Date Night

   It's 8:07PM here in New York as I start this post. I was supposed to have completed this entry earlier today but it's been busy at the company over the past couple of months. I have a date tonight and I have 2 hours to kill before I meet her. She's a night owl too and she's still at her law firm. Nah, she's not a lawyer but a legal secretary. We're going to Bouley which is downtown. I'm not going to drive so my plans are as follows:

1) Take a cab to her office building
2) Wait until 10PM and hope that she's done by then
3) Walk to Bouley since her office is only about 3 blocks away
4) Actually, it's freezing outside so we might take a cab
5) Eat and wince at the bill
6) Take our complimentary lemon bread when we leave
7) Go to the motel I've mentioned before on this blog
8) Inspect the carpet, mattress, and blinds for bed bugs
9) Sleep. Well, sleep as in "go to bed" which is what I tell my little nieces and nephews.
10) Tomorrow morning, I'll watch her do the walk of shame down the street

   I've known this girl for about 3 months so I figure I'll give it another month before I allow her into my apartment. By then, I'll know she's not a bed bug carrier - can't be too careful these days.

Dirty Ass People at the United Nations?

From the Canadian Press:

UN not giving diplomatic immunity to wingless, bloodsucking emissaries known as bed bugs

By Anita Snow (CP)

   There are a few emissaries at U.N. headquarters that won't be able to count on diplomatic immunity: bedbugs. Bed bug sniffing dogs twice this month found evidence of the insects in furniture in two U.N. buildings, and the furniture was moved to unoccupied areas of the complex to be fumigated, Martin Nesirky, spokesman for the Secretary-General, said Wednesday.

   At the U.N., no staff or other occupants of the complex overlooking the East River have reported bites, Nesirky said. He also said that the bed-bug sniffing dogs are unable to distinguish between insects that are alive or dead.

   Nesirky said that a bed bug infestation reported last fall at the Albano building, a midtown Manhattan building on East 46th St. where the U.N. is housing some offices during a major renovation, was cleared up by a several rounds of fumigation. An insect discovered at the site after fumigation in May was deemed not to be a bed bug but a clover mite, which is not harmful to furniture or humans, he said.

   "We continue to follow the expert advice of our exterminator specialist making further tests with the bed-bug sniffing dog to more fully assess and manage the problem," Nesirky said.

What I, J-Sonoma, learned from this article:
1) Bed bug sniffing dogs can't tell the difference between live and dead bugs
2) There's an insect called a "clover mite"
3) The U.N. is not immune from the scourge of dirty ass people and the bed bugs they harbor

Are Bullies the New Bed Bugs for 2011?

   The year 2010 was all about bed bugs... at least in New York City. Now, I'm hearing about bullies and bullying on the news pretty much every other day. I'll make a prediction right here and right now:

BULLIES are going to be the BED BUGS of 2011

   The news media will talk about bullies, bullying, and the bullied in 2011 like they talked about bed bugs in 2010. The face of bullies will be paraded on television, the papers, and websites. Bullies will be on the cover of Time magazine and I will shed a tear for the bullied.

   I don't like bullies but I think I know where bullies come from - low self-esteem, low self-worth, ignorance, trouble at home, and a "get them before they get me" mentality. In light of all that, I think bullies serve an important social function. It's not a pretty social function to talk about but bullies can be motivators and serve as the impetus for change for those that they bully. The recent Rutgers suicide has been attributed to bullying but I don't agree. The roommate who filmed Tyler Clementi having relations wasn't a bully - he was idiotic, misguided, and a voyeur but a bully? If people are calling him a bully then the term is being bandied about very loosely. So, there it is, my first prediction for the coming year - the rise of the Bully.

HeadDrama: 10/25- Bed Bugs Bite!