$116 Worth of Boooo

That's how much I had to pay to buy a new power cord for my laptop, which mysteriously gave up the ghost last night. I suspect it might have had something to do with the outlets at school, because it was acting funny there yesterday, but if there was a surge of some kind, wouldn't my computer itself have been affected? I should be thanking my lucky stars on that score, I suppose. Although my laptop is five years old, I'm extraordinarily fond of it. It's not just that I don't want to spend money on a new one--which I certainly don't--it's that I don't want to have to get used to a new one. This one and I are good friends now.

Anyway, the cost was so high because I had to buy a universal adapter, since Best Buy doesn't sell ones for Dell only. If I weren't attached to my laptop at the hip, I could have waited and ordered one from Dell, but I am, so I couldn't wait. In fact, I was out the door at 9am this morning to see if Target had one, and I learned that Target is a nice place early on a Sunday. No crowds for once. Alas, Target failed me in my quest, so I had to drive a few towns over to the Best Buy. It was a fabulous day to be out driving--blue skies, bright sunshine, plenty of leaves still on the trees but enough swirling around in the street to remind me of how much I loved fall when I was a kid.

In happier news, something awesome happened yesterday! I sent Sean a picture of a painting that I thought he'd like, and he did. He liked it enough to put it as the desktop picture on his laptop, which means little to most people, but Sean hasn't changed his background picture in all the years I've known him: it's always been a default image of trees in autumn. Now it's this:



This is St. Jerome by Ghirlandaio in the Church of Ognissanti in Florence. I thought Sean would like it because he just looks so scholarly--in addition to the Latin in the open book, there's Greek and Hebrew writing on the pieces of paper on the shelves. His pose and expression make him seem real in a way that few Quattrocento paintings have ever done for me. Doesn't he look like he's just paused in writing some letter because he can't figure out how to phrase what he wants to say? He's looking out at us like, "A little help here?" Or maybe he's just itching to tell us to get the hell out of his study, who knows.

Anyway, the important thing here is that Sean and I have agreed on a piece of art! This is extremely momentous. Jerome will always have a place in my affections from now on.