it goes like this, like that.

Had a great time with my cousins in Seattle, over too soon. Am now back in San Diego, where it is just hot enough to shut my brain down. And muggy. I went down to downtown La Jolla today in hopes it would be cooler, which it was; unfortunately Pannikin was closed by the time I got there, so I wound up sitting in a Starbucks. But I got my filler stories written, at long last! And then the staff of Don Jose's(?) were nice enough to give me tacos even though I'd gotten there after they had closed. There was a guy sitting outside Don Jose's playing a sheng, which I had never seen before. He said it was the oldest known free-reed instrument in the world. He wasn't very good at it but it was nifty anyway.

Then I had to wait for about 40 minutes for the bus going back up to my apartment, and it would have been nice if the bus driver had spent less time trying to pick up the cute Swedish exchange student and more time, yanno, driving the bus. (brandishes old man's cane at them, stalks offstage)

also (dear lazyweb),

I suspect the power brick for my monitor is about to fail. It still works, but it's very hot all the time. The monitor is a Dell brand 2001FP, and Dell seem to be profoundly uninterested in selling me a replacement. Does anyone know where one might be able to get a replacement? I suppose one could find some no-name power brick with the same specifications, which are conveniently printed on the brick, and wire it to the existing cable, but one generally prefers solutions that do not involve soldering irons.

[EDIT: I have found any number of things online that purport to be the same part ("Delta Electronics ADP-90FB") but I don't think they actually are. My part delivers 20VDC, not 19VDC, and has an output jack that looks like the picture at the right.

Also, if you know how to crack one of these bricks open and fix it, please do tell.]