[modbait]

Regardless, having lost access to my first Google account, it's still a good cautionary tale.

In my case, for whatever reason, Google stopped believing that I was the owner of the account, even though I knew my password and secret questions, and was coming from the same IP I had been for years. In addition, a friend inside the company who personally vouched for me was still unable to fix the problem.

Google is a point of failure. Be sure you're prepared for the day your account disappears.