[theblackkeys]

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yes it sucks hard (something is better than nothing though). Seriously, squats and deadlifts need to be in there. Read the sticky.

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Good point.
Problem is that he works a day job - we are usually going around 4 pm and those are always jam packed with the really serious guys who monopolize them for an hour at a time. I was trying to develop a routine where we can essentially just use the bench press straight through (or standing) and not waste any time between exercises and sets. Is there some machines we can do to replicate what we are missing (those are much more freed up)?

Yes, I read the sticky and links for probably an hour but it all seems to be directed to my old college self who worked out 6 days/wk for 2 hours, not two (relative) geezers trying to better ourselves in 45 minutes 3x/week. We got through my posted workout today in 47 minutes and feel like it was kinda helping from a cardio standpoint too doing it at that pace.

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The program I'm on is 3x/week and takes about 45 minutes to perform if you use about 1 minute rest periods. It's the Starting Strength program. Another poster here does the 5x5 program in under an hour, and it's also a 3x/week program.

Are the squat/power racks always taken because there's not enough of them? Or because most people squat at your gym? My gym basically has everyone doing curls and tricep pushdowns and rarely anyone squatting, which is nice.

You can do power cleans with a few feet of space and just the bar from the bench/incline/military press. Oftentimes the seated military and incline bench stations are unoccupied leaving a bar open to use. Power cleans are an awesome full body exercise that you should consider learning. You could also do front and overhead squats with the bench/incline/military press bar, although they probably won't be near your 5 rep max, but that's definitely an improvement on your program.

Oh yeah, deadlifts only require a bar, which you could definitely do at the bench press station.