renewed my driver’s license today online. boy am i glad i don’t have to stand in line for hours at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

i received an unmarked envelope in the mail today with the words “this nickel can make a real difference in the search for the cure” stamped on it next to a circular bulge which was obviously a letter from a medical charity asking for donations. attached was a series of personalized address labels featuring classic cars in addition to the five cent coin glued right under the slogan “every nickel counts!”

it seems to me that willing donors would open these letters regardless of cash value so this is what i’m wondering: is the cost of attaching a nickel to every letter worth the chance that cheapskates will get their checkbooks out after they invariably open the envelope to retrieve the coin?

on a side note, i’m surprised to see Jaguar XK120 and DeLorean labels mixed in with the muscle cars.

there were two stalled cars on the northbound side of Lake Shore Drive today: some sort of enormous Chrysler sedan from the ’70s in the far right lane a bit past North Avenue and a terrible beige-colored Chevrolet Trailblazer just south of Belmont in one of the middle lanes.

so much idiocy on so many levels.

here’s a video i took of the traffic in Patna, India. it’s pretty wild but at least the roads are paved and there are no animals/animal-powered vehicles to deal with.

i’ve been waiting to do this one for a while now so say hello to the Isuzu VehiCROSS.

the VehiCROSS is relatively unique in that the production version is virtually unchanged from the concept vehicle that preceded it only three years earlier. it was originally intended to show off Isuzu’s off-roading know-how, featuring an intelligent AWD system and something fancy called “monotube shocks with external heat-expansion chambers” which is typically found on off-road racing motorcycles. and to back it all up, the VehiCROSS competed in the 1998 Dakar Rally and actually ended up winning in its class!

although there were only about 6,000 VehiCROSSes produced and only 4,000 or so made it to the US, i’ve probably seen at least 30 of them driving around. that said, i think the Isuzu VehiCROSS looks like a rabid pika on ecstasy. hideous. but don’t let that put you off; at least it’s not an Aztek.