First off, huge headline:  THIS MORNING I WEIGHED IN AT MORE THAN 30 LBS LESS THAN WHEN i STARTED THIS PROJECT! 

After the better part of a week of frustration, banging my head against the barrier of getting below 280 lbs, this morning I weighed in at a record low 276.5. This was due in no small part to having spent two consecutive days walking around Walt Disney World with my autistic son in 95°+ weather, in addition to the daily treadmill time. You'd better believe that I am taking the win. On top of that, I found out over the weekend that I got a callback for a professional theatrical production that I auditioned for. I am a very happy boy indeed.

So anyway, Doctor Who... I did watch the final two episodes of The Ice Warriors this morning and made an astonishing discovery.

Let's talk about that.

First thing: I stumbled across the image I used for this post and fell in love with it. It is by the very excellent Roger Langridge. Second thing: I finally dropped back below 280 again today -- yay me! I am celebrating by spending the afternoon taking my son to Epcot to photograph princesses like a Princess Paparazzi. As for Doctor Who, this morning I watched episodes 2 & 3 of The Ice Warriors.  I went the full 55 minutes on my treadmill at my highest sustained speed ever. I've got my second wind, and I am surging onward. Also: The ice warriors are creepy as hell.

Let's talk about that.

As I write this, it is 11:22pm. I am going to keep this brief, but...  Today is not the day I fail to get in my hour of treadmill time. I didn't start until after 10pm because of a very full day, but I am determined not to fail in this project. I know that you, my imaginary readers, would be very disappointed in me if I did. So I watched the first two episodes of The Ice Warriors tonight. Yay me.

I had really hoped to start this post with "what a difference a day makes", but sadly I am still in a slump. That's four consecutive days back above 280, which is frustrating as hell. I expect my son is going to run me ragged around Walt Disney World this weekend, so hopefully I will be moving back in the right direction shortly. The good news is, this morning I was able to go the full 55 minutes for the first time in days. This is going to be a long, long battle.

Anyway, I finished watching The Abominable Snowmen this morning. Let's talk about that.

I ain't gonna lie, some days this project is more challenging than others. It's not the story, I am still digging The Abominable Snowmen, but today is the third day in a row I have been back up above 280. It's been less each day, but still frustrating. I know it's just a blip, and I will get back on track, but it makes for a frustrating time. On top of that, for the last several days I have had to back off on the speed because I just couldn't keep up. Again, I know it's just a normal part of the process, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating. 

At least I still have robot yeti to amuse me. Let's talk about that.

Back in January of this year I went to a tech conference in Colorado for the DNN platform, and the conference mascot was a Yeti. Over the course of the conference I wrote this silly song in which the chorus goes, "He's a DNN Yeti, yet he knows he has to keep on his toes before his bug list grows..." As I watched the first two episodes of The Abominable Snowmen this morning, I had that song stuck in my head on a loop. Go figure. As for the story itself, I had my doubts but so far I am enjoying it.

Let's talk about that.

Don't get me wrong, I still love The Tomb of the Cybermen. But, watching it back-to-back with The Evil of the Daleks really made something leap out at me. Both stories contain a major supporting character who starts out as a baddie (or, more accurately, the lackey of a baddie) and then becomes a hero over the course of the story. That's fine, it's a common character arc. But in both cases, the character is a very large, muscle-bound black man who speaks very little (if at all). In both cases, the character is placed in dangerous proximity to a terrified white woman and must contend with their white male protector. In both cases the character is, if not shirtless, then wearing an open shirt that shows off the pectoral muscles in great detail. In both cases the character hoists up an opponent over their head and then throws them across the room. And in both cases, the character sacrifices his life heroically in the end. I don't doubt that the writers had the best of intentions, but seeing them reach for the Black Brute trope so transparently twice in a row really made me raise my eyebrow.

But other than the casual racism, I quite liked it. Let's talk about that.

In the same way that season 4 of Doctor Who was book-ended by Dalek stories, season 5 starts and ends with Cyberman stories. The Tomb of the Cybermen is a fairly short one, though, with only four episodes. While that was the norm for the majority of First Doctor stories, the Second Doctor usually goes for at least six per story. That means that Tomb snaps right along with no extra padding (I'm looking at you, Evil of the Daleks). Of course, it also has its fair share of overacting and bad American accents, but it is still one of my favorites.

Let's talk about that.

I only had one 24 minute episode to watch this morning, the final part of The Evil of the Daleks, so I cut my treadmill time a little short today. Frankly, I spent all afternoon yesterday walking around Epcot with my son meeting princesses, and I was pretty walked out. Sure enough, I weighed in two pounds lighter today than yesterday, despite my shortened workout this morning. I won't be surprised tomorrow when I bounce back up a little. As for Doctor Who, this stupid Dalek story is finally over.

Let's talk about that.

Today marks the three month anniversary of this project. In that time I have walked well over a half million steps, almost 275 miles, and this morning I weighed in 28.3 lbs lighter than the day I started. I used to always leave my shirts untucked, because of course I did. Lately I have been tucking them in, because although I still have a belly that extends over my belt line it's not by much anymore and it doesn't seem grotesque. I feel significantly better than I did three months ago, and without going into any gross details I will just say that some previously-persistent GI issues have almost completely evaporated. I think it is safe to say I am very happy with the results of this project so far.

Also, I watched two more episodes of The Evil of the Daleks this morning. I guess I have to talk about that?