Welcome to the inaugural edition of my new weekly feature that will be posted every Sunday which will serve as a dumping ground for the random stories and observations I used to include prior to each Share Your World post. Yes, The Nest is headed by a huge prevert, and so I decided to call this series the Weekend Threesome, as each post will contain exactly three of these tidbits for your leisurely perusal. My goal will be to not make these overly wordy, so let’s get on with it! Or I guess in Snuggle’s case, let’s get it on (you lucky dog)….
My three year old car is a Chevy, and because of that, I got automatically enrolled into OnStar even though I won’t pay for their service. One of the free services I get is a monthly diagnostics report emailed to me, and I just realized in the last one that there’s a link to something called “Smart Driver” which rates how shitty well I drive….
OK, I get a 91 for the past week. I guess that’s OK…. it’s an A-minus. As long as you don’t kill anyone (possums excluded), I guess you get at least a C. Then it breaks down the categories that go into determining your driving score, and…….. um…… what? Does it really penalize you for distance driven and how much you drive late at night? Dafuq? Hasn’t discrimination against those who work nights been outlawed yet?
Well, as you can see, I don’t actually drive during what OnStar considers to be “late night hours” of midnight to 4 AM… but we have people who get off at 12 AM and come in at 4, and I guess their driver’s scores are all shot to hell just because of their jobs. WTF is up with that, Chevy?
The Nest’s rebuttal of these ridiculous generalizations….
#1. How is it more dangerous to be driving between midnight and 4 AM. I’m pretty sure the roads are largely deserted at that time… which should make it SAFER.
#2. Is it any more light at 10 PM than it is at 2 AM? What about the PM rush during the winter months when it’s already dark at 5:30? Did they really bother to think this through?
#3. That’s because “most people” are in bed at that time. Those who aren’t probably have a reason not to be tired at that time…
Really, that whole late night driving affects your score just pissed me off, and made me glad they don’t get a cent from me…
There’s a new blurb that airs every so often on Mecca Radio imploring customers to make sure they didn’t leave their dog and/or child in their car when they came into the store… and even inviting them to go outside and check just in case they aren’t sure they “forgot” their “precious cargo.” Now I realize this is a sensitive subject, because dogs and kids get seriously hurt/die each year from shitty parents/guardians who leave them locked up in hot cars during the summer…. but that’s kind of the point in why this message is so stupid. Those people are being willfully neglectful, and most certainly did not just “forget” Junior while they’re inside spending all of their child support check on new purses and XXXL yoga pants…
And for the love of Dog, nobody should be bringing their pets with them on a shopping trip (outside of pet stores that are already zoos anyway). There’s already enough idiots who abuse the service animal stipulation (and our legal inability to question such) to let Rover run wild through the Mecca aisles terrorizing elderly shoppers who can’t outrun them in their electric scooters. We sure as hell don’t need to INVITE people to bring their mutts in the store…
Woohoo! I can’t wait to check out the chocolate bar aisle!!!
A bunny who was sitting in my driveway when I went out for a walk last Thursday….
You feed the cats, you feed the squirrels…. where’s MY food, bub?
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
Oh, that kind of threesome. LOL. Aww. Yeah that whole driver score thing would totally mess me up. Whether or not I killed any possums this week. (That is between me, my car, and God.)
My possum killing score would be perfect, and that’s despite two of them attempting to execute a death wish in front of me before. No doubt they were paid by OnStar to waltz out in front of me as a test…
I admit I was drawn here by the beautiful bunny portrait….. but now our cars are judging and grading us? That’s a hard no from me. Tsk, tsk. Someone was out after midnight. WTF!
😳
I don’t post enough bunny photos, even though we have plenty of the critters in this hood. And unlike the squirrels, they come out at night too…. even when it’s not safe to be operating a motor vehicle.
Of all the backyard visitors we have…. and lord knows we have a few… we’ve never had a bunny. Probably because most of the visitors eat them, but still.
For No 1 – A) They have statistics to back them up.
B) Even in summer it is usually dark during those hours
C) While night shift workers might not be too tired, it is fair to assume that our troglodyte brains do not work well at nights. We are just not built to function well during the darkness. We usually hide then and sleep.
Statistics can tell any story one wants them to.
It is always dark during those hours. It’s also always dark at 9 PM (don’t live far enough north for late evening summer sun).It isn’t any darker at 2 AM than it is then.
I’ve always been a night owl who’s preferred to stay up at night and sleep during the day, even as a kid. Go figure….
They’re tracking your driving even though you didn’t buy the service? Yikes. I get really irritated by all the tracking my phone does and am constantly interfering with it by adjusting the settings and/or turning it off.
Cute bunny picture. 🙂
My driving habits are pretty boring, so they can track it all they want as long as they don’t try to send me a report card…
There just is no explanation for clueless people feeling the need to “take their dogs” shopping and leaving them in the car. Breaks my heart to hear the plaintiff cries/barks from a dog broiling away in a car. And not enough horrible things can happen to the perpetrator in my mind. Is it wrong to pray for two flat tires?
Why just stop at two flat tires? Go for all four AND the spare…
Great new prompt for me to read each Sunday. One thing. I take Ziggy EVERYWHERE that it’s sensible to do so. He gets sulky left at home, and the crestfallen and crushed look on his widdle face when he sees a road trip is in the offing and he’s not invited hurts my heart. BUT. If it’s below 50 (F) out there or over 65 (F) (maybe 72 sometimes if it’s cloudy). He is NOT INVITED. I get why Mecca is reminding those dim-wits about their responsibilities, even if it is futile and those same dimwits don’t give a flying ahem SQUIRREL if they leave their child or pet (or grandma) to die from dehydration while they suss out the next fulfillment for themselves. My own thoughts are that those sorts of morons that do that ought to be sterilized as soon as possible after puberty hits, and banned from owning anything of a pet nature, even a goldfish. They’re too stupid. BUT. This is America, land of the tolerant towards stupid people. Hell, more than 3/4 of the population qualify. A short version of this comment: I’m not a bad pet mommy because Ziggy gets to ride along. But I understand the concern. I BET your cat never quibbles about not getting to ride in the car…
If Ody even thinks I’m going to corral him into the car, he’s going to run for cover…. not that there’s too many places a cat his size can hide. Biskit, when he was alive, was nearly impossible to corral for a vet trip…. so I always had to get him first!
It really bothers me seeing animals left in cars ESPECIALLY when the windows are rolled up all the way…..they need AIR period. I think On Star was available when we got our new Buick a few years ago but we politely declined (about 100 times before they quit mailing us stuff). We see LOTS of bunnies in our yard – I guess they live in the woods behind our house. They often fall victim to the cars speeding through the neighborhood. I just HATE that (dead bunnies and speeding cars both). Love the new feature – YAY.
Pam
I don’t think I was ever given the chance to politely decline. Here’s your three month FREE trial of OnStar… have a nice day!
I don’t think I’d want to know my “driving score”. I definitely wouldn’t want the telemetry getting back to my insurance company…
I have an idea for another regular feature for you – “Random Rabbit”!
The insurance companies started this driving score racket… and their little equations they use to determine rates have always been suspect in my mind. I’d hate for my insurance company to know I venture out onto the dangerous highways at 2 AM occasionally for fast food…
Not enough random rabbits to make a feature… sorry. it’s about the time of year I could do a Sunday Spider post, though…
Love your bunny! I have a rather large bunny who has decided my crappy lawn and overrun garden are perfect places to lounge, and when I venture out, he just glares at me. Monty Python taught me bunnies are to be feared, so I may be spending a lot of time indoors this summer. 😉
Perhaps the bunny just took a wrong turn at Albuquerque. A really, really wrong turn…
Great, even our cars are tracking and judging us now? I’m sure mine has me flagged as an irresponsible person for ignoring an air bag recall for over a year. But at least I don’t let my dogs ride in the front seat where the flying schrapnel from the air bag can hit them. Or, really take them in the car much at all. I can’t imagine what they would do to the inside of the car if left alone in there.
That bunny looks kind of angry!
Air bags are another racket car manufacturers use to get cars totaled out even after minor fender benders. They don’t save lives, they waste money….
The bunny knows he isn’t #1 on my blog, so of course he’s pissed!
If that bunny teams up with those evil-eyed birds you’ve got around there, you might need to carry a baseball bat whenever you go outside!