Here I sit in my living room, five degrees away from boiling up. It’s hot, but I still know the worst is yet to come. However this is not about the summer weather and instead about summer television. On my moving picture box across the room is the latest edition of “Last Comic Standing”. If you haven’t seen it, you are missing out. It is basically Survivor: Comedian. I have had a long love hate relationship with reality tv and I think I am finally in a comfortable place. At first I was in love with shows like Survivor, Big Brother and the Ultimate Race. We were all caught off balance in the beginning and helped to give the shows giant ratings, which spawned the next generation of shows including Joe Millionaire, The Bachelor and Temptation Island. The second round is what turned me off, because it was beginning to get out of control and just because they put regular people on a show doesn’t make it a winner. My viewing habits quickly switched to scripted shows where the plot lines are rather predictable, but at least I am not bored by the latest reality concept. Apparently most people felt the same way, because this past fall the reality shows were scattered about and hard to find.

Fast forward to the summer, now that Friends is over, crime has stopped for the CSI crews and President Bartlett is taking a George W. type vacation (western White House, ha). The networks have come up with a winning combination of primarily reality television and the occasional rerun. I was originally not looking forward to the summer, because I wouldn’t get a chance to see my favorites, but it turns out I am now able to expolore a lot more of my cable system. Heck with my bill at around $60, I should use as much of it as possible. My exploration has turned up some winners, including a new interest in the reality shows that started it all the Real World and Road Rules, the Science Channel (new name for the Discovery Channel), Last Action Hero and Last Comic Standing. So hooray for the summer and the huge potpourri of reality shows we are being offered.

In other news. I leave for St. Louis tomorrow morning. I plan on staying in South Bend, IN tomorrow night, driving through Chicago and then on to the show in St. Louis on Thursday. After the show I will be at a hotel in Mount Vernon, IL. Friday morning I hop in the car and see how close to home I can get. I know I originally intended on seeing some other sights, but I really just want to come back home. I have left some room in my itinerary if I change my mind though. It would be great to get back home and hike on Sunday.

Today I didn’t work and spent most of my day doing things around the house. I tried to rotate my tires, but decided I should just buy some new ones and $600 later I have brand new tires for the next 50,000 miles. Afterwards I treated myself to a movie, I saw “The Chronicles of Riddick”. It was okay, a little far fetched and if they plan on making a sequel, I don’t know what they will do. Now I am all packed and ready to go for tomorrow. I will talk to you all when I get back and if I find a wired computer somewhere you will here from me sooner.

Later,
Keeg