Oh good lord, this series. I took Monday off because I was buried in work. I took yesterday off because it was my birthday, and my present to myself was to not watch K9. Today I was back at it. You want to take any guesses at what I thought of today's two stories?

Four days of K9 down and nine days to go. Not that I am counting or anything. But this time around I actually have something to say about at least one of the episodes I watched today.

As noted philosopher (and bunny rabbit) Thumper once said, "If you can't say something nice, don't say nuthin' at all." So I'll get on with that.

You want to know the fundamental, existantial difference between The Sarah Jane Adventures and K9? Well, SJA was written for children, whereas K9 appears to have been written by children.

So, I had intended to move directly from Shada to the Australian K9 series. I watched most of The Sarah Jane Adventures as streaming episodes on Amazon, and I had looked to see if they had K9 as well, which they did. I thought. Three days ago when I went to pull it up, I discovered that although there was an entry for it there were no actual episodes -- only a "where to watch this" message that was no use. So I had to break down and actually buy the entire show on DVD (which was mercifully cheap). It arrived yesterday, so this morning I dove into it. Weep for me.

The nice thing I have learned about sit-ups is that if I wake up with a kink in my back, doing several sets of sit-ups will sort it right out. In hindsight it seems obvious, the movement is exactly what is required to naturally get the spine back into shape. The first time I discovered that, though, I was more than a little surprised. I had hesitated to do the workout, but decided to try it slowly and carefully. During the first set my back was sore -- not in an OUCH something bad is happening way, but in an *ouch* something is out of place kind of way. After my first rest, when starting the second set I realized that whatever had been out of place had moved back into place and all the soreness was completely gone. Sure, by the end of the fifth set I was completely exhausted, but dang if my back didn't feel fantastic...

If I had to pick one word to describe this morning's treadmill viewing, it would be "disrupted". On the whole I think I am a good father, but I will be the first to admit that sometimes my reaction to my autistic son's obsessive behavior could be better. Case in point, this morning he was absolutely focused on his small red camera not working. It is worth noting that he has four, count them four digital cameras. Three of them were working properly, but he interrupted me on the treadmill no fewer than four times because that particular one was not. Fortunately my wife stepped in and contained him so I could finish my workout, because by the last time around I was responding less patiently than the autistic person. That's always a bad sign. In any case, I did finish the middle third of Shada. Here's what I thought.

You know what I learned today? Taking antibiotics causes weight gain because not only do they kill off whatever infection you are fighting (in my case, a middle-ear infection), they also kill off all of the helpful bacteria in your gut that helps you effectively digest food. I had finally been trending back downward in weight until mid-December, when it started to spike back up again. You know what else happened in mid-December? I had to do a round of antibiotics due to diverticulitis. So, there's at least a partial reason for spiking up again. On the upside, today not only did I do 200 push-ups, but I also managed over 4 miles on the treadmill for the first time in ages. So that was nice. Also today, I jumped back to finally start watching the infamous Shada for the very first time.

Well, that's it. The last of The Sarah Jane Adventures this morning. I definitely teared up a little bit. 

I have missed entirely too many days in the last month, and I missed yet another yesterday on New Year's Day. I fully intended to get up and work out, but in the end I decided to go to Urgent Care instead and be treated for a middle ear infection. Tomato, tomahto. This morning I started back at work after nearly three weeks off for the holidays, and I drug myself out of bed too late to be able to do my sit-ups so only did the treadmill while I watched the next-to-last Sarah Jane Adventures episode. Hoo boy, it was a good'n.