Occam's Razor Need Not Apply

A few weeks ago, the lamp in our family room quit working. Years ago, it used to be a touch lamp, but that broke after only a few months. The reviews online said that was pretty common for that product. So we put it on a dimmer switch to be able to adjust the amount of light it gave off. When the lamp quit working, I thought maybe the lamp had just given up the ghost completely. The dimmer switch has a little light to indicate if you have it turned low, medium, or high, but there was no light showing up on the dimmer switch. So I figured that the connections had gone wrong and it was the switch that had died. Weeks went by and we had no light for t.v. viewing in the family room, which I don't like. Finally, Bryan was getting ready to change everything out, but he decided to try another light bulb before he started cutting wires. He took the bulb out of the lamp and shook it-- sure enough. The bulb was dead. All the lamp needed was a new bulb. Duh! Occam's Razor is the concept that, all things being equal, the simplest explanation is usually correct. Proven yet again, with our lamp!

Poor, Sick Titus

This picture says it all. Just looking at him, you can tell how sick he feels. Bryan decided to ease up and let Titus sleep on the couch (like he used to do before Bryan moved in!)

Thankfully, he's feeling better now, but at the end of May, Titus was so sick. He was throwing up, he had diarreha, he wouldn't eat anything, he had lost easily 15 pounds... I took him to the vet right away. He had a bit of a fever, so they gave him some antibiotics.

A week later, he still wasn't feeling any better. Bryan took him to the vet again, and they gave him a stronger set of antibiotics and drew some blood to run some tests. But Titus still wasn't feeling any better.

We were driving by the vet and Bryan suggested we stop in and see what the results for the bloodwork were. I started speaking to the assistant, and I was trying to be very calm and nice, but the more I talked about Titus, the more upset I got. He is my baby, and he was not getting the help he needed to feel better! I started to get a bit emotional, and a bit worked up. My voice was getting louder. She asked if I wanted to speak to the doctor, and I said, "No! I want some medicine to make him better!" She went and got the doctor instead.

The doctor came out, and I again shared that Titus was not better, and that I was not happy with the service I was receiving. Bryan says I yelled at the doctor. I was so upset and so worried about Titus, I can't remember if I yelled or not. But Bryan said it was well played. Not too mean, just enough to get some results.

And results we did get. Although it was about half an hour til closing time, the Vet said to go home and get Titus and he'd take some x-rays and check him out. Well, come to find out, Titus has Valley Fever. I KNEW it wasn't just a tummy ache! We got the medicine he needed, and after about a week of taking it, he was nearly back to his old self. Now, after about a month, he is as good as new.

A little bit of rage goes a long way.