Late, With Pictures

First, some baby news to report. Earlier this week Christina and I got to hear our baby's heartbeat! For anyone who has never heard a fetal heartbeat it sounds like some sort of watery household appliance. For example, I thought it sounded like my dishwasher running. Christina thought about our washing machine on spin cycle. Either way, it was neat to hear the heartbeat despite it sounding like whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh. While listening to it, the baby moved and the heartbeat became inaudible, forcing the doctor to move the wand to a new spot on Christina's abdomen so we could keep listening!




And secondly.....

Eric and I went downtown to the Chicago Auto Show last Saturday.

It was huge. The orange car above is the pace car for this years Indy 500.

And filled with some sweet rides. Like this one:

Yes the Army let Eric and I inside. No button pushing allowed! Very glad this is not my work environment.

The next four images show off how big this place is. For starters, the exhibit hall floor is large enough for 26 Boeing 747's to park comfortably.

Eric and I were both thought that hanging cars from the ceiling over a public walkway might not be the best idea. The cars on the shelves were part of a Scion display, yes there are 6 cars total up there. The bottom two images are test-ride exhibits where you could ride through various roadway conditions including ice and water fording.

Below are four images of the weirdest (remember not dumbest!) car we saw. This was up on a rotating pedestal so I couldn't sit inside, but hopefully the pictures are good enough to show you how odd this is. The concept for this Airstream (hot dog stand RVs anyone?) is to remake the standard American Van, but to focus on the passenger instead of the driver. I think the passenger's eggshell seat is the oddest part for me.

A Porsche boxster. Ahh if I had money and the need for a road trip. And no fear of speed traps.


Below is the dumbest car in the entire show: The Acura RDX. Together Eric and I could not figure out how to use the "intuitive" controls to simply turn down the radio volume. We figured the huge center knob next to the button that reads "Audio" might do the trick. We were very wrong. That center knob does everything but change the volume. The actual volume knob is 3 panels below that one, and is not labeled (or unlabeled on the steering wheel).

Time for another sweet ride, I still think Amy needs to buy this car with her big audiology dollars. A Pontiac Solstice, I think the color really helps make the car here.


Now we turn to my disappointment for the show, the 2007 Toyota Hybrid Highlander. Sure the mileage is good, but there are a few basic problems that make this vehicle unattractive to me.

1) the third row of seats (left image) do fold flat (right image), however anyone who sits in these seats better not have any legs at all. There is zippo leg room, and the 2nd row cannot be adjusted.

2) the cup holders have taken over this car. For the front two seats there are 2 cup holders. The second row has two cup holders on each door's arm rest; and two more cup holders in the fold-down center console of the 2nd row. The 3rd row has 2 cup holders (1 per side). This car holds at best, 2+3+2=7 people. Cup holders: 2+6+2=10 cup holders. While its pretty nice to have extra cup holders, could Toyota perhaps have engineered better seats instead?

3) If you buy the package with the screens in the front head rests, they seem very close to any backseat passenger.

OK, one last car and it's a pretty one. A blue Maserati. Who wouldn't want an Italian roadster?

Just for Amy, "My Maserati does 185, I lost my license, now I don't drive..."

ps: I'm not sure why blogger is ignoring my hard returns to space out my paragraphs a bit. Very sorry.