What's the funniest or dumbest thing you did?

I haven't fried any equipment (yet). Does installing 16 speakers in a Ford Pinto count as dumb? -- had large midrange horns hanging from the ceiling and a set of 16 ohm boxed speakers in the back. Maybe the dumb thing there was slapping in a cassette tape of a 45 minute drum solo on a long road trip with my wife-to-be on our fourth date (I'm still hearing about that one). Hmmm. I too got rid of most of my LP's. That was dumb. I too fried myself, more than once, forgetting to let those darned capacitors discharge.

All in, I think the dumbest thing I did was waiting so long to get into this hobby. I took three years of electronics in high school and subscribed to audio magazines (Stereo Review and Audio -- talk about stupid!) for about 20 years before taking the plunge and setting my old JVC/AR combination aside. I really was convinced that most stuff sounded about the same and thought the folks who read Stereophile must be insane. $500 for a cable????? It wasn't until later that I actually just listened. I still wonder about those cable prices though.

I once bought a "Fons" turntable on closeout for $50. First I had endure all kinds of "Happy Days" related jokes from my audiophile friends. (Did it come with a leather jacket, Does it say "hey' when you turn it on, etc) Then once I turned it on I found the motor was shot and the speed was too slooooow.
The only redeeming value was the belt that came with fit the systemdek TT I owned at the time. This was a very expensive belt replacement.

Thanks for the responses, I nearly fell out of my chair laughing. I'm not sure if I was laughing with you or at you, but does it matter?

I had a BGW power amp on the test bench. It had a fried output stage (I bought it that way) Well, I had it powered up and was poking aound with a meter probe and decided that there was a bit more to come out of the way. Not wanting to be surprised by the fully charged power supply caps, I thought they should be discharged. Hence, I dropped my screwdriver across the terminals--POP!--I never DID find the third piece of that screwdriver!

Well, its not really audio related, sorta i guess.

When i was in the military, i was troubleshooting a phone line at a commanders residence. I had my butt-set and was running down the terminal block with the aligator clips and had the set to my ear

POW, everything flashed white.

I recovered a few seconds later, with the taste of aluminum foil in my mouth, dazed and confused. I diddnt really know what happened and my head was spinning. Anyways, in a half daze, i grabbed my buttset and started down the terminal block again

POW, everything flashed white

I recovered several minuits later and staggered to my feet. Dunbar, who was on site troubleshooting with me walked in, diddnt seem to notice my disarrayed self, and said "IS this the block?" he pulled out his buttset and started running down the block. Before i could warn him, halfway through the block his arms spasmed, eyes rolled up in his head, knees buckled, and he collapsed in a heap. He regained conciousness a few minuits later

Turned out there is what is known as a CM8 circuit in the commanders houce. The control leads run over standard copper pair and terminate on a standard MX66 block. I cant remember the exact amount of juice running over these leads, but when you put the buttset up to it, the shock from one of the leads going up the buttset, into your mouth, out your ear, and back down the other clip.

The feeling resembles a seasoned boxer taking a blast at your head without gloves.

It was a total accident the first time. I just cant believe i hit it twice.... talk about stupid