Now there's a shock

That accent thing, look below the cut

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The West
The Inland North
Boston
North Central
Philadelphia
The South
The Northeast
What American accent do you have?

You know, since I'm in Illinois, bred from middle American stock, and grew up in a college town... It's a freaking miracle I sound like I'm from anywhere at all.

Bank of America makes me want to gnaw scenery.

I just had to deal with the fact that some moron has been trying to log into online banking using my ID, and so I get locked out. The girl I spoke to initially was obviously giggling (I think she thought she was being sly and muting but her headset wasn't muting properly), so I asked to be escalated to a less condescending person. Maybe she just has Fran Drescher voice, but I wanted to kill her after three words (and, dare I say it, perhaps, with such a disability, she oughtn't to work in a telephone customer service position?).

That took 10 minutes, but the next guy was okay. I was able to get the thing fixed, and found out that no, they don't send out email alerts that some moron has been trying to log on with the wrong account code so you are locked out. I suggested that someone might want to do that (i.e. "please call customer service to reset your online banking for security reasons" or somesuch) instead of causing panic with an Access Denied message and rude first line phone personnel.

Also, I DESPISE "voice recognition" phone systems. They SUCK, especially when you have a three year old. Everything takes five times as long, when your kid is screaming MOMMMY! while you are trying to say "customer service" clearly and audibly.

Makes me want to find the person who thought this would be a good idea and explain why voice recognition is a step BACKWARDS in interface design, just now.

Hair and another BlogFlog

I cut my hair. It's shorter now than it's been since... before I married my ex. That's a long time.

I cut it in an angled bob, kind of just ponytailed-and-hacked for now, but I'll have it professionally touched up in a week or so, once I'm used to it.

Now to the blogflog. Since this is mostly for personal stuff now, I have another blog, this one for crafty stuff, here. The latest entry is a recipe for a yummy venison stew.