Archive for the ‘end of year’ Category

New Year, New Direction

Thursday, January 1st, 2009

When I started Bugged Out in January 2006, it was because I saw almost no sites or blogs that focused on New Yorkers who were suffering from bed bug infestations. Most of what I saw was advice for people to throw a fumigation tent over their detached homes. I saw a void, and when I saw no one else filling it, I decided to do it myself.

But that was then, and this is now. There are many blogs about bed bugs and New York City, Bugged Out kind of gets lost in the crowd. There are a lot of great New York-centric bed bug blogs out there, and most of them have more specific missions that just being an online community for New Yorkers living with bed bugs. And they do a way better job of fulfilling those goals than I ever could.

I could commit a lot of time and energy to making Bugged Out about covering bed bug-related legislative policy in cities whose leaders are actually accountable to their constituents or picking out bed bug headlines in the media or chronicling my own personal hardships with bed bugs, things that are already being accomplished elsewhere on the Web. I could just retire Bugged Out and declare it obsolete, leaving it as an archive for readers to browse and only regard as a dead, stagnant tombstone to a blog that once was.

Or I can take Bugged Out in a completely new direction by doing the same thing I did three years ago: do something I didn’t already see being done.

Wow, I just unintentionally used the verb do in four different tenses in the same sentence.

But let me get back to the point.

Starting January 15…new look, new mission statement, new direction.

New Bugged Out.

Happy New Year.

Posted in Reflections, end of year | No Comments »

"Don’t Let the Bed Bugs Bite"

Monday, December 31st, 2007

Hoo boy. If you’re like me and have perused the web endlessly for news on bed bugs, you’ve no doubt read “Don’t Let the Bed Bugs Bite” ad nauseam by clueless reporters who no doubt assume they are the first to ever use this adage in an article involving bed bugs. I am quite sick of hearing this saying in news stories about bed bugs, and I have no doubt in my mind that 2008 will be full of news stories that contain “Don’t Let the Bed Bugs Bite” in the lead paragraph if not the headline.

I came upon a news story about colonial America that actually tells from where this notorious adage originates. It’s from the Norwell Mariner/Patriot Ledger in Marshfield, Massachusetts. The article focuses on MA state Senator Robert Hedlund, who accompanied a class of fifth graders on their field trip to a New England colonial museum. Apparently Marshfield is a microscopically sleepy town or this article was the byproduct of an extraordinarily slow news day. In any case, the origin of the phrase is revealed in the following quote:

It was later learned that colonists often had to cope with bed bugs because mattresses were made of straw; bed supports were tightened with a special device: hence the expression, “sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite.”-Mary Ford, “Oldest Fifth-grader Joins School Field Trip”

The fact offers some perspective when you consider all the technological advancements made since the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock in 1620, and despite all these advancements we still itch for the same reason the Pilgrims did. The bed bugs must’ve annoyed the hell out of the Native Americans.

Happy New Year, by the way. Next month will be the second birthday of Bugged Out.

Speaking of New Year, do any native New Yorkers actually go to Times Square anymore to watch the ball drop? It was all the rage when I was a kid, and by the time I was old enough to go by myself (since no adult I knew was interested in going), the whole hanging out at Times Square got real lame, especially after 9/11 when security was beefed up and everything from liquid containers (no booze?!?) to backpacks were banned from the area during the New Year’s Party.

As far as I know, most New Yorkers attend private New Year’s parties where they are free to eat, drink, smoke, snort, inject and swallow whatever the hell they want without being hassled by the fuzz. Times Square at New Year’s is for squares, a.k.a. tourists. Let them be herded like cattle into a potential terrorist target area.

So be sure to stock on the alcohol tomorrow, especially if you have bed bugs. And for those who don’t have bed bugs, you are cordially invited to my house for a slumber party! Then you can go home and watch your furniture and your sanity disappear.

Cheers.

Posted in end of year, holiday, humor, news articles, schools | No Comments »

One "Expert" Opinion on Foggers

Sunday, December 31st, 2006

By now it is fairly well known that foggers, or “bug bombs” as they are often called, do little to get rid of bed bugs. It is often said that foggers not only do not kill bed bugs but simply disturb them and cause them to scatter, only to return once the fogger has worn off. But many people use these anyway to kill roaches in their homes whether or not they have bed bugs. An anonymous poster who claimed to be a pest control technician and recently commented on my June 23 post had the following to say:

As a pest control tech of 11 years I wish you good luck. A warning though….use
the wrong product (repellents) and it’s all over for you. You will push those
bedbugs up into the walls and they can lay dormant a lot longer than the active
in most pesticides.

If you’ve ever used foggers before (like I have) to kill roaches and you have this comment can especially be applied to bug bombs.

After reading this comment, it dawned on me that the bed bugs, holed up within your walls waiting for the fogger’s spray to disappear, could easily spend this quiet time breeding and laying eggs. Long story short, if you have bed bugs AND roaches in your home, consider using a non-repellent (like a direct insecticide) to deal with your roach problem.

Merry Christmas, by the way, and Happy New Year!

Posted in end of year, insect foggers, tips | 1 Comment »