There's good news...

...And not so good news. The good news for me is that now that the networks have all announced their lineups for next fall, and none of my favourite shows have gone belly-up. Sure, I miss Arrested Development, but that hurt was months ago, and the pain is subsiding. Besides, we were treated to a great wind-up of the plot, and we can all sleep soundly knowing that Michael Bluth and his son are safely on their way to Mexico. Some of the other shows I'll miss are That 70's Show and Malcolm in the Middle, but they both had good runs, and the reruns will last forever. Joey won't see a new season, but we all saw that coming. I'm happy to say that Veronica Mars has found a spot on the new CW following Gilmore Girls, which will help it's visibility. FOX seems to be clearing house on all the comedies that don't appear on Sunday nights. The only survivor I can see is rookie offering The Loop, a fairly decent single-cam about a young airline exec juggling a career and a wild party life. I was disappointed to hear that CBS will be moving Without A Trace to Sunday nights, and I hope it can survive without the strong lead-in that CSI provides, because now the preceding show will be the low-key Cold Case. And before that will be The Amazing Race. Sunday's will be my busiest night of the week, taking over for Wednesday. Speaking of the Race, I am happy to congratulate The Hippies, BJ and Tyler, on winning the cool million. I had hoped they would since the beginning, since they just seemed to be having so much fun out there, while everybody else was bickering and being sneaky. So nice guys finish first at last.

The bad news for me is that I am a terrible bettor when it comes to hockey. I went 0 for 4 in the semis and thoroughly embarrassed myself. I thought it would be San Jose, Colorado, Ottawa and New Jersey. It ends up being Edmonton, Anaheim, Buffalo and Carolina. I haven't even checked my hockey pools in days, because there's just no point anymore. Okay, for traditions' sake, I will predict Buffalo over Carolina and Edmonton over Anaheim. So, obviously, the Stanley Cup finals will actually be between Car and Ana, and they will be the lowest rated finals in years. I mean, at least Edm and Buf are hockey towns, so there's some urgency there, but Car and Ana? That will be like Tampa Bay winning... oh wait, they did last time, and the league shut down for a year.

More good news, I'll be spending the weekend at Cultus Lake, where I hope and pray we will have sunshine, because last year, the rain came in perpendicularly and ruined the whole thing. I knock on wood as I write this, so as not to jinx it. For the next four days, I will be in a drunken stupor from which I may never fully recover, so please don't fret if I neglect this for a while. The summer of Steve begins now!

Until next time, I may not be the best looking guy, but I hold my own... and I frequently do.