Combination Locks and Passwords

Yesterday I got to do a bit of shopping and picked up a lock for my bicycle. Now I can use my bike to go shopping and not worry about leaving my bike in the front of the store. While I was making the decision, I had a choice between a combination lock or a key lock. I decided on a combination lock so I don't have to worry about always having the key with me.

When I was about 8 years old, I discovered that padlocks came in two basic versions: keyed or combination. I told my dad that I didn't ever want a combination lock because I might forget the sequence of numbers. He informed me that it was much more likely that I would lose the key. When I finally got to Junior High, I was issued my first combination lock and quickly overcame my fear of using random numbers to open doors. I still have a padlock that I got during that era of my life and have not forgotten the combination even though it can be years between uses.

Several months ago, I was headed to the airport in Salt Lake when I realized that I left the keys for my California car at home. I had to rush home, get the keys, and return to the airport. I made my flight with only minutes to spare. Had I forgotten my keys, it would have been impossible to get my car out of long-term parking. I would have had to get my wife FedEx them to my office and paid for an extra day of parking. I would have also had to find an alternative way to get from the Oakland airport to my office in Foster City. I now have a spare car key that I keep on the boat in case something similar happens again.

Thinking about my new bike lock and why I chose the one I did, reminded me that we use combination locks all the time. Every time I use an automatic teller machine to withdraw money from the bank, I use a 4-digit combination or password. Every time I log into one of my many computers, I am forced to use a password which is a type of combination lock. That gives me an idea for a new password: thirty-0-twenty4, my old combination lock from Junior High.