My mind boggles to even say this, but as of today I have walked over two million steps on the treadmill since starting this ridiculous project. How wild is that? No joke, in the past ten months I have walked the equivalent of going from my house to Hartford, Connecticut (where a winter storm is about to dump twelve inches of snow overnight, brr!) Just typing that has made me tired, I think I might go take a nap.

But first, let's talk about today's story.

I have frequently said that I love the pure historical stories of the First Doctor era. While it may well be true that The Daleks saved the show from early cancellation, it is stories like Marco Polo, The Aztecs, The Reign of Terror, and The Massacre where Doctor Who really stood out. The entire original remit for the show was to alternate between science fiction stories to hook young viewers, and then historical stories to teach them. By the time the Second Doctor came along, however, that concept was completely abandoned. After The Highlanders in 1966 there has only ever been one other story in which the plot did not revolve around some science-fictional element. It might be set in a historical time period, but there is always some kind of alien menace to contend with. Today's viewing, then, contains the very last Pure Historical story - even including the modern era.

So let's talk about that.

Let us all bow our heads and take a moment of silence for the passing of the sonic screwdriver. First introduced in 1968's Fury from the Deep, the sonic screwdriver was a mainstay of the series for nearly fourteen years from the Second Doctor until halfway through the Fifth Doctor's first season. Producer John Nathan Turner hated it, though, and though it allowed for lazy plotting from the writers. As such, he had it summarily destroyed in the third episode of The Visitation, and it never appeared again in the classic series.

Some other stuff happened as well, so let's talk about that.

Today marks the ten month anniversary of the day I started this ridiculous project. In that time I have walked 1,009.34 miles on the treadmill while taking 1,980,726 steps, watching 568 episodes and 118 stories of Doctor Who, and losing 60.30 pounds in weight. That's another 6.88 pounds since last month, which is more than half again what I lost the previous month. Where I seemed to be stalling out in progress during the fall, I now seem to be accelerating again. Last month I set a stretch goal to weigh in at least once under 250 lbs before Christmas, and here I am with five days to spare and I am consistently weighing in between 245 and 247. My current stretch goal is to weigh in at under 240 lbs at least once before my birthday next month on the 15th. Another new thing in my progress - last night my wife mentioned to me that I don't snore anymore, which I think is a huge positive sign. I can honestly say that watching Doctor Who has been the most positive thing for my health in my entire life.

Speaking of which, I watched two new episodes this morning. Let's talk about that.

As much as I have ragged on Adric as a character, I don't blame actor Matthew Waterhouse. Adric is no more his fault than Wesley Crusher is Wil Wheaton's fault. Today Mr. Waterhouse turns 56 years old, and I wish him the very best. True, I loathe the character he played, and I am counting the days until I can gleefully witness his demise. That being said, it is worth noting that he was the very first openly gay actor to appear on Doctor Who. That took a lot of guts in 1981. He also still holds the record as the youngest actor to play a male companion on the show. It's just a shame his character was such a smug piece of crap.

Speaking of which, let's talk about how Adric was a smug piece of crap in today's viewing.

As of about an hour ago, I have walked over one thousand miles on the treadmill since starting this ridiculous project. How amazing is that? My feelings are best summed up by David Tennant and the cast & crew of Doctor Who:

Also, I watched the first half of Kinda, so let's talk about that.

So, I just finished installing a new hardwood floor in our guest room. This, after a 2pm performance of my show (the fifth performance in the last four days). My sister is arriving from Seattle on Tuesday, and I am racing to get the room ready for her. Tomorrow I will get the baseboard trim done and reassemble the room, so I think we are golden.I didn't get the closet done, but that can wait for another day. I also plan on installing a new floor in the master bedroom, but that ain't happening until after Christmas. Aside from that, I also hit the treadmill this morning and watched two more episodes of Doctor Who. You'll never guess which character annoyed me completely.

So let's talk about that.

In lieu of saying something pithy or relevant today, I think Cyanide and Happiness has summed up my weight loss journey pretty well with this recent short:

Oh, I also started watching a new Doctor Who story today, so let's talk about that.

In no particular order, today:  I set a new record low for my weight, just below 245 lbs, so my target of getting below 240 before my birthday next month seems do-able; the show I am in is now sold out for the remainder of its run, with seven performances remaining; I am now on vacation until the second of January, and I was able to clear out my entire bug list  before going, with one exception, so I feel pretty darn good about that (especially since we did a really cool software release last night, with some work of which I am very proud); and, oh yeah, I finished watching the first Fifth Doctor story.

So let's talk about that.

Look, here's the deal:  Today has been a long day of work, plus a theatrical performance, plus a software release, and now it's almost midnight and I want to go to bed. But I'll write this up all quick-like first.

So let's talk about the very first Fifth Doctor episodes.