Embarrassing Mishaps: My Latest Key Fiasco and Office Lockout Adventure

[pinball1970]

I've only got quite affordable lenses, many vintage lenses (except the kit zoom lens and two other, I think). One advantage besides being affordable is that I wouldn't be very upset if I damaged or lost one. The only thing I would mind damaging or losing is the camera.

High-end lenses can be RIDICULOUSLY expensive.

When I bought my mirrorless Sony camera, I remember finding a small note inside the box which offered some discount when buying a new Sony lens. That made me a bit excited, and I went to the Sony page to look at the lenses. The prices were ridiculous, many or most of them were more expensive than the camera. So, no new Sony lens for me.

Edit: By the way, here is a RIDICULOUSLY expensive vintage lens, the Nikkor 13mm f/5.6, the "holy grail" of lenses. Pricing info here (at KenRockwell.com).

When you said ridiculously expensive you were NOT kidding!

 

[Astronuc]

Also ignoring 'recent' in favor of historical

I was a teenager with a Model-T Ford Spark Coil (ignition coil). The interrupter (ignition points, on the primary side) was tightened down to remain closed and it was connected to a step-down transformer from a toy electric train. Could still draw a spark from the secondary. Somehow I ended up with my hands on opposite ends of the secondary (high voltage winding). Hand and arm muscles stayed contracted so I couldn't let go. Fortunately I was experimenting while sitting on the bed and used the remainder of my body to throw myself away from that alligator.

This reminded me of the time I manually disconnected the cable from the spark plug of a lawnmover, while it was running, because it wouldn't stop. It felt like I got hit with a sledgehammer. I flew backwards onto the driveway pavement.

Also, about the same time,

1. I jumped off a fence in the back yard, and managed to catch the steel clothes line under my chin. I flipped horizontal and fell onto the ground.

2. I was running though the house and decided to jump up and grab the horizontal door trim. Well, I stopped, my feet went up to the point I was vertical, and I fell backwards onto the floor and smacked my head. I literally saw a flash of light and 'stars'.

3. I was in a grocery store that had automatic doors. They were activated the old fashioned way by standing on a pressure pad. Well, after entering the store, I noticed that the pad to the outside actually protruded underneath the door. So, I thought I would test my agility, so I stepped on the pad expecting to jump away from the door. The door was faster than I was, so it opened on top of my foot, and it scrapped my foot over a metal frame. I cut open tow or three toes, and I had to hobble to my mom to let her know. Meanwhile, I left a trail of blood from the entry door to where my mom was in the store. She had to stop shopping and take me home, where she washed my foot and then applied an antiseptic spray that stung.

4. My brother and I used to race our bicycles down the sidewalk, lock the rear brake, and lay a 'scratch' (skid mark). One time, I was doing this, with a crowd of kids standing on either side of the sidewalk in front of the house. My little sister saw the crowd and decided she wanted to join the action. She ran to the sidewalk, but tried to get to the other side, just as I arrived and applied the rear brake. The edge of the handlebar caught her forehead and knocked her back. As she ran screaming back into the house, I was flying over the handlebar landing on my head and back. When the handlebar hit her forehead, the front wheel rotated 90 degrees and the bike (and me) flipped. My sister and I both had concussions. I remember blacking out then slowly getting up from the sidewalk and checking on my sister in the house.

I've had some close calls over the years.

As an adult, there have been a few times when I was driving a bit to fast for the conditions. One time, I came to a T-intersection and thought I was could slow and stop. Across the street from the intersection was a line of trees and a slope down to a farm. Well, I hit some ice and I couldn't stop. So I aimed for a spot between two trees, and steered the car between the trees and down the embankment. Fortunately, I guy was passing by in his pickup track, and he just happened to have a tow rope. He was kind enough to help me pull my car up the embankment and onto the rode, so I didn't have to call a towing service, or my wife to tell her I was going to be late because I drove off the road.

 

[Keith_McClary]

historical

Nowadays you could have a youtube channel.

 

[jbriggs444]

In the '70's, my family was camped in a cow pasture inside of a bend on the Upper Iowa river. This was a popular spot for camping and canoeing on the Upper Iowa. (Bluffton, near Decorah).

On the outside of the bend were some vertical limestone bluffs. Near the top of the bluffs was a hole that I decided to investigate. Limestone bluffs are quite easy to scale. All sorts of horizontal crevices to grab with fingers or get toe-holds on. The rock is often loose however and one does need to test the sturdiness of the hand-holds.

I get 20 or 30 feet up and about ready to look in the hole and think to myself: "What if the hole is occupied. If so, I will be startled and could well let go of my perch, falling to the rocks below. Even if I am not startled into a fall, how could I defend myself against even a small critter inside the hole? Wow, this is a stupid thing I am doing!"

I peeked in the hole, saw nothing of interest and climbed back down.

 

[jbriggs444]

Not recent and not actually dumb in my opinion. This was on my wedding day.

I went out to a local supermarket to buy a pack of white ankle socks for my wife-to-be so that she would have something to wear. It is not clear whether the cashier believed the explanation of their purpose.

We get married at a small ceremony in a country church, close friends and family attending. When we kneel some words are revealed, written in white-out on the soles of our shoes: "Free cursor" on hers and "Bound cursor on mine", those being our text editing preferences.

Once the ceremony was over, we head over to the reception in a meeting room at a nearby Holiday Inn. There were small children, so we had some small (like 2-3 ounce) bottles of bubble mix and wands for entertainment. My brother and I learned that there were wasp's nests out on the balcony. So whipping out the swiss army knife from my pocket, I bore a hole in the caps of two bottles of bubble mix. Grinning like idiots, my brother and I go out on the balcony and attack the nests with streams of soapy water.

It would be hard to plan a better day.

Still married some 30+ years later. And still sharing a disdain for large or costly weddings.

 

[DaveC426913]

Fix a backed up kitchen sink in eight (and a half) easy steps:

1. Use a bucket empty as much backed up water as possible from the sink into the toilet.
2. Place the bucket under the P trap to catch any remaining water and gunk.
3. Unscrew the drain cock in the P trap, let the gunk drain.
4. Pull the offending item (a teaspoon) out of the trap and clean out any built up gunk.
5. Celebrate! Pat yourself on the back for fixing the sink in 5 minutes flat.
6. Clean up: Dump the bucket out into the sink and down the drain.
7. Curse like a sailor, get the mop, mop up the gallon of sludge all under the sink and the kitchen floor.
5.5. Screw the drain cock back into the P trap!
8. Repeat step 6.

 

[Tom.G]

Fear not @DaveC426913, just consider this one Practice for it will assuredly Make the next one Perfect!

 

[Wrichik Basu]

Did a number of dumb things today.

It started with our practical class in college. For the experiment on verification of Malus Law, I was getting erratic readings. The professor guiding me had no idea about the apparatus. He said maybe the apparatus was faulty, or diffused light was creating the trouble. Took readings like that for 1.5 hours. Finally, we discovered that the laser beam was not aligned with the detector. These alignments are supposed to be done by the lab assistants, and they didn't do it. Took some readings hurriedly as my time was up. Results are looking pretty glum. Spoke to the HOD, probably she will try to assign me another day to the same experiment. But this glitch is already in my lab notebook.

Lesson learnt.

Returned home, and went to water the plants in our small garden on the terrace. I am alone at home currently because my parents are in another part of the country for Dad's treatment. I locked the door as I went upstairs. After some time, I realized that I had left the keys in the house. In short, I was locked out of my house.

Had a screwdriver in my pocket. Tried hard, but couldn't open the door. Luckily, had my phone with me. Called mom, who started panicking. Finally, I asked her to call one blacksmith who had worked for us in the past. He could open the door with a chisel.

Another lesson learnt.

 

[BillTre]

Its always good to know the best way to break into your house:

• climb in a second story window
• punch out a window so you can unlock door
• ...

 

[DaveC426913]

Its always good to know the best way to break into your house:

• climb in a second story window
• punch out a window so you can unlock door
• ...

• have your bride in her wedding dress and your minister boost your bridesmaid - in her bridemaid's dress - up to a ground floor bedroom window to get into retrieve the ring, a half hour before your wedding, while you and everyone else are waiting obliviously at the marriage venue...