Welcome back to The Friday Files. This edition is coming to you from Scottsdale, Arizona. The show goes on the road! Sorry about last week and thanks to everyone for the good wishes. I'm still a little under the weather. I'm coughing and not too comfortable but at least I can drag my sorry butt around without getting exhausted. Being sick sucks!

I hope that everyone had a fun and safe St. Patrick's Day. I know of lots of people who had way too much fun. My wife and I had some fun that night. (Get your minds out of the gutter you miscreants. ) My wife and I went to an awards dinner for her work and I am very proud to say that she won bigtime. Some of you might have heard of The Addy's. They're awards for advertising and she won a gold and a best of class award. I'm very proud of her.

Why am I in Scottsdale? I'm here for the beginning of Arizona Bike Week. My brother and a friend of his flew in to my neck of the woods, rented Harleys and rode out to AZ. I, being sick and a little adverse to a very long ride, elected to go via BMW car. I'm not a Harley guy but the other guys are. They had planned to go and invited me along. I figured "why not". Scottsdale is a beautiful area. If you've never been to this part of Arizona, it's a fun place to visit. It's a beautiful desert and there is a lot of stuff around. It's still got the western charm while being a big city. Plus there are pro sports teams. We actually went to a Phoenix Coyotes game tonight and watched them, surprisingly, beat the Anaheim Ducks.

The ride out here was, in a word, insane. It rained like cats and dogs. If you don't know, when it rains in the desert, it rains hard. By "hard" I mean the kind of rain that hurts when it hits you. And it was nonstop. I was nice and cozy in my E90 but the two poor sods on the Harleys were not happy. As you can imagine they were soaked and very unhappy. Imagine riding for four hours with someone spraying a hose at you. Not fun. I told them that this time of year it's always sunny and nice... except today. After the hockey game, it was raining even harder than before and it was more misery for the guys. Worse yet, there were lots of nice big puddles and accumalated water for them to spray through. Note: Another thing about the desert is that drainage is not thought out.

We all know that BMW's are amazing vehicles but it's times like driving long distance in really bad weather that makes you appreciate them anew. The E90 330i seems to be happiest cruising at 90 or 95 mph. Actually, even 100 to 110 is very pleasant. Going that speed in the rain is even very stable and composed. Okay, maybe going that fast in the rain isn't the best idea but it was only in certain parts. Everything in the car worked well. The wipers worked brilliantly with the new design a la Bosch Icon/Valeo, the Logic 7 stereo was thumpin', braking was unaffected by the rain, the interior was quiet, steering sure and unflustered, suspension tight, and the tires were great. There was not one hint of hydroplaning at all. None. That's with the OEM RFT's. The only time there was a little bit of hydroplaning was when I hit a huge pool of standing water on a side street. I didn't see it with the darkness and rain belting the windshield. When I hit it, water sprayed up and the car slowed down because of both the water and me slowing down. The steering stayed true and I did not feel the front end wanting to go somewhere I didn't intend it to. Amazing. As a bonus, the mileage was excellent. The new 6 speed transmission sure helps.

The only thing that has annoyed me about BMW during this trip has been the navigation. Put simply, it sucks. Inputting takes a long time and the menus are a cumbersome. I also hate that you cannot preview the route turn-by-turn. It only gives you the next direction. If there is a way to do this, someone please tell me. At one point I had a direction to turn right out of the gas station where I was located. I had no idea what was to come next didn't know until I pulled out and had to make a u-turn. I actually wished I had brought my Garmin Nuvi.

Crazy news time:

Oh deer!
Anyone need a good mechanic for your X5?
Can parents be too supportive?
Hey, doesn't one of our members go to Purdue? :eek:
Sure Michael Vick. Hiding jewelry. Sure.
No liquids allowed on the plane but a grenade is apparently okay.
The Case of the Swapped Splooge!
Hello Pot. Meet Kettle. Kettle, meet pot.
Ted Turner is a fart knocker.
Speaking of farts, I'm sick of cow farts. :p

Time to get some sleep after a long and wet day.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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