Where O Where Has My Little Pan Gone?

Okay seriously.  How do you lose a frying pan?  

Well, when you love something, let it go...and all that.  

My apparently bizarrely personal feelings regarding a frying pan notwithstanding, that's hardly the point here.  

If you yell its name really loudly, maybe it will come back!  It's just scared, that's all.

Okay, you're not being helpful.

Not trying.  

So today's Sametime Status is brought to you by the fact that I lost a freaking frying pan.  I don't know how I lost a frying pan.  All I know is that I can't find it.  

It's not my favorite frying pan, but it's a very useful one in my arsenal.  It's quite small, and the perfect size for making egg sandwiches.  I use it pretty much any time I'm doing that...and that's actually about it, really.  But that doesn't make it any less important.  Egg sandwiches aren't just going to make themselves, you know.  

The thing that bothers me here is that I have no idea how one goes about losing a frying pan.  I mean...there are a total of three places that it goes in its lifetime.  It sits in a cupboard until it's time to put it on the stove.  Once you're done cooking with it, it goes in the sink.  Then, after washing, it goes back in the cupboard (or, let's be honest...it probably goes back on the stove to air dry since I don't feel like putting that much effort into this whole "washing dishes" thing).  So recently, when it came time to make an egg sandwich, I searched the stove top ever so briefly for my egg sandwich pan, and went immediately to the cupboard.  The pan wasn't in there.  I was hopelessly confused for at least a couple minutes, owing to both the fact that it's generally difficult to lose a frying pan, and that it was early in the morning, so just about anything out of the ordinary will confuse me.  I had to use a larger frying pan to make my egg sandwich, and the egg turned out to be too big and thin, so flipping was more of a challenge than I had wanted to deal with.  

Breakfast eventually prevailed, but I've been on the lookout for my missing frying pan ever since.  It's been thus far a fruitless search which is annoying.  Because...seriously...how do you lose a frying pan? 

Softer, Too

It’s Password Day!  My email password is no longer F1uffyk1tt13z

This is a really delightful email password...it's a shame to see it go.  After all, Kitties Are So Nice.  

While I certainly agree with Bubbles there, I usually feel obligated at this point to remind everyone that neither this, nor any of the Password Day posts have ever been used as my email password...so don't bother trying to go hacking into my stuff.  You'll just find a bunch of boring work stuff in there anyway...and an email from a guy whose volleyball team I'll be playing against tonight reminding me that it's On, but that's entirely beside the point.  

In related news...my computer is weird.  

Back when I first got it, I would hit Ctrl-Alt-Del (the standard computing Three-Fingered Salute) to unlock the computer, and it would prompt me to enter my password.  Pretty standard fare.  A few Password Days ago, it started to behave differently, and I was never sure why.  I'd hit the TFS, and it would then ask me to select a user.  Since I was the only user, I would just hit "Enter" to select me, then type in the password.  It wasn't that much of an inconvenience...just one keystroke...so I accepted this as the way it must be, got into the habit of pressing Enter after the TFS, and moved on with my life.  Well, this Password Day, I changed my password, and the extra Enter is no longer required.  Why?  I don't know.

This makes things worse, because now, I press the Three-Fingered Solute, hit enter on the password box, which immediately fails since the correct password is not blank, and now I only have two more chances to type in the correct password.  Given my standard percentage of typos, this is pretty bad news.

So now, I have to get right back out of the habit of pressing enter to select me as the user, because months later, my computer realizes once again that I'm the only user.  I don't get it.  Kitties are easier to deal with.

And Nothing About Bird Flu

Do Blake Shelton CDs come with a warning label from the Surgeon General?  

So, Jeremy's been spending his vacation time in an area containing lots of...shall we say...People Of Country Music Persuasion.  It's troubling, I know...but it does lead to the occasional humorous Sametime Status.  

While on vacation, I was made aware of the popular country music song "Boys Round Here" by Blake Shelton.  I'm going to assume it's a popular song because while I've learned more about Blake Shelton music than I ever wanted (or felt to be safe), I couldn't be bothered to look up the sales statistics.  The song begins with the ever-poignant line "Red red red red red red red red redneck."  So, we're starting from a position of strength.  

The chorus of the song, after dealing with the seemingly obligatory topics of religion, pickup trucks, and beer, closes with the line "Chew tobacco, chew tobacco, chew tobacco, spit."  I'm Not Making This Up. 

This seems to be just as unhealthy a message to be sending to America's youth as the violence, drug use, crime, and misogyny found in most rap lyrics (that aren't talking about how the rapper is a better rapper than everyone else).  An appropriate re-lyricing of this song would probably produce a very similar line, "give me cancer, give me cancer, give me cancer...*TBD"

* - I couldn't think of a one-syllable word to fit in here that might express dejection and rhyme with "spit."  I'll keep working.  

 I took it upon myself to investigate some other Blake Shelton lyrics from that same album to see what other non-wholesome themes present themselves in his songs.  The results were staggering:

• "Sure be cool if you did"
  • Excessive Drinking
  • Promiscuity
     
•  "Country On The Radio"    
• Excessive Drinking
• Gun Violence
• Promiscuity  

• "Doin' What She Likes" 
• Excessive Drinking
• Fire Safety
• Reckless Driving

• "Mine Would Be You"    
• Excessive Drinking 
• Smoking

This is terrible!  Because of the awful messages being sent to consumers of rap music, many of the CDs are required to carry a warning label from the government warning of potentially harmful lyrics.  This sort of nonsense is no different.  Drinking and driving, careless smoking, open flames, and smokeless tobacco use are just as harmful as asking Females To Vacate Your Right Of Way.  By the way...don't click that link....just don't. 

I move that the surgeon general step in and produce warning labels for country music CDs to warn people of the dangers found within.