What type of vga cord should i use?

The mini has a female connector, so it's a male plug that's needed at that end. Typically displays also have female connectors, and if yours does, you therefore need a male-to-male.

Such a cable can be found at most electronic stores (such as Radio Shack if you have one local to you) or from http://www.pccables.com/cgi-bin/orders6.cgi?action=Showitem&id=ID650177&partno=0 0645&search=MONITOR&rsite=google.comsearc&rcode= as but one example.

yep, all VGA (to monitor) cables are male to male. male to female cables are referred to as "extension cables" and will not work from a computer to display unless there is already a male to male cable there, that you want to extend.

i just did a quick google search for for dvi to vga cables, without the use of an adapter...
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=dvito+vga+cable-adapter&btnG=Search

the first site that came up...
http://www.datapro.net/products/1145.html

these cables would allow you to hook up the monitor without using the adapter... would just save a little bit of space if depth is at all an issue, or the visibility of the cable sticking out that far back.