Passwords

For the project I recently completed, I had an amazing number of passwords; I think there were six altogether. In my real life, I'm not sure how many there are; one each for my e-mail accounts, of which there are more than one; one each for two student loans; one for my bank account; one each for three career sites; one each for three networking sites; one each for four other sites I can think of.

Don't even start me on the corporate websites that each require submission of new information and creation of user name and password. For those, I rely on the e-mail indicating I have an account to tip me off on new information. It's really annoying because there aren't many corporate sites that I return to for additional applications.

Like most people, I end up recycling and using, say, "doodlebug" on several different sites. I know you're not supposed to, but realistically, if you're not supposed to write them down, what else can you do? As it is, I get locked out of sites regularly because I'm using one of my passwords, just not the one for that site.

Currently I'm locked out of one of my student loans, which really isn't the end of the world; I still have the ability to make online payments, the site just won't track the amounts, other than e-mailing me confirmation of payment. I have to call and get it re-set but during limited hours. I much prefer it when I can e-mail to have my password reset and get an automatic response but not all sites I use have that option available.

I understand why passwords are getting more complex, but it's difficult when I can only remember so many of them and correlate them to the correct accounts. Password isn't a very good password, nor is the name of your favorite team or your pet. Most people understand that; on the other hand, I had a supervisor whose password was "qwerty."

Maybe one of these days I'll remember my passwords.