Comments (74)

1. 1) No, but my parents are TERRIFIED about having their identities stolen. I always tell them to stop freaking out, but I’m sure it’ll end up happening to me because I’m always playing it down.

   2) I remember a class offered by our district called something like “Harness the power of your dreams.” It was taught by a guy I went to high school with who still lives in his boyhood room (we graduated in 1992). I’m pretty sure teaching this class is the only job he’s ever had.

   3) I grew up loving the Cincinnati Reds, so I guess their 1990 World Series season would be my choice. Seems like a LOOOOOOONG time ago.

   4) My neighbor takes UPS packages off our door if he sees we’re not home. Sometimes, he forgets to tell us for a few days. Our neighborhood is not exactly riddled with crime. I hate when he does that.

   5) Nope.

   posted by Dina B. on 1-25-2008 at 12:10 pm

2. I lived in a low income apartment complex in Greenbelt, Maryland. There was a mass of young boys who decided to have their own “superbowl”, as the called it, in the grassy area behind my apartment. It was daily. And loud. And there is just so much sailor talk that I could take from 4-10 year old boys. So I asked them to take it somewhere else.

   They responded by saying that this was the only grass that didn’t have lots of dog poo.

   I spend the next two days gathering poo from the entire complex so that I could render my grassy space unacceptable. I added my own, human poo, as well. And a little from my cat.

   The boys didn’t even notice. Boo.

   posted by Nicole on 1-25-2008 at 12:17 pm

3. 4. Once some neighbors across the parking lot asked us if they could borrow our door to play beer pong.

   Also, the night halo three came out we spent about 3 hours wondering if the nearby Air Force Base was testing out new military equipment because it sounded like we were directly underneath the path of an air raid, only to find out that our neighbors to the right were playing Halo upstairs and downstairs on two huge-screen TV’s with surround sound.

   What college student can AFFORD all that stuff?

   posted by Ashley on 1-25-2008 at 12:19 pm

4. Well, I get up very early. One day at 4 a.m. I can hear someone running down the street. It was October, and about 25 degrees out. This guy sees my lights on, runs up on my front lawn and starts screeming “Call the police!!!” Now, the only thing he had on was a pair of boxers, no shoes even.
   Needless to say, I obliged him. Later I found out he is Bi-polar and off his meds.

   posted by Terry W on 1-25-2008 at 12:25 pm

5. 1) No

   2) A brief scan turns up the standard stuff.

   3) 2004 Redsox WS

   4) Party, Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, 3am.

   5) n/a

   posted by Ryan on 1-25-2008 at 12:25 pm

6. 4. Our next door neighbors have parties. No big deal. They can have parties. They’re not loud parties. BUT (you know that was coming), we live on a very small dead end street. They invite tons of people, making it nearly impossible to navigate in and out of the street (let alone my driveway).

   One spring they threw their daughter a princess party. There were more SUVs crammed onto our little block then I care to count. No one could get out of their driveways. People were just parking where ever the hell they wanted.

   Everyone on the block was pretty pissed that day.

   posted by beth on 1-25-2008 at 12:27 pm

7. 3.) 2001-2002 Kent State Men’s Basketball. They went to the Elite 8 and my husband and I were in Vegas during the 2nd round. We put a bet on them to beat Alabama, and we were the only ones in the whole of Caesar’s Palace Sports Book whooping it up at the end of that game. Go Golden Flashes!!

   posted by Rachel on 1-25-2008 at 12:30 pm

8. I just so happen to have the night school catalog right here — we have a great lineup:

   Hoop Girl Workout
   Diaper Cake Creation
   Towel Wedding Cake Creation
   Art Stamped Tile Coasters — what the hell is this anyway?

   posted by Lynne on 1-25-2008 at 12:32 pm

9. For me, it’s the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the USSR. About a month before I first attended Vladislav Tretiak’s Elite School of Goaltending, my dad bought the entire series on VHS. I watched it just about every day, then monthly after that until I geared up to go back to his school. I went to his school for five years, and by the fifth year I knew the entire commentary and colour inside out. Even though I no longer go to his goalie school, or even play hockey competitively, I still watch it once a month.

   Ashley, the college student that can afford all that is either A) selling amphetamines to all the students who are constantly stressed out about exams/essays and need those sleepless nights to cram/write more.

   Or B)Mommy and Daddy have paid for everything, and Junior’s getting a nice cushy job at Daddy’s company when he’s done, no matter what his grades are.

   posted by Mike on 1-25-2008 at 12:35 pm

10. 3. Texas Longhorns 2005-2006. Everytime I was the Rosebowl, I start tearing up.

    posted by Lily on 1-25-2008 at 12:35 pm

11. 1) My identity hasn’t ever been stolen (I’m knocking on wood as we speak)

    2)I absolutely can’t wait for this semester’s weird class: The World of Harry Potter! Nope not kidding. And yes, I am going to take it.

    3)I’ve been an Angel’s fan my whole life, and the 2002 series has to be the best. Of course it was their first AL pennant AND their first World Series. It was awesome.

    4) I haven’t freaked out at my neighbors, their very nice British people. Good transition to #5 actually…

    5) I live in England. I’ll be here for 2 1/2 more years with the Air Force.

    posted by Tricia on 1-25-2008 at 12:43 pm

12. AHHH I am the embodiment of my biggest pet peeve!! I apologize grammer lovers. It is THEY’RE, not their. Oy me…

    posted by Tricia on 1-25-2008 at 12:44 pm

13. 1) Nope. I don’t think I have enough money or identity to steal.

    2) I took a history of Cinema night class once. It was incredibly boring and not at all what I thought it would be.

    3) 1986 Houston Astros. They went to the championship game where they lost to the Mets. I have never forgiven them. (But at least we didn’t have the Buckner error like the Red Sox did in the World Series that year).

    posted by miles on 1-25-2008 at 12:51 pm

14. Collectibles of the Future: Basics of Hoarding

    posted by suzanne on 1-25-2008 at 12:52 pm

15. 1) My mother tears her address off of every piece of mail she receives and shreds it. I don’t know what information theives could get about her by stealing her church bulletin, but whatever.
    2)CET for bus drivers – “Giving You, The Bus Driver, The Edge.” Do I want my child’s bus driver to have the “edge”? Also – From Sap to Syrup – fundamentals of making maple syrup; “On a Clear Day You Can See Your Desktop” – desk organization; “I Wish My Manager Would Just” – this is for managers. I think they are afraid of how employees would finish the sentence.
    3)Not a sports fan – but I was a basketball cheerleader in HS. We had the best 0-19 team in the state!
    4) We lived across the street from people we lovingly referred to as the Clampets. Actually they were a source of entertainment for us on most days. However, when it snowed, they would pull all of their vehicles out of their flat driveway and park on either side of our drive. So, we would have to clear not only our dive but 8 feet out into the street because the snowplow couldn’t clear get to us. Right before we moved, my husband buried their cars in the snow from our drive and the unplowed portion of the street.
    5) N/A

    posted by bzzyb on 1-25-2008 at 12:52 pm

16. 1. No, but I’m a fraud analyst at a large company and I get the fun task of telling people that they have become the victims of identity theft.

    2. Star Trek and the Law (I took it and loved it!!!)

    3. The 1992 Rangers Baseball season. I must have gone to every game. This was the season that Robin Ventura charged the mound – talk about excitement.

    4. Can’t say I’ve done anything to freak my neighbors out.

    posted by Telulablue on 1-25-2008 at 12:57 pm

17. Carolina Hurricanes-2006 Stanley Cup Champs!!

    posted by Steve on 1-25-2008 at 1:06 pm

18. To the person who collected her own poop in order to stop little kids from playing outside her apartment: Seek Professional Help!

    That’s all I have to add.

    posted by Eric on 1-25-2008 at 1:08 pm

19. No question – 1990 Ga Tech football. I worked for the team, and the year was special.

    posted by Shane on 1-25-2008 at 1:14 pm

20. 1) My identity was stolen last year by a woman who somehow acquired my Macy’s account number and social security number. She opened new charge accounts in my name at a variety of retailers and ran up around $17,000 of debt. The retailers were all more than accommodating and I had little trouble getting them to disconnect me from the mess this woman made. However, I had enormous problems getting TransUnion to clean up my credit report. They admitted to merging my credit report with hers (perhaps how my problems all started) but routinely made me out to be the bad guy during the many months it took to sort this out. This woman had racked up multiple delinquencies years before she started abusing my good credit, and the TransUnion reps typically treated me as if I were the criminal because her bad behavior appeared to be mine – even though they knew their “system error” was to blame. And speaking of criminal, no one was interested in bringing charges against her. Clever person that she is, she used her real address as the billing address for the fraudulent accounts she opened, and from my mixed up TransUnion credit report I could see her name, address, and phone number. Despite the fact that everyone knew where to find her – the creditors, the Michigan State Police (I live in MI) and the Florida State Police (where she lives) – no one considered her worth the effort of prosecuting.

    My life was made miserable by this for months, and I still can’t talk about it without ruining the rest of my day with unresolved frustration. My sympathies go out to anyone else living through such a situation. Even though I’m in the clear for the moment, she will know my name and my social security number for the rest of her life. I have a 7-year alert on my credit report, which is the strongest alert that can be added, but it only suggests that creditors ask for ID before giving credit in my name during the next 7 years.

    posted by Sandy on 1-25-2008 at 1:19 pm

21. 1.nope

    2.History of Rock and Roll, I got an A

    3.Huge Gator fan so the year of the Gators. When they won two back-to-back basketball championships and a national title, while humiliating the pompus and overhyped ohio State Suckeyes.

    4. My neighbor across the street complaind about my reggae band practicing in my house on thursdays from 6-8 pm (your really could not hear it outside the house) So that Saturday we opened up with the stereo outside and she got a huge earful of Wu-Tang and every Outkast cd I own. Which lasted for about 5 hrs. We get along great.

    5.America

    posted by grat on 1-25-2008 at 1:30 pm

22. 1. Yes. Someone got a cellular phone in my name with Alltel. It was a pain but I eventually got it exponged from my credit report.

    2. I took a class called something like “ethics in the music industry” Dave Mustaine of Megadeth was a guest speaker. He basically said there are no ethics in the music industry.

    3. 2001 Diamondbacks World Series.

    4. I shared a house with 2 other guys in college and we had huge keg party’s to make money. We would invite the whole neighborhood and they usually never got busted. We did not get our security deposit back though.

    5. N/A

    posted by Kevin on 1-25-2008 at 1:52 pm

23. 3. The 2005 Sox. Not only did they beat the pants off the RED Sox and Angels (with a record consecutive shutout innings pitched), they went on to sweep the Astros in the World Series and won in remarkable ways (a walkoff home run by Podsednik, a guy who had hit one home run all year, Konerko’s heroics – 2 3-run homers in 2 games against the Angels, etc)

    Of course, I should include Jordan and the Bulls Championship years, as well.

    posted by Moon on 1-25-2008 at 1:55 pm

24. I used to live on a one-way street a few blocks away from a university campus. Students had to pay for parking permits, so they’d routinely park on my street instead.

    Once, a female student parked her brand new silver sports car directly in front of my friends’ driveway. The way the street was set up, there was absolutely no way for my neighbors to get their car out.

    When she got out of her car, she stopped and looked at the driveway, at her car, and back at the driveway. Then she walked away.

    So I watched her trudge up the hill and over to the campus in her expensive shoes and clothes, too cheap to pay $100 for a year of parking, with no regard whatsoever for the residents of that house —- and I called the police.

    A towtruck came to tow her car away. Because she was parallel parked and other cars were tightly squeezed in front of and behind her, the tow truck driver had to use a special contraption to get her car out of the space. It took forever.

    I stayed home that day, never leaving my window, so I could watch her expression when she came back to find her car gone. It was the funniest thing ever. She turned in circles over and over again. Then she got out her cell.

    I’m not usually a retaliatory person, but come on — this girl’s outfit probably cost more than half my wardrobe, and her car payment was definitely more than my rent. The tow bill alone was enough to pay for her a parking space on campus. I hope she learned a valuable lesson that day about respecting other people.

    And BTW, the poo comment was really disgusting. I’ve never thought, “Hey, I’ll poop on that to keep people away from it.” YUK!!!!!

    posted by Jena on 1-25-2008 at 1:59 pm

25. 1. My stepmother is consumed by paranoia about identity theft; she actually put a paper shredder on her list. I do know one person whose identity was stolen; clearing her name was a large arduous process, but she did it.

    3. In my lifetime, probably the ‘99 Yankees. Historically, maybe the 1926 Yankees (that was the year Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs) or the ‘77 Yankees (are you noticing a trend?).

    4. I live over a storefront. When the most recent tenant was remodeling, she kept leaving the private entrance door open. My roommate and I talked to her on several occasions and left her notes, none of which prompted her to remember to keep the door closed, so we took to slamming it really hard when we found it open.

    posted by fshk on 1-25-2008 at 2:05 pm

26. 1 My sister had her identity stolen. It was no big deal, an undocumented worker chose her SSN randomly and the Social Security Administration noticed.

    4 Worst neighbor problem I ever had was at my last house. The next door neighbor was kind of snooty, and my family and I are more like the clampets (we leave the garage door open a lot, have kids toys in the yard, and otherwise enjoy our house), so on several occaisions I had been greeted with a sneer.

    Then I noticed his tree was attempting to grow into the side of my house, and it was actually starting to push up the shingles, so I went over to talk to him about trimming it. He answered the door, listened to me describe the problem, then without saying a word, shut the door in my face.

    I was absolutely irate, and ready to cut the tree down myself when a week later we were hit by a BIG snow storm and the heavy wet snow split his tree in two. I had a good laugh and then offered to help him clear the broken limbs from his yard.

    posted by Scott on 1-25-2008 at 2:09 pm

27. 1. At work, the Home Office has instituted new absurd security measures if you want to check your 401(k) balance or do anything, really.

    I used to check my 401(k) every other day, and now because of the security measures (which are unbelievable), I check once a month, at most. I keep asking, How is this more secure? If someone would have found out what my password is, I would have known within a day or so before, now I probably won’t know until it’s WAY too late.

    posted by Moon on 1-25-2008 at 2:11 pm

28. @ #9 Mike,

    It CAN’T be that good. Upload it to youtube, please. :D

    posted by Moon on 1-25-2008 at 2:15 pm

29. 1. Yep. Some girl got my social security number and some of my credit card numbers swhile I was on a business trip. Brain trust that she was though, she called me pretending to be a customer service rep from my VISA card and told me that there was a problem with my card that it may have been stolen, could I TELL her the number of the card so she could verify. One, I’m not that stupid. Two, I didn’t have the card with me anyway. Got her number from caller ID, called her back and she anwered with just Hello? When I told her who I was she quickly hung up and wouldn’t answer again. Called the police, filed a report and found out the dingbat had called me from her personal cell phone. She was obviously new to the game. Anyway she only racked up a couple thousand dollar’s worth of merchandise and the main problem for me was that it happened on Dec 10. I had to cancel all my credit cards 2 weeks before Christmas, and that was the first (and last) year that I’d not done ANY Christmas shopping by that time!!!

    2. No weird classes, just photo lab and pottery

    3. Don’t have any or know any or really care.

    4. Late night parties where I called the cops.

    5. Nope.

    posted by Fran on 1-25-2008 at 2:21 pm

30. My favorite sports season was the 1988 New York Mets – even though they ran into the brick wall named Hershiser in the playoffs, that was a tremendously fun season. I remember attending what was probably the last scheduled double-header in team history against the Expos.

    posted by Dan on 1-25-2008 at 2:25 pm

31. 1) About four years ago my husband’s and my joint account suddenly ran empty, then overdrawn, then to default within three weeks. After much research and name-calling with bank tellers (not their fault, poor punching bags), we discovered that a series of electronic checks had cleared through our account from somewhere in Canada. Nice. So we immediately started calling companies (most of which did not exist) and writing letters, all to no avail. Closing the account and starting over seemed like the only remedy, and four years later we’re finally back on track.

    2) Never had a night class. We do have a few interesting ones here; most hilarious are the late-night parenting classes at a local women’s shelter (why 10pm?? really?)

    3) N/A

    4) The woman who lives directly across the street from me is insane. Just after we moved into our house, we came home from work to find her in our yard, bent over our fish pond with a stick. Freaked out, we got out of the car to see what the fork she was doing (in our yard, poking at our fish with a stick. After about five minutes of being pleasant and trying to find out what she was up to, I finally just blurted out “So, what’s up with the stick? Are you some kind of fish bully or something?” She looked at me like I was insane, then said, “No, just looking.” And she walked away. We have never spoken since and I’m positive she looks in our windows while we’re gone.

    5) Nope, not from out of country. Sadly, I’m smack-dab (whatever THAT means, I propose I post) in the middle of Oklahoma. Yeehaw.

    posted by adrienne on 1-25-2008 at 2:31 pm

32. Well let’s see here. How about the 2007 PACKERS?
    Til the “heartbreaking wild card losers” came to the Tundra and stole it all away.
    ;)

    posted by mrs.djs on 1-25-2008 at 2:32 pm

33. Not had any problems with my ID.
    I enjoy checking out the community college night/summer courses. Unfortunately I can’t remember any good ones right now.
    Most definitely the 1985 Kansas City Royals. Sadly they haven’t even been close since then.
    Although it’s not really a minor thing, our neighbor abandoned her house and we’ve called the city,, the police,etc. multiple times because of its disrepair. There is a family of raccoons that managed to dig a hole in the eaves and now live in the attic. They come out every night at sundown

    posted by Ralph on 1-25-2008 at 2:34 pm

34. I took a course in basic auto repair once, but three classes in found the teacher to be an unsafe idiot who was more interested in hanging out and having a smoke than teaching. I called up the college president, told him my side of it and that I wouldn’t be going back, and I got a refund on the course. Two months later I got my certificate in the mail stating that I was a certified auto mechanic.

    My crazy neighbour story: I built a deck at the back of my yard one year after moving in. The guy next door helped me build it. Last summer I put my house up for sale, and I received a complaint from the city planning officer that my deck was too close to the property line (it needs to be 48″ away). When I asked what the purpose of the law was, she told me it was to stop me from looking into my neighbour’s yard (through a wire fence). I had to uproot my deck and move it 30″ to the right. The neighbour who complained was the wife of the guy that helped me build it. Needless to say, their relationship was over before the complaint was lodged.

    posted by Jason on 1-25-2008 at 2:35 pm

35. My ex-sister-in-law stole my ssn. We actually had the same name both married brothers and our first name is same only spelled differently..our birtdays were same year, 3 days apart. she went on a spending spree. I found out accidentally. called the state police. got my credit report..never realized how good my credit was. she got jewelry, furniture, computer, phone cards, a bunch of stuff. then I had to go through all this bulls–t to get my credit cleared. I pressed charges. my credit report was cleaned up and she is still paying. i receive about $13 every year from the courts. she has a lot of creditors to pay back. oh and she only got a slap on the wrist and probation.

    posted by Sheri on 1-25-2008 at 2:57 pm

36. We used to live within 1 block of a church and the accompanying elementary school. The second week of June, the school held it’s annual “Faire”. Had we viewed the house during that week, we would have never bought the house. People parked on ACROSS our driveway, IN our driveway and ON our lawn. At 11:30 at night, I couldn’t get my infant son to sleep because of noise. And it was even more fun when the drunks started. Numerous complaints were shrugged off because “the faire benefited the church”. I won’t mention the denomination but around here, they have the biggest and loudest fair. Needless to say, we were happy to move.

    posted by Catherine on 1-25-2008 at 3:03 pm

37. 3. 2004 Red Sox- no question. For years I have been, what I like to call, a “Red Sox Realist.” They usually start their year great and then they start to bomb after the All-Star Break. All 2004 I kept on telling people “Yeah, they’re good now, but they’re going to screw it up in the end.” The longer things went, the more insistent I was, especially during the ALCS. Needless to say, I was delighted (and more than a little shocked) when I was proven wrong.

    4. My parent’s neighbors have a fondness for inflatable lawn ornaments during the holiday season. My mother loathes them and threatens, each time, to go over and poke holes in the inflatables so they can’t be used anymore. So far, she hasn’t but my father and I are not really convinced that she won’t at some point. (There is this one Halloween one of a witch sitting on top of a pumpkin… let us just say that witch looks like she is having a **cough, cough** “good” “time” on her perch.)

    posted by Karen on 1-25-2008 at 3:04 pm

38. 2) Baton Twirling….for adults.

    3)2002 Ohio State Football…I have a love hate relationship with the past two years.

    4)I too live across from a school and find that parents do this all the time at my house. I don’t mind when they idle in front of my driveway, but I have had parents refuse to move when I’ve been attempting to come or go. Seriously? What kind of example does that set for the younger children often waiting along with their parents?

    5)

    posted by Cassandra on 1-25-2008 at 3:08 pm

39. 3.) 2004 Red Sox. I lived in Denver at the time and would watch the game hihglights on sports center when I got home from work. That was the best part of my day back then. That group of guys will forever be my favorite team. That was of course before Johnny D sold out and before Millar and Pedro were traded but they will forever by my golden team. I still watch Fever Pitch so that I can see them on the field together. I heart the Red Sox!

    posted by Kristin on 1-25-2008 at 3:09 pm

40. You know what would be awesome? If that the class about “Protecting Yourself Against Identity Theft” was in fact a scheme to steal people’s identities. “Please pay tuition in advance. Credit cards only.”

    I’m gonna have to write this as a short story now.

    posted by Mary on 1-25-2008 at 3:10 pm

41. 4. I rented a first floor apartment from an absentee landlord. He was white, upper class, belonged to the NRA, had a boat, wore loafers and was generally nerdy. First his daughter lived in the upstairs unit, then he had a friend move in, so that the house would always have a car in the driveway. He visited every week to do things like lawn maintenance, visit with friends (the house was in NY, his permanent residence was in CT). At the end of EVERY visit just about an hour after he would leave, he would play the stereo. LOUDLY. He had a fondness for rap music, more specifically, Chamillionaire’s “Ridin Dirty.” I would have been angry if it weren’t so hilarious. The only time it bothered me was when I was recovering from having my wisdom teeth removed, and couldn’t stand any loud noises, let alone the repetitious bass of Chamillionaire.

    posted by Monica on 1-25-2008 at 3:21 pm

42. If anyone stole my identity, I predict they would pay me to take it back.

    1995 Cowboys

    posted by DW on 1-25-2008 at 3:25 pm

43. 1) Nope, but like some people have posted, my parents are TERRIFIED of this and try to make me paranoid every chance they get.
    2) I took photography at night school. I always enjoy looking at the career-based courses, like HVAC I, HVAC II, and so forth. (How do you make the course description sound enticing?) Never noticed any of the really unusual ones people have mentioned. I will have to look more closely!
    3) Still waiting for the year the Bears win the Rose Bowl- in my lifetime.
    4) I felt really awful but after months of going nuts from the noise, I finally spoke to our former neighbors about their dog. When they went out, they would leave him outside. It’s not that cold here, but it does rain, and the poor thing had no doghouse. He barked for hours at a time when he was outside in general, but the rainy night barking was especially loud and frantic. But he peed all over their house when he was left home alone, which is why they put him out. It was especially awkward because we have a dog too, and he even barks when he’s outside, but he never stays outside for more than 10 or 15 minutes, and never when we’re not home.
    5) N/A

    posted by Lebetho on 1-25-2008 at 3:33 pm

44. 1.My identity has never been stolen, but my boyfriend’s has been stolen 3 times. Its because he orders things off of internet sites, and then they use his information.

    2. I once took country line dancing.

    3.

    4. My neighbors have 5 cars, and a really long drive way, to a garage behind their house. But instead of parking their cars in it, they have a little towing bed sitting in the front of the driveway, making the rest useless… so then they park their numerous cars in front of my driveway, or blocking in my car.

    5. Nope, southern california born and raised.

    posted by Sarah on 1-25-2008 at 3:39 pm

45. 4. I used to be the neighbor everybody ELSE complained about. We used to have parties where we would set up several barbecues and see who could make the highest flame! :D We set the eaves on fire once.

    We would have high jumping contests over the neighbor’s fence. There was always some kind of LOUD music and our parties attracted over 500 people several times.

    /The neighbors pretty much just looked out their windows at us. Although police were called on occasion, it was usually someone farther away than you would think likely. One time the complaint came from across the river (at least a mile away! No one nearby complained at that same party. We had two bands at that one on competing stages.)

    posted by Moon on 1-25-2008 at 4:25 pm

46. 1) I’ve never had my identity stolen, but once, someone got ahold of one of my credit card numbers and charged $1,000 worth of shoes at a PayLess in Kansas City. My credit card company caught it and called me, and all was fine. But I was stuck wondering how many pairs of PayLess shoes it would take to reach $1,000.

    4) When I was 21, I moved into a tri-plex with my then-boyfriend who was a musician. Two older ladies lived in each of the other units. When we moved in, one of the old ladies came out on her porch waving a broom when she saw my boyfriend carrying in speakers and power amps. She was screeching, “That’s not the way we live around here!!” She was also very perturbed about my bicycle chained up on the front porch.

    posted by Bre on 1-25-2008 at 4:44 pm

47. Yes, technically I have had my identity stolen. I awoke one morning to see my bank account with two charges of close to $500 on my debit card. They were still pending so I couldn’t see where these were charged at. I called the bank they said the charges were a cash advance from a convenience store and a purchase from Home Depot, in New Jersey. I live in Texas. I went to the bank they could onbviously tell I had not done this. I had to get my “case” to be examined and approved. I had to get a new debit card, and went without my precious card for a whole week. I live by plastic only so it was very difficult. They gave me the money back pretty quickly and said they would investigate the culprits. They actually made a new card with a swiping magnetic strip and everything with my number on it. I have no idea how they got my card number to this day. It wasn’t that bad just a pain in the ass I’ve heard worse stories.

    As far as annoying neighbors goes I have a great story. When I was about 17 living at home with my parents we lived in a cul de sac. The street kind of curved around in front of a very large shrub/bush and our drive way was located towards the end of the cul de sac. There’s no streetlight so its always very dark there. One night my brother runs out of his room screaming about cars getting hit or something I couldn’t understand. I have no idea what’s going on so I look out my front window to the street. What do I see? A bronco speeding away with my brother running after it with a shotgun in the air. We live in Texas where we love our guns. Turns out some drunk kid in a bronco didn’t realize the street ended there and drove up our driveway, freaked out that he ended up in someone’s yard, and did about a 20 point turn, while knocking a tree over, in our side-yard to get out. I was so confused before I figured this out. But it must have been great for that kid to see a guy chasing after him with a shotgun in his rear view as he was driving away.

    posted by Brandi on 1-25-2008 at 4:50 pm

48. Great post.

    #3 has to be the 1995 Mariners! I had just moved to Seattle in August of that year, just when the M’s went on to win the wild card and the Yankee’s in the ALDS. Tino, Edgar, Griffey, even A-Rod were on that team (and good ole Joey Cora!) Best three months of baseball in my entire life!

    posted by micx on 1-25-2008 at 5:04 pm

49. Two weeks after moving into our very first new home, our next door neighbor gets into a standoff with the police. Mr. Bedhead was standing in the kitchen when a cop in full riot gear carrying a rifle comes crawling around the corner of our row (we live in a townhouse). Since we didn’t have curtains yet, he could see right into our house. The police wouldn’t let Mr. Bedhead into the garage or out the back of the house so they drove his car out to him so he oculd leave before shit went down.

    The police eventually talked him out of the house and then left. So he’s still there, being crazy and freaking me out.

    posted by bedhead on 1-25-2008 at 5:12 pm

50. I see that someone already beat me to the 1995 Mariners…. Oh well!

    posted by jmb on 1-25-2008 at 5:19 pm

51. 1. I got my identity stolen, sort of, about 8 years ago. I didn’t find out about it until the Oklahoma State Attorney’s office (I lived in California at the time) sent me a letter stating that some dude had been arrested and incarcerated and that they would send me letters updating his status. I get letters periodically about this guy, who is up for parole this year. I’ve never heard his name before and I haven’t had any negative effects of my identity being stolen.

    3. 1992 Dallas Cowboys, maybe 1997 Bulls, too.

    posted by Chris on 1-25-2008 at 5:21 pm

52. 3) Toss up between the 1985 Kansas City Royals and my rec-league kickball “Awesome Helicopter Ninjas” 2006 miracle season. I’m sure this is universally relatable.

    posted by Scott J on 1-25-2008 at 6:18 pm

53. 1. I once lost my check card and someone decided to wipe out my checking account (note–the card had my photo ID on it!) I didn’t even realize that I dropped it until BofA alerted me the following day about all the purchases.
    And recently I had my credit card # stolen online and BofA again noticed the odd purchases especially since they didn’t have the exp date or other info. In both cases BofA gave me back my hard earned money the next day and the customer service people were awesome about it. BofA rocks!!

    4. I had neighbors(husband & wife) that were busted for online prositution. Technically they weren’t arrested since they gave up their pimp. (Don’t ask how I know that, I have my sources.) Well they used to cat sit for us and needless to say we got our key back and changed our locks.

    posted by Bailey on 1-25-2008 at 6:29 pm

54. 1. I encourage identity theft in my life. Maybe Sallie mae will start stalking someone else and leave me alone.

    2. I haven’t taken it but there is a course called recreational math. It is all about learning to solve puzzles and games. The best part is that it is a graduate level course.

    3. I am a buffalo bills fan who grew up in Dallas. Talk about memorable seasons. There were four of them that ruined most of my secondary school starter jacket fashion. Blasted four superbowls.

    4. Never really had a neighbor do anything, but I know we did a lot. Killed our neighbors banana tree playing street hockey one day. He never said a word…that tree was his life.

    5. I hail from Nakhon Sawan Thailand. Its a town 3 hours north of Bangkok. I love this website…it is one of the three I check everyday: Hotmail, CNN, and Mental Floss. Keep writing and making everyday of mine interesting.

    posted by Noah on 1-25-2008 at 7:29 pm

55. 1). so far, so good. knock on wood, I’ve never had my identity stolen.

    2). one of the local schools offers a class on “finger drumming.”

    3). The 1993 Philadelphia Phillies. Who can ever forget Lenny Dykstra with the big wad of chew in his cheek, John Kruk with the crud-encrusted batting helmet and ripped uniform, or Mitch “The Wild Thing” Williams throwing the ball so hard that he fell off the mound almost every time (not to mention Hollins, Daulton, Morandini, or Jim Fregosi)? My boys beat the clean-cut Atlanta Braves in the NLCS and made it to Series, only to have our hearts broken by Joe Carter in Game 6 (on a pitch thrown by the Wild Thing). Man, I miss that team…

    4). I’ve had some quirky neighbors in my day. In my first apartment complex, the walls were so thin that I could tell when the guy upstairs GOT MAIL, because his subwoofer was right on the floor (my ceiling). Also interesting was the fact that I could easily hear him taking a leak in the middle of the night. My neighbors are generally ok now, with the exception of the lady next door who insisted on telling my wife about her “female problems” the day after we moved in. she’s a nurse and works odd hours, so it’s not unusual for her to start playing her stereo at about 2 AM (imagine how fun it is to hear the bass line of Sheryl Crow’s “All I Wanna Do” over and over again at 2 AM). Don’t even get me started on her damn dog…

    posted by Pete on 1-25-2008 at 7:35 pm

56. Both me and my husband had our identites stolen.
    I saw in my annual credit report a delinquent account for Los Angeles Memorial Hospital. I had never been to that hospital and called right away. The hospital was very helpful and found out that my social security # was being used for a 10 year old girl. They had me fax them a few documents to prove my identity and then told me they’d handle the matter and a month later it was off my credit report. All the credit agencies immediately flagged my account to this day large purchases and applications for credit have to be verified verbally by me.
    My husbands identity theft happened 1 month after mine. I blame his on Best Buy. Someone went into the store and filed for a credit card under my husbands name. My Husband already owned a credit card. The smart rep who helped the thief proceeded to cancel the first credit card and gave him a new acct# with a higher credit limit. My husband gets a letter in the mail saying they have succesfully canceled and reopened his account. After calling Best Buy we found out the thief had racked up over 3,000 in various products. Despite the evidence, Best Buy was reluctant to admit it was ther fault. They didn’t have much of a defense and took care of the charges and cleared his name right away. My husband tried to press charges but Best Buy would not cooperate. I still say it was a inside job, Best Buy swears no employee would ever do that.BULL

    posted by downchez on 1-25-2008 at 8:53 pm

57. Both me and my husband had our identities stolen.
    I saw in my annual credit report a delinquent account for Los Angeles Memorial Hospital. I had never been to that hospital and called right away. The hospital was very helpful and found out that my social security # was being used for a 10 year old girl. They had me fax them a few documents to prove my identity and then told me they’d handle the matter and a month later it was off my credit report. All the credit agencies immediately flagged my account to this day large purchases and applications for credit have to be verified verbally by me.
    My husbands identity theft happened 1 month after mine. I blame his on Best Buy. Someone went into the store and filed for a credit card under my husbands name. My Husband already owned a credit card. The smart rep who helped the thief proceeded to cancel the first credit card and gave him a new acct# with a higher credit limit. My husband gets a letter in the mail saying they have succesfully canceled and reopened his account. After calling Best Buy we found out the thief had racked up over 3,000 in various products. Despite the evidence, Best Buy was reluctant to admit it was ther fault. They didn’t have much of a defense and took care of the charges and cleared his name right away. My husband tried to press charges but Best Buy would not cooperate. I still say it was a inside job, Best Buy swears no employee would ever do that.BULL

    posted by downchez on 1-25-2008 at 8:54 pm

58. haha

    posted by jill on 1-25-2008 at 9:14 pm

59. 3. 1968 Detroit Tigers. Pitcher Denny McLain’s 30 wins made possible by some really outstanding bullpen saves. The miraculous win over the Cardinals in the Series.

    posted by Dennis M on 1-25-2008 at 10:25 pm

60. 1. Well my identy was kind of stolen, although no one ever did anything with it (really not the best identity to steal anyway). I got a phone call from my bank letting me know that the Secret Service had found a list of people’s names and debit card numbers, and mine was on it, so they canceled my card and I had to get a new one. Fortunately, no charges were made or anything. Not a huge deal, except that it was last month as I was doing Christmas shopping, so I didn’t have a card for part of my shopping or when I went to New Orleans for New Years.
    2. I know there are some good ones, but I don’t have it handy.
    3. 2000-2001 OU Sooners Football – it was my freshman year at OU and I had season tickets and those games were a lot of fun to attend!
    4. When I lived in one townhouse in college I had several interesting neighbor experiences. The best/worst one was when new people moved in a few doors down and we thought they behaved oddly, which was confirmed when I came home from work one day and there were SWAT team vehicles all over the place because they were raiding their apartment for drug trafficking. We sat and watched the whole thing as they brought them out in handcuffs and carried out evidence, etc – quite entertaining!
    5. I wish I was somewhere interesting to report from, just stuck here in Oklahoma.

    And, seriously, the whole poop thing in the comment at the top is disturbing! (especially since you have my name) Was it really that bad?? I can’t imagine going to those lengths…

    posted by Nicole (Different One!) on 1-25-2008 at 11:55 pm

61. In Feb 1969 my grandfather called and asked my parents to come up to the farm over the following weekend, no reason given. We went up on Sunday and at diner he told us that he had had a dream the night before he called and in the dream 3 things had been revealed 1) He was going to die in the follow 5 days (he had a massive heart attack that Thursday morning) 2)Man was going to walk on the moon (and we know that happened) and 3) that the Mets were going to win the World Series. The Mets win the world series, never…..so the dream was just that, a dream without meaning…..boy were we WRONG!\

    Been a Mets fan ever since.

    posted by Owen on 1-26-2008 at 5:01 am

62. I forgot about my neighbor getting tasered right outside of my bedroom window. I saw the whole thing as I could hear him SCREAMING at his girfriend because she had traded his PS2 for an air conditioner that did not work. So the police show up, order him to the ground and when he kept advancing on the officer, ZAAAAAP. It was awesome and disturbing all at once. I’m so glad we’re moving.

    posted by bzzyb on 1-26-2008 at 1:53 pm

63. I live in Boise Idaho, and the whole city knew last year that if they somehow went undefeated, they’d have a real good shot at a BCS bowl game. Every week was amazing to watch with so much on the line, and honestly, I think the general consensus in town was everyone was just happy they made it at the end of the year to the Fiesta Bowl against 7 time national champion Oklahoma.

    And then they freakin’ won….

    posted by Kel on 1-26-2008 at 2:09 pm

64. I’m only going to comment on the last point, not out of defiance or refusal, but out of laziness.

    I am in Seoul, South Korea

    posted by Austin on 1-27-2008 at 2:46 am

65. My favorite season? UConn 1999, when they shocked Duke in the NCAA final.

    Koach K’s postgame quote was a classic in the annals of poor loserdom: “We’re not here to win games, we’re here to build relationships.”

    Given their head-to-head record over the last ten years, it’s good that Rat Boy sets attainable goals.

    posted by Southwest Florida Husky on 1-27-2008 at 6:35 am

66. Arizona basketball 1997 FTW!

    PS: You need to drop the Duke friend.

    posted by David on 1-27-2008 at 11:39 am

67. 1. I’ve never had my identity stolen (hope i didn’t just jinx myself there) but my parents have deeply ingraned in me the practice of shredding all of my bank statements and credit card applications ‘just in case’

    2. Last year, the local community college had a class on sewing your own pirate garb(our mascot is the pirates). It was taught by the guy who does costuming for the local theater group. I seriously conidered signing up for it before remembering taht my sewing skills are terrible.

    4. Ah yes, neighbors. Just this evening there was some guy on a motorcycle accross the street who kept revving his engine. For five minutes. The main kinds of neighbors that mainly tick off my dad are the ones with dogs that seem to be completely deaf the the fact that they, in fact, DO bark when not in the company of their masters.

    posted by heather on 1-27-2008 at 10:08 pm

68. Season: 89-90 Edmonton Oilers – two seasons after trading away Wayne Gretzky, the boys pulled together one more championship season.

    Bad Neighbours: oh so many.

    1) “Oh Steve” who lived upstairs and had a loud voiced girlfriend.

    2) “Sir Squeaks-a-lot” who lived upstairs and brought home bar-floozies every weekend and humped for 3-4 hours (not exaggerating) on the squeakiest bed of all time.

    3) “Chimey” who has obnoxious wind chimes in a multi-family complex (my wife has wrapped shopping bags around the chimes more than once).

    4) The little girl who played “Hot Crossed Buns” on her recorder right outside my window at 11 am when I was on a night shift and trying to sleep.

    5) “The Giggle Twins”, two university-aged girls who live next door and apparently have Benny Hill-style “sexy parties” with boys and stomping around and giggling into the wee hours.

    6) The guy down the block who has a diesel truck and starts it before 5am when it’s cold out to “warm up” before he leaves around 9:00.

    posted by Big MIke on 1-28-2008 at 1:13 am

69. 1969-1970 season:

    Islanders
    Mets
    Jets
    Knicks

    all champs…what more can you ask?

    posted by Tim on 1-28-2008 at 2:51 am

70. Where do you live????

    Apart from a upstairs little idiot that is too sensible for loud sounds and thinks she’s the Queen of the complex and a next door baby that has nightmares and screams for an hour at 5am, I have a pretty good neighborhood.

    I have still a pretty good story: so I was at my last college year, and was doing a film class project which involved filming a short story in a one shot plane. So as I live at a first floor apartment and my kitchen window stares directly to our parking lot my colleague and I had the idea of making a shot about a witnessing of a drug bust.

    So we called a bunch of friends, signed them the roles (some were the drug dealers and some would be the cops) and did a couple of rehearsals to frame the camera and control the timings.

    I have to say that we were doing this at 2 pm of a Sunday and had all of my friends that weren’t on the picture as audience.

    The story went as this: the shady friends were to gather next to a car, with a bag full of flour and monopoly money and as they were exchanging bags, the well dressed friends were to get in a fast paced car and bust them with toy guns.

    I repeat that we had a pretty large audience, out of frame but still very visible, we made some noise with it as we were rehearsing and it was a bloody Sunday afternoon!

    Suddenly as we were at the middle of filming, there were cops everywhere, busting everyone. As I, and everyone were completely startled about what was happening, a neighbor of mine, (who is an actor by the way), appears pointing fingers at my “shady” friends and speaking to the cops as if he was the hero of the day.

    Needless to say that in 5 minutes we had the cops scolding him for being a trigger-happy idiot who couldn’t analyze a situation and he left to never again being able to look at me in the face.

    “This has to have granted you an A+ for sure!” should you be thinking by now. Yes it would, hadn’t I turned off the camera as the cops appeared in order to go outside to talk to them. If regrets were dollars….

    By the way, I’m a mentalfloss fan from Lisbon, Portugal.

    posted by xixita on 1-28-2008 at 4:26 am

71. 1. someone please take my identity–and my student loan debt.

    2. just looked at the catalog and wondered about the efficacy of the “english as a second languge” course.

    3. 2005 steelers. i know, i know, the 1970s steelers are the greatest ever, but since i wasn’t born yet, i have to go with our last super bowl win. i was in pittsburgh’s south side for the game, and that celebration was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. the parade was also INSANE (250,000+ fans).

    4. i had a dorm room neighbor in college who started playing “carmina burana” at full blast in her room, then LEFT. it played for a good six or seven hours before she came back. she also got really drunk and pooped in the courtyard of our building one night. classy girl.

    5. did i not give myself away with my #3 answer?

    posted by lala on 1-28-2008 at 10:49 am

72. 1.) Not too long ago I recieved a letter from my bank declaring that many of its members had their identity stolen and mine may have been one. They sent me a new debit card and that apparently took care of it. (and no, they didn’t just send them too all of their members for neither of my parents had the same problem)

    2.)Never took a night class…

    3.)I’m a saints fan, can you guess which one it is???

    4.)Its more like the neighbors freak out at me… along with the Sherrif’s Deparment

    posted by Allan on 1-28-2008 at 11:49 am

73. 2.I can’t find any night classes right now but my University in Nova Scotia has “ghouls, ghosts and goblins” and one about the simpsons

    4.what really-not-that-big-a-deal occasion caused you to freak out at your neighbors?

    Our neighbour didn’t cut his lawn for a while and it was getting really long and covered with dandelions, my mother got so angry she took out the lawnmower and mowed a stripe right up the side of it. It was hilarious….our neighbour mowed his lawn the next day without saying a word.

    5. I’m in Canada! Yes I know that is North America, but I felt like including it.

    posted by Brittany on 1-30-2008 at 2:20 pm

74. No. 5 is the only one I have an interesting answer for — I’m in Tokyo.

    posted by Karen on 1-31-2008 at 5:26 am

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