Yes, I will get to my actual recap of Kinetic Sculpture Race weekend but first some complaining about cars. I mentioned already that I rented a bloatmobile so there'd be more room in the backseat. Ended up w/ a Mercury Grand Marquis and I gotta say I was pretty unimpressed. It had decent enough backseat space (or at least no sitting back there complained about it so that I could hear) but not much else going for it. No satellite radio. Only 1 extra power outlet/cigarette lighter. Suspension frankly wasn't as good as my 15 year old Camry. I also wasn't knocked out by the acceleration. Oh yeah, also no On-Star. Handled pretty well for a massive bloatmobile. Now I realize that some of these missing features might be because it was a rental. OTOH, I've rented smaller cars that had XM. When I got upgraded to a Caddy, it had On-Star included. I don't think the rental company had the Grand Marquis classed as a luxury vehicle like the Caddys, etc. But it was still a pretty weak attempt at a premium level driving experience. Other than the fun of causing cognitive dissonance in some friends by rolling up in a car that's easily mistaken for a Crown Vic (aka the cop ride of choice), this beast didn't have much to recommend it. I certainly wouldn't ever buy one and I'll go out of my way not to get stuck having to rent one again either.
In other auto hijinks, when I went out to the aforementioned Camry this AM, my turning of the key was greeted only by some clicky-clicky noises. Fortunately I was able to get a jump off the pickup (once I got it thru my not-yet-caffeinated brain that the truck's engine was not going to turn over until I stepped on the clutch) and drive to the Tire King across the street from work. Fortunately it only needed a new battery (everything else checked out) and they got done in time that I still was able to get to the polls and vote on my way home.
Completely unrelated but a definite winner from the "are we SURE this is a good idea" dept: bacon syrup.