Asian Tiger

I recently purchased a king-sized Dorma mattress along with a bed-frame.  Before selecting this mattress, I searched the Net for more information on the mattress but could only find Dorma bedding linens.  I’m not sure what this means but to me, it means that Dorma is known more for its linens and not mattresses (it could also mean that Dorma OEMs their mattresses from other manufacturers).
Anyway, it was at Macy’s mattress roadshow sales that I chanced upon Dorma.  I was comparing Simmons to Sealy to Dorma.  I tried all their mattresses on sale and took 2 days to decide the mattress I wanted.  At the end, I chose Dorma’s Crystal mattress based on the price to comfort ratio (in other words, I’m a sucker for big discounts).  The store manager threw in 2 Dorma pillows, a bolster and one king-sized mattress protector.  I must say it’s quite a good deal for the price I paid.

Now that I have the mattress for a month, I must admit that I have had some beauty sleep on it.  The mattress’ pocket spring supported my body well and since I’m a side sleeper, that helped much.  The mattress’ edges are “fortified” and does not sag when you sit at the side.  This mattress does not require turning and flipping on a periodic basis; making it an excellent choice for the lazy me.

In the past, I envy travelling executives who flies around the world for work.  I did not have such an opportunity to do so.  My work limits me to travelling within Malaysia and most destinations are reachable by car.  Over dinners and mamak sessions, I hear stories of how busy Tokyo is and how beautiful Parisian night and how exciting New York can be.  Oh… how envious I was.  I was 20 years old when I took my first flight — and that was to attend a funeral.

Now that I myself am flying in and out the region for work, I begin to drag my feet to the airport.  The early years of flying was fun; every trip seem to be an adventure on itself. Now, it’s a chore — waking up early in the morning, taking the dreadful taxi to the airport (in itself is already a risk. Cabbies are like F1 racers), long waits at the airport and things gets worse during transits.

If only my every flight destination is to some holidays, I will be looking forward to it.  NGC’s Air Crash Investigation series is not helping either.

For a couple of weeks, my body became the feeding ground of bed bugs.  Almost every night, bed bugs fed on my blood which saw their them surviving and me suffering from intense itch, not to mention the possibility of contracting some dreaded disease from these nocturnal pests.

There are several methods to get rid of bed bugs as listed below:

1. Move out of your home for 12 months – this is known to get rid of bed bugs because they will die from not feeding on you. However, cockroaches will be the head of your home.
2. Take a big piece of fabric and seal the entire mattress in it – because your mattress is sealed, no bed bugs can get in or out of it causing all bed bugs and their youngs to starve inside the mattress.  They will die after 6 to 12 months or so, therefore, you cannot remove the mattress cover for that period.  I tried using a large plastic sheet sealed around the mattress but it caused uncomfortable sleep and heat too.  The other fact I found was that this method is good only to kill bed bugs in your mattress but not entirely since bed bugs can live just about anywhere; bed frames, cracks in the wall, curtains, etc.
3. Drown them – bed bugs die easily when immersed in water.  Wash all your linens, fabrics (bed sheet, curtain, clothing, etc) that is in the room.
4. Sun everything – take your mattress out into the sun and let the sun ray do their magic.  Remember to turn the mattress over for a good and even tan. If possible, take your bed frames out for sunning.  If you are really desperate, move your furnitures out into the sun too.  The heat from the sun either kills them or makes them leave.
5. Use insect aerosol – Spray them with insect aerosol. I targeted the bed frames and furnitures but made one critical mistake, I used a non-water based aerosol which made my furnitures all oily and sticky.  Your room will stink for a few days, trust me on this.
6. Use steam to kill bed bugs – Heat from the steam makes bed bugs pop like making popcorn. And if you are wondering where to get steam to the room, I used a steam iron. 😉
7. Call for professional help – if you can afford their fees.  Any pest-control company should know what to do.

Good night;
sleep tight;
don’t let the bed bugs bite.