Folks, today has been a day. Up early racing to hit a deadline at work, sucked into a Production issue that turned out to have nothing to do with my code (but I was of course happy to pitch in and help figure it out), hours of going round and round with bug fixes, right in the middle of it a stupid non-emergency emergency with my mom (she's fine, and it wasn't her fault), and as I write this I am still in the midst of a software release and waiting on final QA sign off. Tomorrow I have to be up extra early because my autistic son is having dental surgery under anesthesia. All I want to do is go to bed, and I can't until this release is put to bed.

So while I am waiting for that to happen, let's talk about Doctor Who.

This evening my wife and I wont out to see a couple shows at the Orlando Fringe Winter Mini-Fest (if you are in Central Florida and have the chance, definitely go see Ominous George), and before the first show we happened to bump into the director of the show I did in December of 2016. I think the last time I had seen him in person was maybe in the early spring of 2017? Anyway, he walked right by me without even a glance but saw my wife and said hello to her and gave her a great big hug. She jokingly commented something along the lines of, "what, somebody loses sixty pounds and you don't even recognize them anymore?" which was when he turned and looked at me again. Then his eyes bugged out when he finally recognized me. He sincerely did not even know who I was until he studied my face. I have to say, it's a pretty nice feeling to be at the "people don't even recognize me anymore" stage of weight loss.

In other news, I finished my current Doctor Who story on the treadmill this morning. So let's talk about that.

No lie -- after two weeks of holiday vacation time, this morning came very early. But I successfully bounced out of bed and hit the treadmill, and got my workout completed before 7:30am for the first time in weeks. So that felt pretty good. I am still getting used to the treadmill in its new location with my whole new command center setup, and I am definitely loving it. Just this evening I finished the last two detail bits, so I am rocking and rolling in the new year. Good times.

This morning's viewing had a couple of big landmarks, so let's talk about that.

Well here we are, 2018! A new year, a new Doctor, and practically a new me. How cool is that? As I write this I am at the very end of my vacation, so tomorrow morning I start back in on a more strict routine. No more sleeping in like I have the past two weeks, I need to be up and working out by 6:30am so that I can get to work on time. Tomorrow morning is going to come very early...

So let's talk Doctor Who so that I can get to bed.

I watched the first half of Snakedance this morning. It's a great story, and I'll get to it in a second, but first -- you absolutely have to watch this scene, from the 1959 Fritz Lang classic The Indian Tomb, featuring the dance sequence that I always think of when I hear the title of this current Doctor Who story. If Debra Pagen doesn't entrance you like she does the snake, I don't even know what to say.

Anyway, let's talk about today's viewing.

Today was my first day at the new Time Treadmill command center, in our newly remodeled master bedroom. I still have more work to do in there, but my new workout area is good to go. It was really nice, I could absolutely tell the difference between the old carpeting vs the new good quality underlayment, hardwood floor, and new mat underneath the treadmill itself. It was much, much quieter. Two days earlier I had worked out with the treadmill just on the bare subfloor and it was so loud it sounded like the house was going to shake apart. I am very happy.

So let's talk Doctor Who.

Right off the bat today, I have to put in a plug for how awesome the LifeSpan customer service is for their treadmills. If you are in the market, I can heartily recommend the LifeSpan treadmills not only for the quality of the machines themselves, but for amazing customer support they provide. While moving around our treadmill today (I just installed a new hardwood floor and had to wrestle it into its new home), a structural piece that holds the left support rail fractured. I called, expecting to have to pay a chunk of change for a replacement part, but instead was happily told that the part was still covered under warranty and that the new part would arrive in five days. I have already received the shipping notice, and it is in transit. How awesome is that?

In other news, I began the twentieth season of Doctor Who this morning. Let's talk about that.

It's been a productive day today. In addition to my regular workout, we got the master bedroom completely cleared out, put a fresh coat of paint all around, ripped out the carpet and padding, and sealed the subfloor. Tomorrow morning I start laying down the new hardwood floor. Oh, and on top of that we went out and finally saw the new Star Wars movie (it was aight, dog). But before I can go to bed I need to talk about the back half of the current Doctor Who story.

So let's talk about that.

Oh, such a day today. On the happy and productive side, I made good progress in our master bedroom remodel. Three of the four walls are painted, most of the baseboards are pulled. and a good chunk of the carpet is pulled. Tomorrow we will finish clearing the room and puling carpet, I will get the accent wall painted, and I will start laying the new hardwood floor. Ideally by Thursday afternoon everything will be done and back in place, including my new Time Treadmill setup. So that's pretty cool. On the unhappy and slightly terrifying side, I spent four hours at the emergency room this evening with my (autistic) son Benjamin and his mother. Oh Christmas Eve they were driving on the freeway when an erratic driver changed lanes directly into their car. The collision, at full freeway speed, caused the car to shoot across all lanes of traffic, leave the pavement, go up a tall embankment, and then come back down and briefly re-enter the high-speed lane before finally stopping on the shoulder. How they managed to not roll over or collide with any other vehicles, I have no idea. Nobody was seriously injured, but both Ben and his mom really needed to be checked out. Since the accident happened when it did, it took until today to make it into the emergency room. Good news: after several x-rays, both of them are cleared as having no structural injuries. They are both sore and taking muscle relaxers, but hopefully the soreness will pass. The car has been dropped of at the auto shop, and I will be shocked if it is not totaled. Cosmetically it is not in terrible shape, but I am sure the suspension and frame are completely wrecked from the off-road jaunt at 50+ mph. I am just grateful that it wasn't worse, because it could have easily been the very worst case indeed.

So anyway, quite a day. I did, however, manage to squeeze in my treadmill time. So let's talk about that.

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! My miserable three weeks spent with Wesley Crusher Adric as a companion are at an end! It truly is a Christmas miracle! 

So let's talk about it!