Don't be an asshole

[christopher575]

I don't understand why I still see people driving around every day talking on their handsets in their cars. If you can afford a car and insurance and gas and a phone and a plan every damn month, you certainly should have no problem spending $15, one time, on a headset. Seriously. Just fucking buy it already.

But that's not why I'm posting. With Christmas coming up I want to ask everyone not to buy a tree unless you plan to dispose of it properly. Every year people ditch their trees all around my neighborhood like so many dirty diapers in a Wal*Mart parking lot. Fuck that shit! You know before you buy it that you'll eventually have to get rid of it! If you leave your tree laying around on a sidewalk somewhere, I hope you end up in a woodchipper!

Not that posting here really helps, because I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir. Right? Yes.

Spread the word, though.

Comments

[moonrock.livejournal.com]

ours is fake. it is stored in our garage.

:)

[christopher575.livejournal.com]

Garrett uses a fake one that he keeps in his closet. I have this one that I display year-round:

[bukephalus.livejournal.com]

Neato!

[playmoby.livejournal.com]

we will chop ours up and burn it in our fireplace... so no worries of our tree being left on a city street :)

[thisiserika.livejournal.com]

i don't have one, but my mom's is only a foot and a half tall, so i think it's gonna get chopped up and put into yard waste.

[electriclime.livejournal.com]

I have a fake tree that I reuse every year.
Not necessarily because I'm Green..but because I'm cheap.

[duckumu.livejournal.com]

would buying a plastic tree even be considered green though

[christopher575.livejournal.com]

If you use it for many years it's probably greener than a real one each year.

[b00g2.livejournal.com]

I've read that you have to keep and use said tree for 12 years in order for it to be more environmentally sound than buying a real tree every year as most artificial trees aren't biodegradable.

[luliepants.livejournal.com]

my parents usually get a big tree. but they live out in the boondocks and the boy scouts come and haul them away in january anyway. when i was growing up we would get live trees and plant them in the yard after christmas but they filled up the places they wanted trees so that doesn't happen anymore.

[frogger414.livejournal.com]

The boy scouts pick up and dispose of our tree for a $15 minimum donation which I think is awesome :)

[monsterbrain.livejournal.com]

If only the Boy Scouts allowed gays and Atheists. :(

I won't give them any money until that changes.

[cmorley.livejournal.com]

Ehn. Out here in the boonies people either dump their trees in ravines, throw it in a pile for a bon fire, or save it for next year.

[sgtred.livejournal.com]

This year we got a rosemary bush in a planter pot.

We can eat it and/or plant it!

[christopher575.livejournal.com]

Edible trees for everyone!

[nicolemarieh.livejournal.com]

do you really think its that much safer to use a headset? they are still talking and thus still distracted.

i dont usually talk on the phone in the car, but i do sometimes. i dont have a headset. i could get one.. but i dont know how to use one!! i guess i could figure it out.. i dont even know what to buy though. one prob is i think they usually have ear bud things and those always fall right out of my ear, so id need to find a normal headphone style one. i think.

[christopher575.livejournal.com]

It's at least legal.

And to further answer your question, yes I think it's less distracting. Your hands are free and your hand isn't blocking your peripheral vision.

[missdotti.livejournal.com]

Although it's still distracting to be talking, it's no different than having a passenger in the car talking to you.

At least with a headset, you can have both hands on the wheel, making your reaction time much better than if you had a phone in your hand.

[nicolemarieh.livejournal.com]

but how many people drive with both hands on the wheel anyway? i pretty much never do, except for when its very windy out. sometimes i try to force myself to keep both hands on the wheel, but before long realized ive dropped the left one off again (I'm right handed).

Of course I'm not really talking about in-city driving, just freeway. I dont talk on my phone while driving on city streets; driving in the city is hard and scary enough as it is with bikes and pedestrians everywhere.

[christopher575.livejournal.com]

BTW I don't know if you know, but it's illegal in WA to drive while using the handset.

[missdotti.livejournal.com]

Well there go MY plans for when I visit!

[badrobot68.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, every day I see tons of people on their phones. I always want to issue them a ticket.

Also, YOU DANG KIDS GET OFF MY LAWN!

[jameth.livejournal.com]

I am looking forward to the next time that you are a passenger in my car. I think you are the best.

[badrobot68.livejournal.com]

Jameth Bond!

[jameth.livejournal.com]

I buy headsets but can never find them in the car when the phone rings
So I tell them I will call them back when I am on the freeway (less pedestrians)
I have a fake tree this year

[christopher575.livejournal.com]

You could make putting the headset in your ear part of your car routine, like putting on the seatbelt.

[nicolemarieh.livejournal.com]

probably another reason is that a lot of people *dont* talk on the phone while driving that often, so the thought of putting a headset for those rare occasions seems somewhat silly. its not the financial cost, its the cost of it being a hassle.

(i realize thats a weak argument and im not saying i am in favor of it. im just saying that realistically, what jameth said is probably what is true for a lot of people. people probably dont really want to make the headset part of their routine if they only pick up the phone once in every fifty times they drive or something.)

[jameth.livejournal.com]

If the headset would read/transcribe text, I would ensure that I had it on my ear at all times. Having brief conversations like texting is less distracting if it is wireless. It would be equal to using a voice-activated gps. I get far more texts/emails than actual calls. I think I went through about 200 minutes in my last billing cycle compared to 1800 texts and at least a thousand emails.

[jameth.livejournal.com]

But I can never find it
The seatbelt is easy to locate
Brakes, turn signals, headset, etc. are difficult

Did I mention that I have a fake tree

[christopher575.livejournal.com]

I know you're smart enough that you can choose a place to keep it and put it there every time. The ashtray, perhaps?

Oh and here's another revolutionary idea: if someone calls, let it go to voicemail and call them back when you're done driving.

[missdotti.livejournal.com]

Personally, I have a fake tree.

But I really REALLY like what my dad started doing when I was younger. He stopped going out and cutting a tree for the home. At first, this pissed me off, because it was our 'tradition' to go pick out and cut a tree together. But then I saw the logic in what he does now, and he had started including me in the picking-out process so my whiney ass would be appeased.

Instead of getting a fake tree or cutting down a tree, my father now buys a live tree with the root ball still on it. He'll bring it inside and place it in a large tub of water and then decorates it.

After Christmas is over, he plants it in the yard somewhere.

[bukephalus.livejournal.com]

That's so cool!

[missdotti.livejournal.com]

It is!

My parents own 8.5 acres, so there's TONS of places to plant trees.

[bukephalus.livejournal.com]

I have multiple fake trees, most of which I got for free. But they are a burden. When their time comes, I will put them on Craigslist rather than just trash them.

I love the smell of a new tree, but haven't had one lately. When I did, I took it to the transfer station like a good boy.

I don't cell and drive, mainly because no one ever calls me anyway.

[wring.livejournal.com]

my talking-on-the-cellphone-while-driving has been cut back since getting a new job (where I shouldnt be on every beck and call). So i'm not a threat to the streets anymore! and it helps that i route googlevoice to my cellphone. LOVE teh failtranscripts!

we bought a fake white xmas tree this year. saves the bf all of the effort (paying for a tree, taking it upstairs, watering it, cleaning it up, etc).

[monsterbrain.livejournal.com]

I heard of a service here in LA that lets you rent living trees. They'll deliver it (within a limited delivery area) and pick it up after the holidays. You have to take good care of it, so it stays healthy.

Then they take it back to their place and keep it healthy till it's rented out the next year. You can even reserve the same one year to year.

Cool idea. If we put up a tree, we'd use them. If they came to our area.

Also...
At the grocery store today I saw "Charlie Brown Christmas Trees." Boxes that contain a replica of the sickly little one-branch tree like in the cartoon special.

[scearley.livejournal.com]

cutting down a tree and dragging it indoors is ridiculous.

[doughynut.livejournal.com]

But they're so pretty when all the needles turn brown and the tree itself starts turning black.