here we go again.

not like it ever stopped, but, it looks like we're in for another round.

last night i plucked two tiny bugs off my boxspring. tonight i plucked two more, also very tiny, as well as six very small discarded shells. this leads me to believe that another generation has hatched and is launching attack on me.

i still just wish i knew where the hell they were coming from.

and i wish i knew when there would be an end to this.

also, last night, i came home to a note under my door. my downstairs neighbor, the one who is being evicted for deducting extermination costs from his rent, shoved a note under everyone's door in an effort to rally the troops somehow. i guess i ought to send him an email. i'm ready to rally.

and...another one.

These nightly bed inspections sure are paying off! I found another bed bug tonight, nestled in and waiting to feast on me while I slept.

I wonder, though, when they do their traveling. They're not in the bed when I check in the morning, but they're here when I check at night. And where do they keep coming from that as I capture each one (and tape it to a piece of paper and date it for evidence), new ones continue to appear?

It's no way to live, I can say that much.

Warranty of Habitability

WARRANTY OF HABITABILITY

Taken from http://www.housingnyc.com/html/resources/attygenguide.html

Tenants are entitled to a livable, safe and sanitary apartment. Lease provisions inconsistent with this right are illegal. Failure to provide heat or hot water on a regular basis, or to rid an apartment of insect infestation are examples of a violation of this warranty. Public areas of the building are also covered by the warranty of habitability. The warranty of habitability also applies to cooperative apartments, but not to condominiums. Any uninhabitable condition caused by the tenant or persons under his direction or control does not constitute a breach of the warranty of habitability. In such a case, it is the responsibility of the tenant to remedy the condition. (Real Property Law §235-b)

If a landlord breaches the warranty, the tenant may sue for a rent reduction. The tenant may also withhold rent, but in response, the landlord may sue the tenant for nonpayment of rent. In such a case, the tenant may countersue for breach of the warranty.

Rent reductions may be ordered if a court finds that the landlord violated the warranty of habitability. The reduction is computed by subtracting from the actual rent the estimated value of the apartment without the essential services.

A landlord's liability for damages is limited when the failure to provide services is the result of a union-wide building workers' strike. However, a court may award damages to a tenant equal to a share of the landlord's net savings because of the strike. Landlords will be liable for lack of services caused by a strike when they have not made a good faith attempt, where practicable, to provide services.

In emergencies, tenants may make necessary repairs and deduct reasonable repair costs from the rent. For example, when a landlord has been notified that a door lock is broken and willfully neglects to repair it, the tenant may hire a locksmith and deduct the cost from the rent. Tenants should keep receipts for such repairs.

Sweet dreams!

Well, well, well. Look what I found in my bed last night during a routine bedbug inspection! Not one, but TWO fairly large bed bugs! And slightly elongated which indicates that they're well fed -- no surprise there. (See yesterday's photos.)





















The first one was hiding just between the boxspring and mattress. The second one was tucked into the little fold of my boxspring cover, so I grabbed him AND the discarded shells of him or his vampirous buddies. And all the black specks? Poop. A small fraction of what's all over the boxspring cover.

I can't decide if finding these little bastards helps me sleep easier, because I know I took away the likely culprits, or makes sleep harder, because I know there could be more that I didn't find.

Either way, I don't think I have any new bites in new places. So just for now, I want to believe that I can catch these little blood-suckers, two at a time if need be, so I can get a good night's sleep once in a while.

(But for the record, I had a rather unpleasant dream that I was admitted to the hospital indefinitely while people tried to figure out what was wrong with me.)

still waiting on that independence...

So, courtesy of feeling very under the weather all last night and this morning, and consequently spending a lot of time lying horizontally on my couch and my bed, I now have a higher one-night bite tally than I have in a while.

First it was the one on my neck. That's a relatively unusual spot to find a bite, but there it was. Like a flashing red light.

Then, it was this cluster on my left arm. Hard to say how many, because my body reacts with quick swelling and redness, but I'd say 6-10. I read about bed bugs that they may just bite in a line right down your body, or like...take a bite, and step to the left, repeat -- and leave clusters like these.

And finally, there's the buffet on my right shin, which leads me to believe the little bastards are hiding in the foot-end of my bed again -- in addition to the head. Awesome. I'm being blitzed. Again, I'd say about 8-10 bites.

And this isn't even all of them. There are one-off bites too: one on my hand, my upper thigh, back of my other elbow.

I suspect that one of the reasons I got super chowed last night was that I actually slept, because of the medication I took to remedy feeling sick. The goal was to knock me out so I wouldn't be in pain all night, but the side effect is I lie perfectly still when these things are biting me, allowing them to continue feasting. So, the battle continues: a good night sleep? Or a bite-free body?

And let's not forget that it's finally July, and finally sunny and hot, and I'm so embarrassed by my body that I want to wear long sleeve turtleneck and long pants to go out in public. But at least it's a weekend, where I can hide at home. Tomorrow I have to deal with it and go to work wearing the evidence of my infestation on my sleeve...literally.

city housing inspection - check!

so, of all days, the city housing inspector comes knocking on my door today, the 4th of july, independence day. the day for me to gain independence from bedbugs! [cue inspiring orchestral music]

but seriously. i expected a CALL from the housing authority within 72 hours, and never got it. and now the guy shows up TODAY, completely unannounced?? good thing i was home, in sweats, wearing no bra, scratching a new bite on my shin and sweeping the floor when he arrived. of all days to pretty much ensure you won't find anyone at home - this is among them. i just happen to have no life, so i was home.

so anyhow, the guy comes in. he doesn't directly ask about the bugs, but just phrases my complaint in the form of a question: "i have a bedbug complaint here for allen?" i nod and say "yes, they're still biting me." that seems to be enough confirmation, so he comes in.

he says "ok, did the landlord treat with pesticides?" i tell him they used a fogger, just one time. he says they shouldn't use the fogger, the fogger doesn't work, and there should be at least three "real" treatments of proper pesticides.

then he asks "smoke detector? carbon monoxide detector?" i lead him to the hallway and flip on the light, to show him where the smoke detector is. it occurs to me then, for the first time, that i have never seen a carbon monoxide detector in this apartment even though they're mandatory now in nyc. we both check the livingroom, hallway, and bedroom and find no carbon monoxide detector. he writes it down on his form.

"fire escape window?" he asks. i point to the bedroom window with the air conditioner in it. i silently hope that's not an infraction too. mostly, i think, he's looking at the gate.

"okay," he says, and starts making for the door.

"but the bugs..." i stammer. "do you need any proof of that?" i think to the cluster of bug shells in my boxspring cover...and the fresh bite on my leg.

"no," he responds. "why would anyone make that up?" hm. good point. "did you go to the hospital or anything?

"no," i tell him, "but whenever i get bites, i take photos. and whenever i catch a bug, i tape it to a piece of paper so i can prove they're here." he was still walking towards the door, and opening it...

as he walked into the hallway (presumably looking for the other apartments he has to visit for bedbug inspections today), i cheerily said "have a good holiday!" which seemed foolish considering he's working on one of the few nationally recognized civic holidays in our country.

oh well. at least i was home when he came by.

nice to meet you too.

So I come home at 10:30pm, exhausted and gross from waiting 20 minutes for a damn train on a sweltering platform. I follow some guy into my building, then into my elevator. I push the button for my floor, and he for his. As the door closes, this stranger turns to me and says:

"Do you happen to have bed bugs?"

Responding as automatically as if he'd asked me for the time I said:

"Yes, yes I do."

I get off the elevator with him on his floor to talk about this in more detail. He tells me that he had bed bugs a while back (last year), and paid out of pocket for an exterminator. He deducted the cost from the rent, because the landlord should be paying. And now the landlord is filing for eviction. So, as he attempts to defend himself in court, he wonders if other people have bed bugs. I say yes. At least three units on my floor do.

I drill him further about how his unit was treated, by whom, and when. He gives me his business card so I can get him involved with our growing efforts to organize. I bid him good night and go back up the elevator to my own floor. When the door opens, there's my neighbor F, the one who has bed bugs and urged me to file a complaint with the city.

"Oh!" I shout. "I was just talking about you! I just ran into a guy who lives downstairs - the landlord is trying to evict him over withheld rent because of bed bug expenses!"

"Aw, yeah? The asian guy?"

"Um, no. White guy."

"Aw shit. Then there's ANOTHER one!" Then F tells me his latest update: court-mandated extermination, mandated to occur by June 24th, and hasn't happened yet. He says he caught up with our other neighbor, D, this morning, and after extermination she's still getting bit and found a bug on her bed this morning. F and I both have leases soon set to expire, and we wonder if we should just run away. But half the problem is the risk of taking the bugs with us. Would we be any better off??

We agree it's time to get organized somehow - even if only to warn our other neighbors on the floor that this is getting worse. And we know we're not alone in the building. We just know it.