We went out geocaching this morning for the first time in a couple of weeks. I had a map with about a dozen caches picked out, but we only managed 4. No we didn’t DNF the other 8, but merely never got to them. There were two new ones along the Boyd Pond Bike Trail south of town. We had done the four caches around the pond last September and we swore we would come back and walk the trail again soon, but never did. Now was our opportunity. Went the more direct route to the cache and opted for the “scenic”, windy way out and ended up walking 4.2 miles total. and quite a 4.2 miles it was.
Turned on the computer this morning and the relatively recent Samsung SyncMaster 2233SW Monitor flashed its display for a second and then went black. Rebooted and it did the same thing while loading the bios, so it wasn’t Windows 7. The updated Bios from the other day? Doubtful. Had to be either video card or monitor. I let the PC boot up and I could make the display come on for a second by turning the monitor off and then back on. Trying to work like that would be very time consuming and annoying after a very short time. To be sure it was the monitor’s fault and not the video card I plugged a VGA cable into the laptop and tried to used the monitor as a second display, but got a the same problem, a brief glimpse of a desktop and then black.
Checked the internet for possible quick fixes, but found none. I did find the the monitor carried a 1 year parts and labor warranty. We bought it on June 14th last year which made it 1.13 years old. to Quote Agent 86, “Missed it by that much Chief.” After lunch we went to Staples to buy a replacement. In our price range there was a Dell and 2 different Samsungs. We picked the Dell, after all the Dell monitor that originally came with the PC lasted 6 years and the Samsung only did a little over a year. The Dell comes with a one year warranty and on the way out the salesman tried to sell us a one year extended warranty for $25. Donna was sorely tempted, but I talked her out of it. I did make a deal with with her, if this Dell only makes it just over the one year mark before crapping out, I would opt for every extended warranty ever offered me.
Finished up Season 2 Disc 6 of Law & Order this after noon. We love seeing the folks who were cutting their acting chops on the show way back in the early 90 and the ones who make one show guest starring plots. The final two episodes on the disc treated us to each of George Costanza’s parents Jerry Stiller on one show and Estelle Harris on the other. We also got Sam Rockwell in only his 10th credited role. We also got a very young Sabrina Llyod, AKA Natalie from Sports Night. The second to last show was the first ever appearance of Leslie Hendrix as the coroner, Dr. Elizabeth Rodgers, who I bet is very thankful for Dick Wolf as she has had pretty steady work since then playing that role. She has done 142 episodes of the original Law and Order, along with 104 episodes of Law and Order Criminal Intent, 9 episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and even one appearance on the short lived Law & Order: Trial By Jury.
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