The pulmonologist thinks my mom has Mycobacterium avium intracellular (MAI), which is classified as an Acid-Fast bacillus (AFB). After treating a sample of an AFB with acid, it retains a certain class of stains. Unfortunately, another AFB is Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The quick lab tests don’t really differentiate between MAI and TB, so we get to wait several weeks to find out what it is. So even though she’s showing no symptoms for TB, the clinic can’t let her back in, and they had to give the diagnosis over the phone.

Other than that, I think I want to buy the new CDs from Fatboy Slim and The Prodigy.

Oh, yeah, I signed up for a stamps.com account and cancelling it required a 40-minute wait on hold. But when I got through, the person was very pleasant and businesslike. He asked if I needed any help to get the software running (one reason I’m quitting is that I can’t get it to work) but I told him that after that long wait, I’d better cancel my account. He didn’t try to convince me to keep my account, and was very efficient about the whole thing.

You know what they say, if something unpleasant becomes less unpleasant, then it’s usually remembered more fondly. Weird, that.