It's a regular Saturday morning. I stumble out of bed and go to start the coffee maker. Put the water in, throw out the old grinds, grind the coffee beans, fill up the coffee filter and plug it in (the on and off switch died a few months back). The coffee maker starts making the heat up the water noise...and then I notice it is dumping the water out its plastic bottom.

The coffee maker is dead. It's at least forty-five minutes before I can run to Wal-Mart, buy a replacement and get the day started again. And $20.

Earlier this spring, my dishwasher died. The pump died and left the dishes inside half washed with a ton of soapy water loitering in the bottom of the machine. And half of my kitchen floor with the rest of the soapy water. My landlord hasn't been able to fix the dishwasher (it needs to be completely replaced because of the way they're put together, and these are hard economic times). But the handyman did fix the toilet pump problem I'd been having for a while. I showed him the leaky faucet in the kitchen, and he cleaned the pieces responsible for the leak. This mostly worked for a few months.

A few weeks ago the faucet decided it was just going to stop turning off the water. I got a new faucet from that one.

I replaced my long suffering mattress in June for a little over $600. For the most part, my long-suffering back is doing better.

Since I briefly upgraded my cable in May (they gave me the step up for a couple of months to "try it out"), my Internet became less than reliable. I had one set of techs come over and replace one thing. It worked for about...30 minutes before going back to it's regular "I'll work when I want" attitude. But it still took me a few weeks to get back to them and have another guy come out, replace another thing and actually fix the problem.

I'd taken my car in to check my transmission early in the year. I had a leak somewhere. I thought it would be hundreds of dollars, but they just had to clean it up. The leak stopped and no more transmission problems. But when I was paying that rather small bill, my mechanic let me know I'd be needing front end work. Boots and joints and such. He said when the shaking steering wheel kept shaking at high speeds, that would be the time.

Or maybe when one tire went half flat, and I couldn't get it to take any air. Fixed with boots and joints and new tires for $650. A few days later I was getting gas on my way home and the same tire was half flat again. I drove it over to my mechanic, they took the tire off, inflated it and looked for a leak. Nothing. But there hadn't been a cap on the tire stem. Maybe that was it. Maybe, because it's been fine for the last two weeks.

Oh yeah, and I've been having to prove to everyone not my boss (who got fired in July) what my job is and why I'm qualified to keep it. This is ongoing. At the moment, it's only cost me some patience and gas (from driving back and forth from my office to the client's office halfway across town). But, as I keep getting told, it might mean my job.

And this week my TV has decided it's about to die. The bottom of the screen creeps up and flashes and jumps and makes people look like they have no legs. And then the top pushes down until there is a very bright inch or two of light (super duper widescreen) flashing in the middle of the screen. Turning the TV on and off fixes this. Sometimes it works and doesn't break down again for an hour or so. Other times it takes just a minute or two before giving me Cylon vision again.

Now TVs are different than they were when this one was bought over a decade ago for about $200 in a late night rush replacement because there was Chiefs football the next morning. First off, they're bigger. And more expensive. And thinner. And more expensive (did I say that? am I repeating myself? is my mind breaking down?). And even more awesome, so I've heard. But another grand out of my bank account I'm not quite ready for. So I've been nursing the sucker along for the last week. Trying to get through this credit card cycle to the next. Because if I can wait until October to pay for it, well, I might like the big-ass awesomeness of HDTV just a little bit better.

I'd love to say this is it. I've got nothing else that could break down on me. But that whole coffee maker thing kinda took me by surprise.

Matt Worley is mostly prepared for the unexpected break down of his life.