that are heard above all others does.

Until next time, it may actually do us all some good to expand our vocabularies and minds. Find yourself an old dictionary and get to reading!

I did WHAT??!!!

September 10, 2014, 4:07 PM, Cuernavaca Mexico.

It all started with 19 innocent words:

“Could you remove your google accounts from my phone except the one with the Google Rewards attached to it?”

Not a difficult thing to do really, even if you haven’t played with the phone in question for a few months and have a vague remembrance of Android.

If you’re a normal full functioning human being that is.

In a matter of seconds I managed to delete three of my Google accounts without even realizing I had done so. Until my iPhone bugged me to update my mail passwords, which wasn’t until that evening– I don’t have my iPhone actively going out to get mail as I don’t need it to, nor do I want it to.

It was then when the password didn’t work so I jumped on the PC and tried to log in there. Then I tried the browser. And then I realized I did something so incredibly stupid.

I still want to know why Google would allow deleting your account from a mobile device. Or why they don’t send an email confirmation first? ANYTHING but just deleting it. Fail safes people!

So I followed protocol and tried and tried to guess or figure out what the answers could be. In case you have never tried to recover a deleted account, it is no where as easy as deleting it.

Also, if you have a gmail/google account, you may want to take note of the questions I am going to reveal so that you can get said information and keep it safe. Preferably not in your gmail account or on a cloud connected to a gmail account. Perhaps send the info in an email to another account you own or keep it as a file on your computer. Or on a back up drive. Or even freaking written down on a piece of paper kept in a scrapbook!

Of course the first question is what is your password. Well that was easy and for most people it would be easy. Please remember passwords or have a way to find it that doesn’t involve your gmail account.

Quick interesting tidbit about passwords. Many people like to save their passwords with their browser, which okay it’s your account whatever

Next is When did you create the account? Wait, WHAT?? One of the accounts is 11 years old. The other is 6 years old and the last one is only 2 years old. The last one was easy. It had to do with a movie so I just had to figure out when the movie came out. But that was not enough.

The best way to figure out the date is to save that welcome email Gmail sends you when you first sign up. One that I never save. If you don’t have that, you could see the earliest message sent or received by the account. You only need the month and year. You best bet is to download a copy of your Gmail. I know, I know WTF Angel right? This is actually easy. Log in to the account via browser. Click the square of dots in the upper right corner next to your picture and then click on My Account.

Under the Personal info & privacy heading there is a section called Control your content it is the last section in this heading. There you will find the Download or transfer your content where you can create an archive of your entire Gmail account. You get to choose what you want to keep in it so go ahead and do that. Google will email you when it’s done, if you selected that option, you can also save this in the cloud. You might want to download it however in case you delete your account.

Next was send a code to the number on file. Two didn’t have a number and one had a old number that was not in use. I’m not surprised as I kept getting bill collectors calling form some person I never heard of before and they wouldn’t believe me. Keep in mind, you can skip any of these questions, but the more you know, the more in likely you’ll get the account back.

In the My Account section of Gmail you should have saw a Security Checkup suggestion. I suggest you run through this real quick to make sure you have access to all the things listed. REMOVE ANY PHONE NUMBERS YOU DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO. I had my new number attached to one of the accounts, but I never removed the old number. It picked the old number. There really is no reason to keep the old numbers around as you obviously cannot use them to recover your account.

One account actually had a security question. Google no longer does security questions. But if you already have a security question, make sure you know it.

The more you know, the better the chances are in getting your account back. TRUST ME.

After the security question if there is one, you’ll be asked to provide the recovery email account you set up in case stuff like this or you forget your password happens. It’s going to have to be exact.

They’ll send a Verification Code, but that doesn’t mean a you’re getting it back. Once you input the code and it’s correct and everything else you’ve answered matches you’ll get a text box for you to tell them what happened or more about the account.

After the first couple of times failing with this, a friend mentioned that I should go into deep details. Things about the account only I would know. This is what I put:

On September 10, 2017 at 4:07 PM I accidentally deleted my account using my husband {his name} cell phone {(his cell number)}. We have been in {City, State, Country} on and off since August 2015 and we were at home {Entire home address} when this happened. I didn’t realize my mistake until my iPhone {(My cell number)} asked for my password and it wasn’t working. I also deleted two other accounts at the same time as this one; {the other two accounts} which I have managed to get back, the latter is the recovery email for this account.

That was for the lesser of the three. Husband managed to get the 11 year old one back pretty quickly, but the 6 year old one was giving me trouble. This is what I said for that one.

On September 10, 2017 at 4:07 PM I accidentally deleted my account using my husband {his name} cell phone {(his cell number)}. We have been in {City, State, Country} on and off since August 2015 and we were at home {Entire home address} when this happened. I didn’t realize my mistake until my iPhone {(My cell number)} asked for my password and it wasn’t working. I also deleted two other accounts at the same time as this one; {the other two accounts} one which I have managed to get back, and is the recovery email for this account. I also have a Google Voice number associated with this account {google voice number} that I used to text my mother and brother in Alaska {gave both of their phone numbers} and my husband used hangouts to send me links to articles and things he though I’d like.

I would have gone on except I ran out of characters.

But with those two paragraphs, I managed to get both my accounts back. My husband said something close to what I did to get the 11 year old account back. He didn’t have the day or time available as I didn’t even get that information until I got the 11 year old account back as I managed to delete the 6 year old account first which in turn sent an email to my 11 year old account about the 6 year old account being deleted as it was the recovery account. Following me here? Also, don’t use other gmail accounts as recovery accounts. Use anything BUT gmail accounts. Even if you have to create a yahoo, outlook or Hotmail account. Hell AOL would work!

My suggestions if you loose your account with Google in any way:

–Be detailed! As you can see from my explanations to Google above I used as much detail as I could possibly think of. No detail is too small or silly. I imagine knowing the date and time the account was deleted (or when you last had access should you have to go this far in recovering your password, honestly that’s an easier event then account recovery) probably helped a lot. Also knowing the number of the device I deleted it from although not everyone is going to delete the account from a device. For PCs/MAC I’d suggest knowing the browser you were using and try to note the time. If you know your IP that is great as well. Typing ‘What’s my ip’ into Google will get you that information.

-Know your security stuff! Make sure all numbers are up to date. Make sure there ARE numbers! The number can be from anywhere as long as you have access to it. Don’t use Google Voice numbers as they are attached to your gmail account and will disappear with the account.

-Just pay attention! I was distracted when I was removing deleting my accounts so I didn’t read what was going on. I just flipped through it quickly not even registering that I was putting my password in to have them removed. THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN IF YOU ARE SIMPLY REMOVING THE ACCOUNT. Apparently.

-Don’t panic! You have two to three weeks to get back deleted accounts. Although the sooner you try the better apparently. I did mine in 3 days. Everything is there. As far as I can tell. I only missed three days of emails, which in my opinion is no big deal.

When you discover you fucked up and have gathered all the stuff I mentioned above, start here. You will always start here.

Until next time, this is probably a good time to go through all your accounts everywhere and make sure you have everything up to date in the security sections. Couldn’t hurt!