HOTD.amn: Do share…

Please, for the love of oatmeal, could you send me your own idiotic moments?

HOTD.amn: Incompetent moves by otherwise (seemingly) competent people PART III

Okay, my turn.  I’ve had more than my share of stupid moments.  I figure it’s not really fair to criticize others without being honest about my own intellectual shortcomings.  

Plaxico Burress, Joe Sakic, burned-chest-guy – at least I’m in good company.

Many of you already know about the time I marched frustratedly with my beloved, elderly cellular phone to the local Rogers store because it wasn’t charging.  I’d have it plugged into the charger all day, all night, with the  same charger that sits on my nightstand and that I had always used – and still no improvements to the battery.  Funny though, after dropping my phone off at the store to charge using their charger – and being obligated to kill time by wandering the mall – my phone was revived!  

So the salesman tried to sell me a new charger.  Which would make sense, but in my stubborn cheapness, I decided that I just might get a new phone entirely.  At the time, renewing my contract didn’t seem like a big price to pay for a shiny new gadget, with a fresh, functioning charger; I was pretty much stuck with Rogers for life anyway (I’m glad the industry has since changed… somewhat).  

I went home, excited to explore my new upgrade options, when I decided to try charging it just one more time.  But this time, I would charge it in the office while I searched different phones and reviews on my computer.  And when I bent over to remove the charger from the outlet…

I realized that it wasn’t even plugged in.

And now, for my more recent bout of stupidity:

I should have known, given my history with charging electronics and such, but of course I didn’t think twice when my digital camera apparently wasn’t charging.  ”Change battery pack”?  No *$%^ing way!  I just bought this phone last year!

Unfortunately, no matter how long I left the camera plugged into my computer, it just wouldn’t charge.  So I kindly asked Mama Bear to take it with her the next time she went to the store to see what the Manager had to say about his defective product.  She caught him just as he was finishing his shift, so he only had a minute to charge the battery before instructing her to return the next day.

I couldn’t believe it was actually working after just one minute of charging!  I had been charging it for days on end!

And then I realized that, unlike an iPod, the digital camera’s battery doesn’t charge just by plugging it into the computer – you actually have to physically remove the battery from the camera and deposit it into the actual charger and proceed to plug the charger into the outlet.  So I tried this, and it worked, of course.  And when Mama Bear asked for the camera the next day, I simply said I would try to charge it again.  For a few days, she would continue to ask, prompted by the curious store manager who was eager to solve the problem.

And then Mama Bear forgot.  Problem solved.

Did I mention I have a university degree?!

(And that I can absolutely butcher what could have been a hilarious story?!)

HOTD.amn: Incompetent moves by otherwise (seemingly) competent people PART II

I honestly didn’t think I would have to continue this post… but Joe Sakic’s recent escapades just may have trumped them all.  

You see, “Burnaby Joe” Sakic, Captain of the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche, was already sidelined for six weeks due to a herniated disk when his injured status took a turn for the worst. On Tuesday, Sakic broke three fingers and severely damaged a tendon.  If you aren’t already familiar with this story, I’d bet you wouldn’t be able to guess exactly how this came about.

Apparently, during a routine clearing of the white stuff off his property, Sakic’s snow blower became jammed; so, naturally, he stuck his hand into the apparatus – while it was still running.

Can’t Sakic afford to pay someone to do this – especially when he has a back injury that is keeping him from doing this job?  It’s hard to know how to react to such a situation, except with sympathy and a blog.

Even the team’s Senior VP of Communications and Business Operations had little to add to the situation, instead opting to state the obvious: “He put his hand where he shouldn’t have.”  Duh…

Luckily, immediate surgery was able to repair the damage to his hand.  Unfortunately, it may take more than three months to repair the damage to his reputation – as an intellectually competent human being. 

I hope it’s not too soon to make light of this situation.  Let me say that I am honestly glad he is expected to make a full recovery.  No one should have to suffer from a freak accident like this.  We all make mistakes.  (Stay posted for Part III featuring my own stupidity.)

Plus, TDH and I have tickets to two of the Canucks games vs. the Avs towards the end of the season – shortly after Sakic is expected to return!