There is a really nice local italian restaurant down the road, and their prices are actually the same as Olive Garden (except without the whole unlimited breadsticks thing). Every time I've been to OG the place is packed. The local place? Not so much.

That's my concern. The ST does have a decent size cargo area, and the back seats aren't too small, but I could see it getting cramped with 4 of us and all that goes with a baby, packed in there.

Heh. I better not drive it, then. I was actually considering trading for a slower bigger car like a jetta wagon but that is still on hold, pending news if there is or isn't a baby on the way.

Just curious, when you were shopping, did you drive a Focus ST as well? I own one, and I have been looking for Fiestas at local dealers... kinda interested test driving one to see the difference in handling and performance between the Focus and Fiesta. I'm guessing the Fiesta has even more go-kart handling factor than…

There is nothing compelling in itunes radio. It's just another Pandora clone. I think the number of song skips is limited even more than pandora.

Re: difficulty getting kids to sit for photos: I've been scanning family photos. I came across some group shots with my family, our cousins, grandparents. I think roughly 15 people in the shot in all. There are 2 entire rolls of my dad trying to get a shot of everyone looking at the camera, not a single one was…

I had one in that same color!

I'm on board with this idea, but only if it has auto mode where the shifter and clutch move on their own like a player piano.

This is America. Whoever has the deepest pockets is the one we sue. And we all know the government is broke, so...

Finally, I have an excuse to talk to pretty girls walking down the street... when I serve them court papers for distracting traffic.

This comment is excellent satire.

Awesome...

What you have in a helicopter is a stick for control

I'll just mention that if you do decide to do the Ft. Collins brewery tour, make sure you start with O'Dells and work your way from there, ending up drunk and at the Budweiser brewery.

Would this be the only half-ton diesel on the US market?

At the peak of rush hour, the light rail from where I live to downtown Denver is just slightly faster than driving. Any other time, it is a lot longer. Probably about 1.5 hours door to door. Of course, it's a wonderful resource for people who live in the burbs but would still like to go out drinking downtown.

I think that despite a vocal minority, people in this country (the US) have shown that they prefer air travel on longer distances. Sure, it would be nice to have a high-speed rail network but I doubt taxpayers would be willing to foot the bill, which would probably cost more than the interstate system did, even…

You could fly from Farmingdale to Westchester county in about 15 minutes, though...

The two points on that map are physically about 15-20 miles apart. That might be stretching the meaning of "a few" (personally I'd have chosen "a handful"), but not that much. It might take an hour to drive there, but that doesn't change the distance.