Thumb's out on a desert road I am told leads to nowhere

Went with my father to drop off the rental car they drove here from Michigan. Stopped at the mechanic on the way back to diagnose grinding at low speeds; turned out to be a massive brake problem, which is being fixed now.

Also, finally bought a Firewire cable and transferred most of the lost files from my old iBook to my new one. (I'll have to go back later and check one against the other to make sure that I've got everything.) In the process, verified that it is the screen causing the problem and not just something preventing the system from booting all the way.

Hard to believe it's only 3:15. Hard to believe also that I still have two and a half days of vacation left.