I went to RSA in San Francisco. At the time, I was staying with friends in San Mateo, but I got a hotel for a night in SF. Rates were outrageous, and we were a small startup. The cheapest hotel I could find was $400/ night for a bedroom with a shared bath down the hall.

The next night, back at my friend’s house, I noticed the telltale 3 bite pattern on my shoulder. Breakfast lunch and dinner. It itched like CrAZy. It was bedbugs. There was no way to know if I’d only gotten bit at the hotel or if I’d brought bugs to my friend’s home with me.

I learned you can hire a sweet yellow lab like Mojo to sniff out bedbugs. The dog wandered the whole house. My heart dropped when he alerted on the sofa where I’d been remotely working.

It cost about $3500 to treat the house. They rolled in fans that heat the whole house above 105°F for an hour. Sure enough, they found some bedbug eggs. It all worked out, damn what a hassle.

Note: the dog was from a different company than the treatment folks. They do that to avoid conflict of interest.