NEW MONITOR Open Thread

Thanks to the time-intensive efforts and calling around by LookingUp, a kindly old gentleman who’s a member of a Mac user club delivered a very nice used 17″ monitor to Darcy at work, and we set it up tonight! It’s like a whole NEW WORLD for me! God, no wonder I couldn’t see text well before!

He had about five monitors on hand, and was tickled to find someone who needed one. And he drove a rather long way to deliver it, but timed it with a visit to see a friend who also lives on the Peninsula. And, as he said, it’s so much better for these monitors to get recycled than to end up in landfills (where they’re quite toxic). Thank you, LookingUp, for hooking me up with this kindly, helpful gentleman.

And thanks so very much to Ghostdancer and to Diane101/Shirl for also pitching in. They were willing to ship me monitors, but that’s quite expensive, and this is a far more practical and completely wonderful way to get one. My old monitor was a crappy old tiny monitor my mom bought from one of my brother’s sons, and its base was broken, and I had to stack it on three books (including two old John Dean books), and then hoist it at an angle with strategically placed pencils.

And, one of my new delights, I’ve just discovered, is being able to truly enjoy the graphic-rich newsletters I get from organizations, including Sierra Club. I usually threw them away because it was too hard to read them. In tonight’s new Sierra Club newsletter, there are many articles (including a topic we’ve discussed here recently, “America’s Forests: Not For Sale!“). And there’s a great quiz:

Survive This!

Win a wilderness adventure in Sierra’s 10th wild journeys contest.

You know to avoid mountaintops during lightning storms, but do you also know to stay away from the mouths of caves and mines? If you’re swept down a river, what’s the best angle to keep your body as you swim toward shore?

If you want to test your backcountry-emergency aptitude, we’ve got a challenge for you. … Read all + see the list of great prizes