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.

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.