Ok, so, I haven't posted here in almost two weeks. During that time I watched the very last Doctor Who story on the treadmill, meaning that I have now watched every single episode ever broadcast of any official series related to the program. How cool is that. Then I kinda took a week off. Then I watched An Adventure in Space in Time, doing six miles on the treadmill in one session, which was a bit ambitious after taking a week off. I utterly failed to post about either of those things. Now the past two days I have been watching the BluRay reissue of the Fifth Doctor's first season. Rather than back-writing four different posts, I am just going to roll it all up here in one thing so that I am caught back up. You're welcome.

It seems crazy to say this, but after just over two years I am only one day away from having viewed every single televised Doctor Who episode (including all spinoffs) ever broadcast while walking on the treadmill. After nearly four and a half million steps I am about to cross the finish line. But before I can do that, I have this penultimate viewing to talk about.

Colorado was so much fun, y'all! So. Much. Fun. I am professionally obligated to say I learned a lot at my training conference (which also happens to be true). More importantly, I was a dang literal rock star. Two years ago at this same conference I spontaneously wrote a song about the show's mascot, the DNN Yeti. Then last year I did the same thing again with another cryptid called the Slide Rock Bolter. On both of those occasions, the songs were recorded in my hotel room and thrown online for the attendees to enjoy. This year, though, I was specifically invited to perform during the closing keynote session.

I got a standing ovation, yo!

This is the last episode I am watching before leaving town for a week for a developer conference. I am so very close to the second major finish line of this ridiculous project that I can taste it, but it will have to wait until next week to get there. In the meantime, I got to watch the episode with Alan Cumming (whom my wife has touched). So that's a pretty good send-off.

Can I tell a story about today that has nothing to do with Doctor Who or treadmills? Ok, cool. So, my son is autistic. He is also a Disney geek. In particular, he has kind of a thing for Snow White. Nearly seven years ago, when Snow White's Scary Adventures closed permanently, he had a very special encounter with her, which you can see here:

This afternoon Ben and I were at Epcot, where he likes to go every Sunday to take pictures of characters. At the Snow White meet & greet, it turned out to be the very same Snow who had visited with Ben in the video above. Ben recognized her immediately, and was delighted. She was also overjoyed to see Ben again for the first time in years. She couldn't break character, but she did all kinds of verbal flips and twists to express just how much that day had meant to her, and how happy she was to see Ben again. It was just an amazing encounter all around. How cool is that? 

Anyway, getting back to Doctor Who...

"Ordinary people who've lived here all their lives, whipped into a frenzy to be part of a mob. Nothing worse than when normal people lose their minds. We've lived together for decades, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh, and now we're being told our differences are more important than what unites us. Like we learned nothing in the war. I don't know how we protect people, when hatred's coming from all sides."
"Well, all we can strive to be is good men. And you, Prem, are a good man."

The good news about having watched the worst episode of the season is that, by definition, everything after that is better by comparison. This one may not be the best, but it is thoroughly enjoyable.

Why, why, why? After such an amazing episode, why stoop to this piece of tripe. Ugh.

Ugh, what a week. I missed Monday and Tuesday for workouts because my son was home sick both days. I managed workouts the rest of the week, but didn't actually do any writing. So now I am making up for it, and this is the first of three back-dated entries. Let's go.

The joy of Sundays is that I get to sleep in, and then do my workout at a nice, leisurely time in the late morning. Usually Sunday afternoons are reserved for Epcot with my son to photograph Alice in Wonderland and Snow White, but due to rainy conditions I didn't even need to rush out the door to do that.  The rain isn't awesome, but compared to the rest of the country that seems to be buried under snow I am good with it. (Although I get to go visit snow in Colorado a week from Tuesday, so I'll get in my six days of winter soon enough.) As for today's treadmill viewing, this story the end of a cycle of five consecutive stories that follow on to each other one right after the other. It also reunites the regenerated Doctor with her regenerated TARDIS. I have thoughts about that.