Good: Next year will see some form of competition in car insurance rates in Massachusetts. Right now we're the only state in the Union where regulators fix rates, and our last stab at de-regulation in the 1970s didn't go so well (I have very vague memories of this, more from the news than anything with my family).

So, finally, I may be able to get car insurance from a caveman, Cockney lizard or a pink-haired secret agent/robot football player/baseball fan. Given how we're getting jerked around by our current carrier, I'll happily put my fate in the hands (paws?) of one of these folks.

Bad: More doping allegations at the Tour de France, most notably Alexander Vinokourov's reported positive test for homologous transfusions, which led his entire team to drop out. On top of that, race leader Michael Rasmussen missed a couple of test dates outside of racing, which he blames on the process required to notify the sport's governing body of changes to his itinerary (to be fair, it's a little mind-boggling that riders can't make changes on-line somehow).

Cycling is dependent on sponsor money, and doping makes it that much harder to get new ones. Tyler Hamilton's suspension killed a good Phonak team that was transitioning to a new sponsor, and with deals soon to run out with T-Mobile and Discovery, more high-level names getting busted won't help keep current sponsors or find new ones. On the positive side, this may make some room for folks like Team Slipstream and others who are trying to clean things up.

Though I'm concerned about a cycling team powered by Mexican food. Don't get behind their riders in the peleton.

Ugly - this whole Michael Vick thing. Ugh.