Who's on twitter?

In an attempt at search engine optimization, I created a twitter account last November, but haven't used it much. My lack of a smart phone is a hindrance on tweeting, so I never remember to post anything.  I should, as it's a great way to publicize my blog and get more readers/community members.  Every once in a while I do a twitter search for trailing spouse keywords, and today I found the Trailing Husband blog:

That's how people find my blog too!  Depressing, but not depressing at the same time.

I am also now infinitely more google-able.  If you search "trailing spouse blog" (but without the quotes) I am on the second page.  That's up from the 17th!  That means that next time some lady all tripped up on gender expectations and fear of moving figures out that "trailing spouse", as odious as it sounds, is a term she can use, she may stumble onto my blog and feel a little better.  And find other people's blogs, and maybe stop stumbling.  Guys, too, because it's not boys against girls.  Gender expectations make things suck for everyone.

So, if y'all have twitter accounts, let me know and I'll follow you!

I'm now a hacker. All your crumpetroom are belong to ME.

I accidentally hacked into a stranger's gmail account yesterday.  Repeatedly.  But I had no idea I was doing it.

Years ago, I had an address that was just for event planning, and was set to re-direct to my commonly-used address.  I thought I would use that address for my new twitter account, but twitter said it was already used.  We'll say the address was crumpetroom@gmail.com (if this is a real address, please forgive me).  "Hrm... why am I using crumpetroom@gmail.com on twitter? I'm not even on twitter," I thought, and decided maybe I should check in and see what was happening.  Password denied! I don't know what harebrained password I was using two years ago, but nothing was working, so I tried my security question:

Does poop smell bad?

...yes?  Me and J and our old roommate were kidders, and there was no dearth of poot jokes in our home, but "Does poop smell bad?"  That's just not even smart.  I typed YES, which wasn't right, then tried NO.  Success!  I guess I was banking on someone unable to ever type a lie of that magnitude.  Or maybe I was just really confident at that time?  Who uses a yes or no answer for a security question? When you get two guesses?  This guy?

So I am in my old account, and there are no emails. No labels that I've made. People in the gchat list THAT I DON'T KNOW.  I went to the account settings and saw that it was re-directing to another email, so I emailed that person and told them I had filed a complaint with Gmail and he/she would be summarily booted.  Ha!

Soon after I receive an email:

I signed up for this gmail account years ago.  i'm not sure how you obtained access to it, but if you notice, the user name is K** ****, which is my other gmail account.

Oh, really huh? You think you can just squat in crumpetroom@gmail.com and make it yours? I've had that account for years... I... my.... my account was thecrumpetroom@gmail.com, wasn't it?

Yeah, I tried that, and got in immediately.  What I had done was hack into an innocent woman's email account and send her a menacing message, all because I couldn't remember that I'd put "the" at the beginning of the username.  Damage control!

OH MY GOD
I am so sorry.  I just figured this out. I was just a few letters off on the user name, which I haven't used in years.  Please forgive me.  But you really should beef up your security question to something that isn't yes or no.  I am not a hacker, but I was able to get in really easily.

 She was really nice about it, and responded with lots of Eastern emoticons (O.o) and said she figured I wasn't a hack from all my "nice little tweets".  I would have looked myself up, too, if some crazy person had commandeered my account.  Really, she was very, very kind about it, when she did not have to be.  Thank you, true owner of crumpetroom@gmail.com.  Oh, internet.

So, make sure your security password is not "Does poop smell bad?" and also keep up with what accounts you actually own.  And if you want to have more than one twitter account on one email, just put a period in there somewhere (cru.mpetroom = crumpetroom).  Twitter ain't that smart.

When I do something stupid, from now on it will be referred to as "going to the crumpet room".

Secret Confessions now on Twitter

Hands Occupied suggested I get a twitter account, so here I am.  I'm really terrible at design, so please don't vomit when you see my profile page.  I am not quite sure what to post there other than when I have a new post up, or articles concerning the traveling spouse, but I promise you won't be inundated with a live-feed of my feelings.  Also: Wife in a Suitcase? That does not help my negative feelings about all this. At least she isn't in several suitcases.

John Boehner, "Rape-rape", and what we can do about it

*Trigger warning*

Top-priority in this country, in John Boehner's POV, is changing the definition of rape.  Not for the better, mind you, but to make sure that less women are covered for government-funded abortions that result from sexual assault.  You probably read about "rape-rape" during the latest surge of the Polanski debate, but now our politicians are seriously differentiating a violent assault from date rape, statutory and coercion.   The way it's been, only rape and incest are covered by the government for abortion funding. So to further whittle that down, the Repubs want to define what "kind" of rape they're willing to include in this exemption.  Drugged? No. Unconscious and woke up with someone inside you that you did not consent to?  Young teen molested by your stepdad? No. No.

Rape is rape. There is not "rape-ier" rape. There is no tiered system.  There is abuse and hopefully there is help, but many people in government want to take away the second option.

Sady Doyle of Tiger Beatdown has started another twitter campaign, and if you smirk at that kind of idea, that's fine, but it works to get the word out (@JohnBoehner, #DearJohn).  Write to your representatives about this, tweet about it, write about it, and don't let it go down silently.  It isn't hard-- fill out a form, tell them what you think about what's happening.  A redefinition of rape is terrible in terms of abortion coverage, but it may have far-reaching legal implications that will obviously not help survivors and victims.

Think about how fucking awful any sexual assault is, then think about being told you weren't raped enough to get government assistance. And you can't afford an abortion on your own.  Or raise a child. This makes me so ashamed of our country right now.