A Start

A couple weeks ago, the floor lamp in our family room started acting strange. Not "Poltergeist" strange, mind you, just flickering on and off and generally responding only to basic established fix-it techniques - shaking and wiggling - to get it back to normal.

As an electrical engineer, this troubled me. I immediately supposed that there was a shorted wire in a lamp, and that sounded like a house fire waiting to happen. I unplugged the lamp, thinking that I would check the socket for loose connections and replace it if necessary.

My excitement for lamp repair did not exactly hold up, however, as it wasn't until last night that I got around to checking the lamp. I pulled it into the kitchen - better light there, you know - and started fiddling around. First, I plugged in the lamp and tested it as-is. Switch-switch-switch-switch. Nothing. Switch-switch-jiggle-switch-jiggle-jiggle. Nothing. Hmm. So, I unplug it, take off the shade, and start unscrewing the socket from the wood base. Hmm. Visual inspection of the socket showed no damage. The cord did not feel loose.

Suddenly, a brilliant idea strikes me. Perhaps I should try it with a different light bulb! (I have heard that these things sometimes burn out.)

I put the lamp back together, install a brand-new light bulb, plug in the lamp, and turn the switch. Eureka! Light! "Katy, I fixed the lamp..."

To summarize: Yes, it took me two-plus weeks to change a burnt-out light bulb. And yes, I had unplugged the lamp in the meantime as a safety precaution. Please feel free to provide your own punchline to this "How many bloggers does it take to change a lightbulb" story.

And yes, this whole thing is my boss' fault. Blogs, indeed.