My monitor chose today to up and die on me.

The day started out pretty much as normal, not something you really want to read about.  Anyway, when it was finally time to chill on the computer for a while, I noticed that the upper half of the screen was darker than usualâwhere it was supposed to be white, it was kind of a dark gray.  I started playing Minecraft, and got up to this high shelf of dirt blocks I was making into a floating island, when it went black.  I tried the usual things, starting with turning it off and on again, and it came back.  For a few minutes.  I figured I'd give it an hour or two to cool down and see if that helped.  I turned off the monitor and watched a couple of discs of InuYasha.  When I came back, still the same crap.  I figure it's pretty much kaput.

So, plan B.  I opened up my closet, shoved some boxes out of the way, and dragged out this ginormous old CRT I had back there, wiped the dust off, and schlepped it to the computer desk.  Problem solved.  It may not be pretty, but it works.

The moral of the story is, don't throw out your old electronics if they still work.  You never know when you may need a spare.