We all have special talents don’t we? Mine? Well it’s breaking chairs. I’ve been busting them since I was a teenager. I think it’s because I fall into them rather than just sitting down. At least that’s part of it. Ask any one of my friends and they’ll tell you I’ve got a knack for breaking chairs.

My daughter Caitlin’s special talent? Well that would be destroying technology. Keyboards, iPods, cell phones, you name it, she’s taken one or more down.

It started with my first Mac keyboard. I woke up one morning and found my keyboard sitting in a puddle. Upon further investigation, I discovered she spilled on the keyboard and then didn’t bother to even attempt cleaning and drying it.

The next casualty was my pink iPod Nano that had been a Christmas gift. I couldn’t find it for several days and I was getting really irritated. I always let Caitlin use it when I wasn’t. Finally she came to me and confessed that a week or so before she’d dropped it in the toilet. It wouldn’t turn on after that and instead of telling me, she freaked out and threw it in a dumpster down the street. Yes, she threw my iPod away.

Then there was my Samsung Sync phone. It was a pretty badass phone and just a year old. The only reason I quit using it was because I got my iPhone.  We had a fairly crappy “house cell phone” which in reality became Caitlin’s phone. So when I got the iPhone, we put the sim card in the Sync and she had a pretty nice cell phone. Not long after, she spent the night at a friend’s house. This friend had a loft bed and there were hardwood floors underneath. Apparently the phone fell off the bed, hit the floor, and broke in half. It was now completely useless.

Then I gave her the phone I had before getting the sync. That wasn’t the worst phone in the world, but it wasn’t all that awesome. Anyhow, one Friday she came home from school and told me her phone was stolen.

At this point, Jason gave her his old Motorola. (Look, we really want her to have a cell phone ok, don’t judge us for replacing the phone over and over. We never actually bought a phone for her. She just kept getting hand-me-downs) Anyhow, last week the screen went crazy on it and no one is sure why. Monday Jason decided to just go ahead and buy her a phone. He told her this was it. If anything happened to the phone that she was screwed. This phone would have to last her 2 years.

Last night a call came in and the caller ID was for one of her friends that she was with. “Moooom?” ut oh. “Mom, my phone was in my back pocket and I went to the bathrooma and my phone fell in the toilet.” Her NEW, not even a week old phone fell in the damn toilet. She pulled it out, immediately took out the battery and now we’re just playing the waiting game to see if the thing will work.

There’s a joke here and I’m not going to touch it, but you’re more than welcome to do so in the comments section.

For years, and I do mean years, if you asked me who/what my favorite band/artist is, I’d automatically say The Cure. It was totally ingrained in my very being that there was no other answer that made any sense.

Now, if you look at my music collection over in iTunes, that wouldn’t sit well with you.  I have 5 of their albums and a single or 2.  How many of their songs do I actually listen to? Two. Burn from The Crow soundtrack, and 100 years from the  Pornography album. Two songs out of hundreds. I quit counting how many albums they have once I hit 24.

The more I think about who my favorite artist/band is, and has been for years, I realize it isn’t actually The Cure at all. I’m not really sure why that was my default answer.

The truth is my favorite band of all time is Depeche Mode. Yes, I’m a child of 80’s music. DM can do little wrong in my book. I don’t think they’ve ever put out an album that’s complete crap. There are some that I like better than others, but isn’t that the case with EVERY band/artist? Some have more misses than hits, but DM seems to stay relevant and grow, but never really lose that sound that I completely love. I took a look through my DM catalog and I currently have 14 albums including several B sides, rarities and collectors editions. I even love Dave Gahan’s solo project.

So there it is. A revelation, even to myself. Depeche Mode is my favorite band

“Borrowing” someone elses car registration tags can land you in some seriously hot water.

Back in June of 2000, I went to Las Vegas with a group of 4 other people. (Side note: Betcha didn’t know you could fit 5 people in a VW Beatle and take a 5-6 hour drive to another state, but you totally can)

Anyhow, our group was leaving from Newport Beach, CA on a Friday, and returning late Sunday. The car I was driving at the time was a really crappy Toyota Corolla that looked like hell, but drove like a champ. The problem? It wouldn’t pass smog so I couldn’t get the registration tags for it. I did, however pay the registration fees. Until it passed the smog check there would be no tags for me.

A few days before we were set to head of to Sin City, I was changing out the tags on my grandmother’s Thunderbird. And there it was, the answer to my problem. The main issue? I’d be parked on the street in NB for a weekend, and I didn’t have current tags. That pretty much guaranteed my car would be towed. If I had a current tag on the car, I figured the police would pass my car by and when I got back, I’d handle the whole smog check issue.

Newport Beach is a pretty snobby city. I really do love NB, but it seems like the police there love to give out tickets for anything and everything.

Anyhow, I parked my car and we were off. We all had a great time, but then it was time to come home. The drive took forever (“for-e-ver, for-e-ver” ~ bonus points if you can name that movie quote.) We pulled in crazy late, but wtf? Where’s my car? WHERE’S MY CAR?!? A few minutes on the phone with the NB Police Department netted the info that my car had been towed. They didn’t really say why.

A few days later, I got a phone call from a nice gentleman at the PD. I’m being serious, he was really nice. He asked me who so-and-so was and I froze. He said my grandmother’s name. I told him who she was and he asked if I realized that the numbers on the tag are assigned. All they had to do was run the tags and they’d know who’s car they belonged to. Doh! Busted.

I explained that the car didn’t pass smog, I was parking in NB for the weekend and I paid the reg. fees but i couldn’t get the tags. He was really understanding and said that since I was totally cooperative, he’d make a note of it in the file for the judge to see when I went to court. Ugh, court.

I guessed they actually ran the tags on the car, because let’s be honest here, the car was an eyesore. It didn’t sit too well on the street in such a hoity toity city. They had to be looking for any reason to get it off the street, and they found it. On a silver platter.

Turns out that “stealing” someone’s registration tags in CA will net you a heafty fine and a misdemeanor on your record. It’s on my record that I’m a thief. Good times.

My advice would be to NOT take your grandmother’s tags just because your car’s tags are expired and there’s still a month or 2 left on hers. That is, unless you like going to court, paying over $500 in fines and having a misdemeanor on your record. If you do, then by all means, go for it!

For more “Betcha Didn’t Know” stories from the “blogosphere,” head on over to Barking Mad. But stick around for all of her posts because they rock!

Over on LiveJournal you will find a community called A Day In My Life.  I really love this community. You see some of the most interesting people doing the most interesting things. However, over the years as the community grew, they had to crack down with the posting rules. Rather than follow strict guidelines, possibly messing it up and thus getting my post deleted, I decided I’d skip LJ all together, and just post my day here, on my own site. TAKE THAT LJ!

What you are about to see is my day, March 18 from about 45 minutes after I woke up and remembered I’d been wanting to do this, through the time I went to bed. Sort of. I ended up staying awake chatting with the husband for another 30 or so minutes after the last photo.

Are you ready? Sit back, relax, grab a cup of coffee, tea, a soda or whatever because there are 71 pictures ahead! Captions are UNDER each picture.

First things first. Let’s establish the start time. This was about 45 minutes after I woke up.

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