Comments (8)

By Real Dad, December 12, 2009 9:21 am

I have been trying to think of something to write about that would be useful to people rather then the usual stuff about my life and what I came up with is Bed Bugs! I am sure you are thinking “Why the hell would he write about Bed

All of the stages of life

Bugs?”….right? The answer is simple, I have been involved in the pest control business for 15 years and I currently manage the service department of a large regional pest management firm in NY. Why not share some knowledge? Although it would have been nice to share this information before the biggest travel day of the year, Thanksgiving, I figured better late then never.

If you haven’t heard of Bed Bugs by now you must be shut off from the rest of the world. Bed Bug stories are always on the news, in the paper, can be found all over the web and someone you know probably has their own story. They are real and can be found in the fanciest of hotels and homes to the cheapest hourly rate motel and most over populated multi-family house. They do not discriminate and they do not have a preference. If you travel, stay in hotels, buy and/or rent used furniture, live in an apartment, ride the bus or sit in a movie theater you run the risk of bringing these insects home!

Bed Bugs ( Cimex lectularius) are small insects belonging to the family Cimicidae. They are parasitic which means they feed on other living animals and in this case it is usually human blood. They are approximately  1/4″ long, oval, wingless with a flattened body (perfect for hiding in the smallest of places) and rusty red in color. They are nocturnal

Live bugs and fecal matter on a mattress

which makes it difficult to detect their activities. Females lay anywhere from 200-500 eggs in their lives which they glue to surfaces and/or in cracks and crevices of mattresses, box-springs, bedding, bed frames, behind pictures, in furniture, wall voids, electrical outlets and switch plates to name a few places. There are 5 nymphal stages (immature stages) each requiring a blood meal before molting to the next stage. The entire life cycle from egg to adult requires anywhere from 5 weeks to 4 months, depending on temperature and availability of food (blood). When temperatures range between 70° and 82°F, development occurs most rapidly. Feeding (the consumption of blood) usually takes 3-10 minutes with most people not knowing it is occurring because it happens when they are asleep and the insects saliva contains a mild anesthetic. Adult Bed Bugs can go a year or more without feeding but when feeding they can consume up to 6 times their own weight! The ONLY good news is that there is no evidence that Bed Bugs transmit any disease at this time.

Most people do not know they have been bitten until itchy bumps or welts appear which may not occur for several hours or days later. Most people associate the bites with something else, therefore it may be weeks or months before a Bed Bug infestation is suspected. In many cases live insects are not observed but rather unexplained blood spots (fecal

Bed Bug bites.....

matter) are found on sheets, pillow cases and/or blankets. I have seen cases in which the people eventually suspected these tiny critters but only after several months of unexplained bites or bumps!

I would suggest calling a professional if you have the slightest suspicion that you may have an infestation. I have yet to see any non-professional eliminate an infestation on their own. NOT ONE!  A professional inspection can also be invasive as we usually “toss” the room. We remove bedding, drawers, flip furniture, overturn mattresses and such.  A good inspector may take up to an hour to inspect one bedroom (unless a highly trained K9 is used). A professional treatment may include a variety of control measures including but not limited to:

• A K9 to inspect and locate
• Vacuuming
• Steam Cleaning
• Freezing
• Liquid insecticides
• Dust insecticides
• Fumigation (gas)
• Traps (for monitoring purposes only)

It is not an easy task, even for a professional. These insects are built to hide and may not be observed/found by the professional. Treatments are expensive and more then one is usually required. Bed Bug elimination is quickly

Live Bed Bugs and their caste skins

becoming the biggest thing in modern pest control but not every company is the same, so be sure to pick a well recommended professional. Eliminating these guys from your home requires a lot of work but it is more work for the homeowner as a lot of preparation is required before the treatment can take place, so be sure to ask for a “prep list”.

What can you do to help prevent an infestation? There are some things you can do:

• If traveling – inspect the mattress, box-spring, headboard and night stands for live insects, fecal matter, cast skins etc
• Do not place luggage on the bed
• Inspect your clothing and luggage before returning them to closets and dressers (preferably wash clothing prior)
• Don’t rent furniture and/or electronics (if possible)
• Inspect furniture and/or clothing given to you
• Inspect rooms after any house guests have left (sucks but other people CAN bring them into YOUR home)

Now that I made everyone’s skin crawl, I will say not all is hopeless. They can be eliminated and new research and treatment strategies are always being discussed and implemented.

SLEEP TIGHT and……………………. (well you know)

Comments (19)

By Real Dad, November 12, 2009 11:04 pm

Simple and to the point:

1. What kind of vampire doesn’t rip apart the pretty young girl?….a sissy vampire is my guess
2. Twilight is all I hear from my wife.
3. My wife watched the bonus DVD footage….I didn’t know that she knew what bonus footage or extras were
4. Twilight takes away from my “fun” time…in addition to the kids, school work, cleaning, cooking and everything else involved with being a mom!
5. I didn’t think of the story and publish the book myself…..that creative bitch!

I know that this is old news but Twilight is new to my house. My wife has heard about Twilight from friends and family but routinely said that she would never read the book or watch the movie. Something happened recently

I hate all of these people!

and she was convinced to read the book. “Twilight” hasn’t stopped since! She has since been given the second and third books, completing the second book in 2 or 3 nights and she purchased the DVD. She is always looking in the gossip magazines for stories and it drives me nuts.

I thank god that my daughter is only 4 and has no knowledge of Twilight! I know my day will come when she is also obsessed with something…..in due time…in due time! Twilight just makes me sick and I don’t know why.

Comments (4)

By Real Dad, October 23, 2009 10:01 pm

I have been blogging now for about 6 months and until recently maintained 2 different blogs. My first blog was started as a way to promote our home-based business but I soon turned it into a blog in which I provided advice and the tips I learned along the way for SEO (search engine optimization) and blog monetization. Then I started this blog as just a fun hobby. It became more and more difficult to maintain the two blogs. I had a loyal following and was building momentum and popularity with my other blog but I lost the passion I had when I first started it. I began to have much more fun with Real Dads Hangout and  the “relationships” I began to develop on Twitter and blog forums because of it. So I basically gave up on the other blog, although I was earning an increasing monthly income from advertisements,  in order to focus all of my “blog time” (as my wife calls it) to Real Dads Hangout.

The way I figure it, I started my other blog to make money and started this blog as a hobby but why can’t I have my cake and eat it too? So I employ the tips I learned along the way for SEO and experiment with different things in order to gain popularity. This has been increasing my blog followers at a slow and steady pace and some advertising and affiliate revenue has been generated. I am also noticing, through the use of Google Analytics, that Real Dads Hangout is popping up in more and more Internet searches for “fatherhood”, “fathers” and various other keywords and/or phrases. The more visitors I have the greater the chances are of someone clicking on the advertisements and/or affiliate links. Where is the rule that says I cannot turn my hobby into something profitable? Keeping with the concept of my first blog and providing advice, I am thinking of adding a sub-domain in which I can provide all of my fellow “Daddy and Mommy Bloggers” with simple advice for improving SEO. I am not an expert by any means and I make no such claim. I just learned a lot in the past 6 months because I read as much as I can on SEO and social media. I also subscribe to the newsletters of some of the most popular bloggers out there. I have tried many different things and I am finding out what works and what doesn’t and I am not afraid to share my failures.

Would you like to earn money from your blog?

I am just amazed at the amount of good blogs I see that do not have any advertising or affiliate links. Now many of these people may not be interested in making money from their blogs or do not know how to. I also learned by asking people on Twitter (yes I had multiple Twitter accounts until recently as well) if they knew about SEO. The majority of the people said they did not know about SEO tactics. Maybe I can spark some interest, nudge people into learning and trying these tactics and we can all share our experiences, good and bad. What the hell I say! I love blogging about being a father and husband, so why can’t I possibly make a little extra money doing it? Why can’t I share the tips I learned so other people may begin to do the same?

Would you like to keep blogging about something you love or hate  at times (haha), like being a dad, mom, husband or wife and possibly make some additional money doing it? Would you find benefit in a blog that provides you with simple tips and advice for doing so? Let me know. I would appreciate all of the feedback I could get!

Comments (2)

By Real Dad, October 1, 2009 9:55 pm

Today I had to go into “The City” (that’s NYC for all of you that don’t live in Tri-State area) for work. I am not a big fan of the city because I am always stuck driving which really blows. I had to make the trip so I can evaluate a prospective client’s location.

Sitting in traffic on 7th Ave SUCKS!

I did what I had to do and while walking to the parking deck and then sitting in traffic, I made some observations that solidified something that I already knew: NYC is filled with some really good looking women and some strange friggin people!

I observed the following:

• Many of the good looking women wear tight jeans or stretch pants with knee-high boots
• A man walking with an 80′s style “boom box” that was not on and had the power cord dangling but he was still singing
• A lot of good looking women
• A man yelling and screaming at a person for walking in front of him
• A lot of ugly women
• A 50-60 year old woman wearing a tight mini-skirt and fishnet stockings with embedded lace
• A man power-walking with daisy duke shorts and sporting a bulge that made me think he was smuggling a midget
• A man take a leak in the restroom and walk out without washing his hands (friggin gross)
• More good looking women
• A man in a well tailored suit talking on his Blackberry and picking his nose
• People are so consumed with reaching their destination that someone could drop to the ground, flop around and turn blue and people would either step over them or get pissed that it happened in their path of travel
• There are a lot of Carrie Bradshaw wannabes – DON’T ASK….I JUST KNOW

If you haven’t been to NYC, you must visit it at least one time in your life. Do not worry about all of the theatres, restaurants, museums, bars and historical sites rather just sit somewhere in Times Square and just watch the people. You will not be disappointed; I swear it!

Comments (4)

By Real Dad, September 14, 2009 8:57 pm

Ok..so in my last post I said that I would do everything possible to finish by noon yesterday so I can sit in front of the TV and spend the day watching football. I was certainly done by noon and even had time to get some additional things done for Carrie. I got all of my little snacks ready and made sure the beer was cold.

First, I watched the pre-game show then dosed off for an hour (I was awake at 5:30 to finish the floor) during the 1:00 games. It’s now about 2:30 and the only thing I can think of is the 4:00 Giants game! WOOO HOOO all hyped up and starting to fidget around a bit…..then the phone rings. It was Carrie calling to tell me that she would be home in about 30 minutes! DAMN..DAMN….DAMN! Just in time for the Giants game.

Needless to say, I did not watch my game in peace. I did not even attempt to watch the 2nd half! Just goes to show you…..IF IT SEEMS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT PROBABLY IS! A lesson my parents taught me many years ago….and I forgot!