This morning I took the most steps, walked the furthest distance, and weighed the least I have since I started this project over eight months ago. In my 55 minute workout I clocked in 7,694 steps and 4.21 miles. By comparison, on Day 1 walked only 5,649 steps and 2.4 miles in the same 55 minutes. Better yet, I weighed in at 255.1 lbs, far outstripping my previous record of 255.9 set two weeks ago before I bounced back up. Of course the real question is, will I stay in that neighborhood tomorrow? We shall see. It was a nice bit of sunshine after a very frustrating two weeks of backwards progress. We shall see.

I also finished watching the current story this morning, so let's talk about that.

Filed under random coincidence: As of today, I have walked exactly 802.11 miles on the treadmill for this project. Does that number look familiar to you? It did to me, but maybe that's because I'm a technology geek. If you have ever gone out shopping for a wireless router, you may or may not have noticed they all specify their wireless type as something like "802.11g", which refers to IEEE 802.11 wireless standard. And this, folks, is exactly the kind of thing my stupid brain fixates on when I am not watching Doctor Who.

Speaking of which, I started a new story today. Let's talk about that.

It's funny how many weird and random bits of trivia I stumble across in the course of this project. Case in point: I only just realized that the actress in this current story who plays the scientist that gets consumed and transformed by the titular Fendahl is none other than Wanda Ventham. Who, you ask? You would know her better and more indirectly as the mother of Benedict Cumberbatch, a.k.a. Sherlock Homes, Doctor Strange, Smaug, Khan, and the guy who can't pronounce "penguin" to save his life. As a matter of fact, this role was her first big acting job after giving birth to her Eventually Famous Son. How cool is that?

So let's talk about the second half of this story.

First thing first: Today I broke 4 miles in one 55 minute session on the treadmill for the first time in over a month, and recorded the highest number of steps ever since I started this project. Hooray for progress! (I need to cheer something, my weight had gone slightly backwards in the last week.) I am about to leave for a rehearsal in the show I am doing, where I will be doing nothing but dance choreography for five hours straight, so I am expecting my numbers tomorrow to look particularly good. So that's nice.

I also started a new story today, and if I have ever seen it before then I surely don't remember anything at all about it. So let's talk about that.

I just noticed that as of this past weekend I had viewed 33.6% of all televised Doctor Who stories while walking on my treadmill. In terms of episode count I am well over halfway there, it's just that once the modern series comes around most of the stories are only one episode, with a few two-parters here and there. As for the Fourth Doctor, I am just about halfway there. I expect I will wrap up Tom Baker before Christmas. So that's pretty cool. As for my workouts, I had fallen back on speed for a while but this morning I bumped it back up. Tomorrow I will try to cross the four-mile mark again in 55 minutes, which I have only done once before. My body shape keeps changing for the better, even if my weight is fairly stagnant. I really need to start mixing in strength training at this point. But not today.

As for today's viewing, I wrapped up K-9's first story and he became an official part of the crew. Let's talk about that.

I mentioned a few days ago that The Talons of Weng-Chiang marked the end of an era, with the departure of Philip Hinchcliffe as producer. Horror of Fang Rock was transitional, still written like the gothic horror that was so predominant during the Holmes/Hinchcliffe seasons, but today's story marks a clear shift into the next phase of Doctor Who both in terms of style and also with the introduction of a new companion who is second only to Sarah Jane Smith herself in terms of being beloved by fans. It also demonstrates once again that just showing up to work is half the battle when it comes to success.

Let's talk about that.

Ah, you have to love the Gothic Horror era of Doctor Who. I finished the back half of Horror of Fang Rock today, and it was just as dark and moody as you could ask for. Ultimately the fate of the entire Earth laid in the balance (a bit of a sudden escalation, that), but for most of the running time it plays as a classic horror story with a cast of characters ready set to be picked off one by one.

Let's talk about that.

The most interesting thing about today's new story is only tangentially and coincidentally related to the story itself. Horror of Fang Rock first aired in the fall of 1977, but it was ten years later that the infamous Max Headroom incident took place. Late one night in 1987 the Chicago station WTTW was broadcasting the first episode of Fang Rock when their signal was hijacked by an unknown person dressed like (the recently cancelled) Max Headroom, who proceeded to rant about several different topics and behave just generally weirdly. The signal ended with him dropping trou while an accomplice spanked his bare buttocks with a flyswatter. The entire thing lasted for about a minute and a half before the normal signal resumed. The culprit was never found or prosecuted. Max would be proud. You should watch this clip, it is gloriously weird.

Anyway, let's talk about the actual story.

Today marks the eight month anniversary of the day I started this ridiculous project. In that time I have walked 774.88 miles on the treadmill while taking 1,554,800, watching 454 episodes and 90 stories of Doctor Who, and losing 49.28 pounds in weight. That's only 1 1/2 lbs in the last month, which on the one hand is pretty frustrating but on the other hand just shows me that I am nearing the end of my practical weight loss. That doesn't mean I am done making progress in feeling healthier, or that my body is done changing form, but all the "easy" weight loss is far behind me at this point. Whatever my weight, my waist size keeps shrinking. I can now comfortably fit into pants with a 40" waist, which seemed like an unachievable goal only a few months ago. For gosh sake, I had a 38" waist in high school. The last two weeks I have been floating around the 50 lb mark for total weight lost, some days slightly more and some days slightly less. I expect that as I get deeper into rehearsal for the show I am doing this winter, I will drop down a bit more. Life is good.

Oh, and I also finished The Talons of Weng-Chiang today, so let's talk about that.

I had my annual eye exam today, which amon other things involved putting dilation drops in my eyes. I then spent the next six hours barely able to look at anything light, like computer screens. So I did my time on the Time Treadmill, but it was in a dark room with the curtains closed. Fortunately, The Talons of Weng-Chiang is primarily set in dimly lit locations so it didn't hurt my eyes to watch it. The show definitely did everything I could to keep my eyes on it, what with having Leela running around the sewers in her Victorian undergarments.

So let's talk about that.