Just wanted to make sure I'm not screwing myself before I do this: when I click on "Settings" under "accounts" - when I click off the google account, it gives me the option to remove the account as you say, but then I get this scary error message: "REMOVE ACCOUNT -- This account is required by some applications. You can only delete it by resetting the phone to factory defaults (which deletes all your personal data). You do that in the Settings application, under About phone."
I've spent the past 3 weeks personalizing the daylights out of my phone and have entered all kinds of settings and preferences and passwords which I don't want to do all over again. Will removing my google account from my DI make me do this all over again? If so, I might have to live with my old password and the imminent threat of massive hack-attack by my son.