Costliest Brainfart

AH, my brother, I feel your pain. I have murdered a few styli in my day. 1 from dusting (Shure V15VxMR). 2 (Ortofon 2M Black and Soundsmith Zephyr MIMC *) from clumsily knocking the tonearm, sending it careening across the record and banging the cartridge into the record clamp.

The last 2 may have been influenced by consumption of whiskey...allegedly.

I also had a Cayin tube amp. I decided to change the tubes from  EL34 to KT88. After the switch I turned on the amp to wam up and realized that I forgot to change the tube switch setting on the back to KT88.  I reached behind the amp and flipped it up without turning the amp off. One of the tubes started smoking and popping. Turns out it blew out the bias meter and several resistors. I took it in for repair and it cost $600 to fix. The worst part is that it took 6 weeks to get it back.

I would say think of these unfortunate mishaps as educational. Education always comes at a cost. 

As gut wrenching as all the examples above are... they are still First World Problems. Let's take a moment to appreciate our position in Life...

Borrowed my friends DIY Class A amp.  Hooked up speakers.  Hooked up speakers in the basement, thinking I would switch back and forth.  Well, I left both sets on.  Only time I have had smoke coming out of equipment.  AND it wasn't even mine.  My friend just shrugged.

My wife hung a flower above our $525 Sony 19" TV.  Looked nice until she watered the plant.