I have lost my login informatio to my XMRadio account online.   No big deal.   I will go to the site and have it sent to me.    I go to their site and click “Forgot Password”.   The next page is a form asking for your username and they will send a new password to the email address on the account.   Simple enough – except I have forgotten my username too.   Oh, but there is hope!!  There is a link to find out your username.  Perfect!!!   I click on that and it asks me for one of the Radio IDs on the account and it will email me the username to my email address.  Done.

I get the email and it lists my username.  Great.  I go back to their site and click “Forgot Password” again.   This time I use the username from the email and hit the button.   Oh.  Error.   That username is not valid.   uh???  How is it not valid if you just sent it to me when I asked you for it.    Fire off an email to customer service.

Dear Mr. Meyer,

Thank you for contacting XM. Unfortunately, we were unable to locate your account using the information that you provided in your email.  If you could please email us again including any of the following: your XM account number, your Radio ID (found on Channel 0), or your address and phone number, we would be happy to assist you.

We are committed to providing you with the best in customer care.  You can always manage your account 24/7 by visiting our website at www.xmradio.com.

If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to send an additional email or you may contact a Listener Care Representative directly at 1-800-XM RADIO (800-967-2346).

Thank you,

Gwen
XM Email Listener Care Team

Um, OK.   I gave you the info your website gave me when I gave it the RadioID.   But I will send that to you and maybe you can help.  I replied to the email so the entire email thread is available.   The next (and only other response I get):

Dear Mr. Meyer, Thank you for contacting XM. In response to your inquiry, our records indicate that your eCare account is active. Please visit listenercare.xmradio.com or ecare.xmradio.com and enter your username and your password. If you do not remember your password or username, click on the “Forgot your password” Or “Forgot your username” links on the website. Please let us know if you need further assistance. We hope you are enjoying XM’s 100% commercial-free music and entertainment programming. We are committed to providing you with the best in customer care. You can always manage your account 24/7 by visiting our website at www.xmradio.com. If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to send an additional email or you may contact a Listener Care Representative directly at 1-800-XM RADIO (800-967-2346). Thank you, Harvey XM Email Listener Care Team

Are you kidding me Harvey?   The whole point in my contacting customer service was that the website could not help me and I just wanted to change my email address.      XMRadio Customer Service: FAIL

Thanks for not being so helpful.

I am in the middle of changing email addresses due to an ISP change.  No big deal, I will just go around to my online accounts and change my address, right?   WRONG!!!

I am changing my address from a .com to a less common .me gTLD.  It is a vanity domain I have which I will always have no matter what ISP I use in the future.   Like a GMail account, only my own domain.

Locally, I have Duke Energy as my electrical utility.  I have had an online account with them for years.  Online invoicing and online billing.   It is great not having to watch the mail for another out-of-band bill to pay.  I went into the online account system and clicked on my profile to change my email address to my new one.   I hit save and the site generated an error.  I tried a couple more times and it kept generating errors.   So, I broke down and fired an email off to customer service.  Here there response:

Dear Mr. Meyer:

Thank you for your e-mail to Duke Energy regarding your e-mail address.

Duke Energy’s online services will only recognize addresses such as .com, .net or .org, .me would not be an acceptable e-mail address which is the reason you are receiving the error message.

I apologize for any inconvenience.

Please reply to this e-mail or contact the Customer Service Department at 1-800-521-2232 for further assistance. Representatives are available Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Sincerely
Nicole, Web Support Specialist

I read this and could not believe it.  Duke’s system will only allow three gTLDs for email addresses and if you aren’t using one of those – too bad?   Really??    Why?   I have changed my account everywhere else without a problem:

Bank – Check.
Gas Company – Check
Phone/ISP – Check
TV Service – Check
Retirement Accounts – Check

I emailed back asking if Nicole could change the account for me (is it just the website isn’t configured right).   She said she could not change it either.  FAIL!

If anyone knows why Duke Energy would be the only company (out of about 30 that I changed successfully) that requires .com, .net, or .org addresses, please let me know.  It just makes no sense to me.

I guess I will go back to paper billings until Duke can get their head out of their *$$ and actually understand how the internet works (and these are the people bringing us the smart power grid????)

The Indiana “Save Our Summers” initiative passed the Senate today.  Our only hope is that our House of Representatives is not as stupid.  The Senate Bill (SB150) mandates that local school boards may not set a school start date before Labor day nor end after June 10 of the following year.  Basically, guaranteeing an extended summer.

The first issue I have with this bill is that it mandates to the local school boards how to set their calendars.  They must still have 180 days each school year.  Take this year for example.  The school year here started on Aug 12.  That is three weeks before this new start date.  The year ends May 27.  Based on this new law, we need to make up 3 full weeks due to early start date.  We can shift 2 weeks to the end of the year – that would put us at June 10.  We would still have to make up another week somewhere – guess they will take away fall break and/or spring break to make up this difference.  That’s a horrible idea.

I am a firm believer that we need MORE classroom time without long breaks.  Let’s add days to the calendar.  Let’s have shorter more frequent breaks.  “Traditional” classroom calendars were designed in the pre-globilization area.  Now, our children have to compete with others in different countries for the same jobs.  Maybe it is time to try something new to advance our children’s education.  Year long calendars are an option.

There are a host of benefits that the proponents point to.  One is “we will save money because we don’t have to cool the schools during the hottest month of the year”.  Um, ok?  I didn’t have A/C in my school.  (But now I sound like my father.)  How about we have a semester break and take the month of January off?  Then as a trade we don’t heat the school during the coldest month of the year.

There have to be better options to further our children’s education than to mandate that summer breaks be longer.  Is that really the best idea?  Kids don’t read during the summer months.  Kid’s don’t study algebra or work on their writing skills.  Give kids the help they need let the local school boards determine how to give that to them.

With all the budget problems our state is having, this is what the state government has decided is most important to waste their session on?  If you are an Indiana resident, I urge you to contact your State Rep and stop this madness before we don’t have a choice.

So, IPS has decided to have a two-hour delay for school on the Monday after the SuperBowl.  Now, I am all for cheering on your favorite team when they are up for a championship, but come on – sacrificing a child’s education for it?  This just makes no sense to me.  IPS states the problem rests with the number of bus drivers who called in sick after the last SuperBowl appearance of the Colts.  Do people in Indianapolis really have their priorities that screwed up?  I will stay up and watch the game, but I will also make my commitments to my job and arrive on time Monday morning.

Solve the problem and not avoid it.  Let’s keep kids in school and show them the value of education over a single game.  Win or Lose, the kids are still missing class time.  Class time that everyone agrees is to little.

Glad I live in a county that understands the value of an education over a game.  My kids will be in school on-time on Monday.