Our Amazing Race vs. the Really Annoying Race

One of the adventures of being Zipcar users is trying to get the car back in time. You reserve cars by the hour or half hour and, in the interest of spending as little as possible (or sometimes because it's the only available window), you find yourself sometimes frantically trying to get across San Francisco as the clock ticks towards the deadline.

Yesterday, we went to see a photographer who is putting together an exhibit on pregnant women. M-N is thinking about getting involved. Anyway, his studio was way the hell over by AT&T park, which is right on the bay, near Cesar Chavez Drive, in a converted cannery. It took us half an hour to get there, though we were following a suspect Google Maps plan.

With under 30 minutes left in our reservation (and, it should be noted, you can call and add on time to your reservation if no one has booked the car right after you, but yesterday, someone had), we had to move. Now, SF has some funny streets. It's not as bad as Boston, as there are signs everywhere, but it adds the element of vertical roads, which can be daunting.

We were driving a Prius, which is a sporty little hybrid, but I'm never fully convinced it'll make it up the hills. But because I don't feel like dragging this story out, we made it, with 3 minutes to spare.

Then there was race 2: It had rained since Friday, but on Sunday afternoon, the sun came out. So we decided to walk to Safeway to get some things for dinner (jalapenos and cheese for my quesadillas, fresh dungeness crab for M-N--$3.99/lb., that seems like a good deal). The Safeway is about a mile away, through Golden Gate Park, mostly.

When we got there, finished our shopping, managed to get everything tucked under or over the stroller, we looked up and saw the clouds had returned. And felt a light sprinkle. Ok, this would've made a good segment on an episode of The Amazing Race.

Which brings me to my real point: last night's season finale of The Amazing Race sucked hard. We haven't watched this show from the beginning, just since the Simpsons went on MLB hiatus. But the last episode began badly.

First of all, of the three teams left, the first was Rob and Kimberly (pictured). Rob is a horrible human being, and I'm not just referring to the strange growth on his face. What you can't tell in this picture is that he's currently yelling at Kim, probably using profanity, and that the cross on his arm isn't a tatoo but the mark of a failed exorcism.

Then there was Tyler and James, former addicts and current models. I think one's real name is "dude" and the other's is "bro," but I'm not sure which is which. They've overcome adversity. Now they're models. I know this because they mention it every time they're on screen.

Finally, there was 'Bama, Lyn and Karlyn, two single moms who could've legitimately benefited from winning. The hard luck story. The actual deserving contestants. The ones with absolutely no chance of winning.

Not only did 'Bama not have a shot, they weren't even shown in the last 15 minutes of the show. Unlike other episodes, where the challenges revolve around skill, perseverance, and ingenuity, the final episode was decided by luck. The first two teams lucked onto an early flight from Paris to NYC, thereby eliminating 'Bama. Then, in NYC, it came down to who had a faster cab driver.

The one other season finale of this show I've seen ended with teams trying to complete a puzzle of the world, all teams fairly close together, a challenge that symbolized their journey and rewarded quick-thinking skills.

Oh well, that's one less hour of tv each week.