Snapshot Chronicles

Susan Getgood's personal blog

Countdown to the Battlestar Galactica finale & some other stuff

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Top news of the day of course is the Battlestar Galactica finale tonight on SyFy Channel. You’ll note the new spelling, SyFy instead of SciFi. Apparently the network wanted a brand it could own, so changed from an easily understood abbreviation, one that actually means something to vast numbers of people, to a homonym with no actual meaning.

Whatever.

Latest spoilers on tonight’s finale can be found on The Patriot Resource. In the last week, there’s been a bit of gnashing and wailing from the Lee/Kara shippers over the last round of Katee Sackoff comments.

Personally, I’ve always taken anything Ms. Sackhoff says about the show with a gigantic grain of salt. Edward James Olmos and Jamie Bamber have always struck me as much better sources. Not that they leak anything, but rather what they do say is told straight up without letting their own wishes or desires for their characters’ arcs color their commentary.

And, you know, whatever it is, is. I just plan to enjoy the show.

Running time of the finale is two hours and 11 minutes, so make sure your DVRs have the right end time. Especially if you don’t plan to watch live. Me, I’ll be watching and tweeting during the commercials.

In other entertainment news…

I finally finished the last book in the Outlander series by Diana Galbadon, A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Outlander). I highly recommend the whole series — a bit of time travel, a little history, some romance — but fair warning: it is addictive. I blew through all six books in less than one month, and they are LONG books. A new one An Echo in the Bone is due out this fall.

While I was reading the series, though, I pretty much stopped watching TV. Except Battlestar of course.  Even though there are a few shows on right now that I like, and a few new ones I wanted to check out, I was too involved in the books.

I took some time to get caught up last night and watched the first two episodes of Castle, the new ABC show starring Nathan Fillion. I liked it, although I wouldn’t stay home to watch it live as I do with Battlestar and did with both Buffy and Angel. But  I do like Fillion, and the supporting cast is good.

I particularly liked the family interplay; Susan Sullivan is inspired casting as his mother, and Molly Quinn, the young woman who plays his daughter is excellent. The hat tip to One Life to Live, the soap where Fillion got his start, was a nice gift to his fans.

Other shows I plan to check out soon: Dollhouse and Leverage. Plus the season finale of Burn Notice.

The exercise update. I haven’t done Jillian Michaels – 30 Day Shredas much this week as last. We went on a two hour snowshow hike up Mount Tom in Woodstock last Saturday and I did treadmill for almost three miles on Tuesday (that damn book again) but when I went back to the Shred yesterday, it wasn’t painful like the the first few days were. Still a hard workout, but I wasn’t in as much pain. So maybe I do need to graduate to the next level…

Enjoy the first day of Spring. Even if the weather is bad today where you are, better, nicer, warmer days are coming.

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Daylight savings time *and* the Shred….

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Are both kicking my ass this week. Not to mention work, which has been really busy.

I just finished Day 5 of what is more likely going to be the 90 Day Shred for me. Admittedly I did 2 miles on the treadmill Tuesday instead of Shred, and took yesterday off, but parts of Level 1 are still pretty hard. Specifically the first cardio circuit. I don’t feel like throwing up afterward anymore though, so I’ll consider that progress. Don’t think I’ll be moving on to Level 2 next week though.

Daylight savings time. Much harder this year for some reason. Perhaps the weather? Between being so tired, quite a bit of work and The Fiery Cross (Outlander)by Diana Gabaldon, I haven’t watched any TV in two weeks except for last Friday’s Battlestar Galactica. Tons of shows collecting on the DVR.

Shred it

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“He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly”

Unless you actually are Santa Claus, you really don’t want the above description to apply to you. Which is why I decided to join the #shredheads and do Jillian Michaels’ 30-Day Shred Workout.

Over the past 9 years, I’ve slowly added about 20 pounds to my body that I just don’t need. I’d lose a pound or two, but then put it back on and add another for good measure. I worked out, but not as seriously as I did before Douglas was born.

About a month ago, though, I was really sick. A flu bug or food poisoning, we aren’t really sure what it was but I didn’t eat for an entire day. Not anything, not even toast. Drank lots of diet ginger ale and water but nothing else.

Not surprisingly I lost a few pounds. But I didn’t put them back on afterward. My appetite changed, and still, a month later, I haven’t added the weight back.

That was my inspiration for joining @mublogger and all the other shredders this month.

My goal, apart from taking off that damn 20 pounds, is to be strong enough to hike Mount Mansfield in Vermont this summer. In the 90s, Dave and I were working our way through the 4000-footers in NH and Vermont. When I got pregnant, we stopped. Although we’ve done some hiking recently, we haven’t undertaken a big hill in a long time.

It’s time. Mount Mansfield is the only 4000-footer in Vermont that we haven’t climbed. So that’s the goal.

I did the first session tonight, and now, about 90 minutes later, my legs have stopped shaking. The cardio kicked my butt from the first circuit. It took til circuit 3 (at level 1) for the strength (modified pushups) and abs for the pain to set in, but set in it did. Longest 20 minutes ever.

And I have to do it again tomorrow.

Crap.