On Sunday, March 5, 2006 12:51:27 PM UTC-5, John wrote:
Oh, when I took the lamp down I thought it was in series. One wire led to
the next like in an Xmas tree.

If you look you will see TWO wires going from bulb to bulb to bulb. That's parallel.

Let me ask the question just one last time: How do I use the tester to see
if there's any power reaching the switch to begin with?

You touch one end to a hot (black wire), and the other end to a neutral (white wire).

Since switches normally just break the hot wire running to the light, you need to find your neutral (white). You also need to be on the supply side of the switch (the side coming from the breaker panel).

Stick the tester into the two vertical slots of a wall outlet to test its operation.