Attack of the Evil Bed Bugs!!!!

"Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!"

You may have heard that cliche phrase many times before and never thought anything of it. You may even think that "bed bugs" are just an old-wives tale or some legend. Recently Lindsay and I discovered that bed bugs are real, and they SUCK.

Cimex Lectularius (A.K.A. bed bugs) are parasitic and nocturnal, meaning they suck your blood and they only come out at night. Bascially a vampire in bug form. They live in temperate climates and are known to get particularly bad in people's houses during winter time, when it is cold outside and warm inside. Generally, Bed Bugs will live in mattresses due to the warmth, and due to the fact that their host (you) sleeps there. Once you have them, they don't go away, they only get worse because they like making babies. Generally an adult bed bug will get no bigger than one tenth of an inch, making them difficult to spot. If left unchecked, eventually you will have an entire colony of bed bugs living happily inside your mattress just waiting for you to lay your head down so they can come out and gorge on it. That's where Lindsay and I were at.

It took us a while to face the fact that we had bed bugs. We would wake up in the morning kind of itchy and have red spots that were bites. It was obvious, but something about bed bugs and their putridity makes you not want to admit to yourself that you have a problem. But eventually, we could see the little buggers crawling on the bed when we took the sheets off. It was sick! The last 5 nights before we got a new bed Lindsay spent the night on the couch in the living room, and I slept on the floor next to the couch.

Getting rid of bed bugs is not easy. But it has to be done, and believe me, it's well worth it. Here's the steps to getting rid of bed bugs (in my experience).

1) Throw your bed away.
2) Bug bomb...it won't necessarily kill them, but definitely doesn't hurt. We used five bug bombs!
2a) After bug-bombing, you'll have to let your house air out and wash all your dishes.
3) Wash all your clothes. Everything. The water and soap from the wash and the heat of the dryer WILL kill them.
4) Deep clean the carpet in the infested room
5) Clean anything else you feel like cleaning, it won't hurt.
6) Bring in your new bed, and sleep well!

It took an entire day to get that list done, but it was well worth it. An interesting strategy post bed bug annihilation is to put the legs of your bed in glass jars, apparently they can't climb up glass. We didn't do that, but its just an idea.

Here's to hoping we never get bed bugs again, and if you have bed bugs, may God have mercy on your soul.

-Bill,
http://www.twitter.com/billgrip
http://www.youtube.com/billgrip

Parenthood reminds me of a Roller Coaster...so far

I don't know about you, but I'm afraid of heights. Something about being off the ground high enough that I could fall to my death just doesn't appeal to me. Maybe I'm crazy. However, despite all that, I have ridden a few roller coasters in my life, I can probably count them on one hand...nonetheless, I have ridden roller coasters. With a baby boy on the way, I realized that there are a lot of similarities between what is about to happen in my life and what happens when I ride a roller coaster.

When I walk up to ride a roller coaster, I have to tell myself "I will be okay, I won't fall to my death, I won't puke all over the guy in front of me, and I might enjoy this." By the time I'm next in line, I'm even a little excited. But then the roller coaster pulls up, the gates open, and the ride operator says, "Next!" All of the sudden all of the feelings of uncertainty that I pushed out of my mind start to come back. Uh-oh. I sit down, I pull the safety-bar over my head...click. Now I'm locked in. There's no going back. Now uncertainty really rains down. "I'm not ready for this roller coaster...I'm going to die," I think to myself. It doesn't matter though. I'm already locked in, there's no turning back. In seconds the roller coaster will be moving, I will be high above the ground screaming my diaphragm off and having no idea what's next.

Click. I'm locked into parenthood. When Lindsay and I were engaged, we made the choice that when we got married we wouldn't do anything to prevent having children. In fact, I got myself really excited to have a kid, but underneath the surface lurked a fear greater than my fear of heights. Being a parent makes all other responsibilities I've had so far in my life so far seem like a kiddie coaster. This is the Mamba that I'm locked into, this is a big scary ride full of sharp turns and death drops. As with the roller coaster, now that I'm locked in I wonder "Am I really ready for this?" The fact is that most, if not all new parents are not. Now I don't mean to sound like a scared little boy, but at the same time I cannot ignore the journey and responsibilities that I am about to embark upon as a father.

But here's the best part about roller coasters. They are a lot of fun. There will be times when I'm scared to death, there will be times when things feel completely out of control, but there will also be times of inexpressible excitement and happiness only comparable to the sensation of free-falling. At the end of the ride, I know I will have a smile on my face and I won't regret going on this roller coaster for a second.

Billgrip Defined- My Strengths Finder Results

Recently I took a little personality test called "Strengths Finder 2.0" It's basically a glorified personality test. This test will actually cost you money. However, I did not have to pay because Maranatha paid for me to take it so that they could better know how to work with me. They do that for all their new long-term type employees.



Now this test literally helped me to understand myself in ways that I never had before. The test will tell you your top 5 strengths, but that doesn't mean that you are only limited to those strengths, it is simply the ones you display most often.

Your strengths can also be your weaknesses if not used properly. However, if used properly, you have the potential to pretty much be amazing. So here are my top five strengths along with a brief definition (written by me).

1. Communication. This one is pretty obvious. Communicators generally communicate well, through both speaking and writing. Communicators are especially good if they are well-prepared. But sometimes we would rather speak when we should be listening...

2. Competition. It doesn't matter if it is a quick round of Halo with friends, a wrestling match, or fantasy football...people with competition play to win. To a strong competitor, life is a game, and coming in 2nd is never good enough. However, the downside is competitors will often avoid "games" or situations where they feel they might "lose." Or, if you don't really care about something (like school or work) you will most likely accept mediocrity. The trick is making everything a "game" and striving to "win" in all your tasks, without being so over the top that you make everyone around you sick of your competitiveness.

3. Activator. Activators are always asking "When can we start?" You find the go button and you press it. Activators are also good at motivating others around them motivated to complete a task. (For instance with me when I convince all my friends to act ridiculous in my videos). However, sometimes activators are quick to jump in head first without checking for water. But, if used properly, an activator has the potential to be a great leader, and to accomplish great things. An activator must be interested and believe in what they are doing to really be motivated to accomplish.

4. Strategy. You need a plan, or else you feel that you may fail. Planning is essential to reach success for the strategist. A strategist wants to consider all sides. Sometimes strategists can over-think.

(note that Activator and Strategy are perceived as near opposites. However, they are both very true in my life. I have found difficulty recognizing and balancing this conflict. It is the conflict that sometimes I feel the activator pushing me and making me want to accomplish, but the strategy in me is like the brakes, which kills the activator...this excites me- the challenge to find the balance, almost like a game...they contradict each other, but if used properly, they compliment each other)

5. W.O.O. This stands for Winning Others Over. This strength is only displayed in about 4% of the population. There is such a wide-variety of uses for it. It is not only is this the ability to persuade if need be, but it is also the desire to have many friends. Woo-ers are generally good at first impressions, and are good at being friends with everyone. A woo-er is good at finding connections with others, or ways to relate, and because of that a woo-er can be very helpful in solving conflict. There is much more to W.O.O. but I don't know how to summarize all of it.

So those are my strengths, like them or leave them. As with everything in life, the key is balance. Finding a way to use the positives of these strengths without abusing them so as to induce the negative aspects. I view them almost as undeveloped powers, like the characters from the TV show "Heroes" way back in season one (back when it was good). I'm very excited about all this, and I've been spending a lot of time lately thinking of ways to develop my "powers" for more effective use, and also how to work them all together for success.

I wrote all this for two reasons. 1. I am a communicator, and I love writing. And 2. I want to challenge others to either take this test, or to look at their own lives and see the strengths that God has given them, and to find ways to use them more effectively. It is very fun and interesting, and you'll learn a lot about yourself!

One trimester down, two to go.

I grew up with one sibling. She was 5 years younger than me. I don't remember my mom being pregnant, but I do remember the night she was born. It was a horrible thunderstorm and I spent the night at a baby-sitters house. Next thing I know I have a little sister. My parents never asked me to help change her diaper (luckily, ewe gross) or anything like that. And every time I held her she started balling.

Needless to say, I like most fathers to be, feel completely unprepared.

First of all, I know nothing about pregnancy. And the more I find out about birth the less I want to know. Children are either afraid of me or mystified by me...nothing in-between. But in-spite of all that, I am more excited for all of this than I can describe, even though it automatically makes me an old guy.

So the first trimester is done, and so far Lindsay and I are blessed to have a baby that is, by all accounts of our doctor, growing normal and completely healthy. I realize my wife will read this, so I hope she won't be offended when I say that the toughest change for me has been some hormonal changes in her. We all know that women are hormonal, but pregnant women...well, look out :) But in all seriousness, it is a change, but not that bad.

There is a mounting list of difficulties she faces and will face beyond the hormonal changes I just mentioned, but you can go to a pregnancy website and read about those if you really want to. And in case you missed the video about all this stuff, here it is. And if you watched it and felt like watching it again, here it is again!