Just received an email from a member of my former nyc triathlon club which included this line:

Anyway, long story less long: I hear you moved to San Francisco with the dog and the boyfriend to start a new career helping people (what — private equity was not helping people? jk.). Major congratulations on the life change.

It made me grin

and no, working in private equity was *NOT* helping people!!

Tonight after the gym (and me waking up at 3:50am to work the 5am-5pm shift) Earl and I caught the indie movie The Good, The Bad and The Weird. It was GREAT!!

I was expecting cheesy and juvenile humor (after all, E, lover of zombieland, picked it out ) but it was surprisingly hilarious and really enjoyable! Here’s the trailer:

In addition to great action sequences, it also had an interesting plots with lots of twists and turns. Throw in some truly hilarious moments, and it was a rollicking good time of a movie. Afterwards we noshed thai at Chai Yo and took a little late evening stroll around Nob Hill.

In other news, I was offered a second job this week! Super, super excited to be teaching skills to EMT-B students right here in San Francisco. This will be a side-gig from my main EMT job at the ambulance company. I am completely thrilled to become an instructor! Starting in a few weeks.

Weekend plans are nothing all that special. Yoga, sleeping in, laundry, brushing woofer, studying, farmer’s market and probably amble on down the hill to Bay to Breakers on Sunday. Oh- I’m gonna try and attempt this Dragonfly Stir Fry Rice which combines sausage and crab (!!!!). I’ll let ya know if it comes out as stupendous as it sounds Have a good one yourself! <3, cj

Well, it’s not really fall anymore, but I’m still on a bit of a fitness challenge (can it be called a kick when it’s really more of a daily life at this point?) I guess I’ll just deem it a healthful lifestyle.

I’m not *thrilled* with my progress, but it’s something. No huge gains, but at least moving a bit in the right direction and I guess you could see it as a sloooow step forward. :-/ I miss that huge leap from the fall, though! Perhaps I hit a plateau, although I really think it’s more that I became rather lax with my diet and also stopped running completely for about a month and a half when I had my bilateral quad strains.

Going for accountability, here are my stats since my last check in on December 23rd:

Pounds lost: 5.1
bf % lost: 5%
mile pace test: haven’t run it yet (I’ll do it tonight before the gym)
Inches lost off tummy: .5
Inches lost off hips: .5
Inches lost off bustline: .5 (sensing a trend? lol I’m all in the 5s today)
Inches lost off thigh: no change
Inches lost off wrist: no change
Inches lost off upper arm: no change

Like I said… not a whalloping change, sadly. But I guess it’s slow progress. At least it’s not gains

Other progress I’ve had has been in learning and doing a lot of yoga. I really enjoy it! With my work schedule out for the month of May, I’m aiming to do yoga 5x a week.

Oh, we can talk about the weightroom, too. Here are my gains at lifting over the past couple months. These are all for 3 sets of 10 reps.

Benchpress: @ 85, no increase
Leg press: @ 410lbs, increase of 180lbs (!!!!! HOLY COW!!!)
Lat pull downs: @ 100lbs, increase of 10lbs
Skull crushers: @30lbs, same
Shrugs with bar: @ 100lbs, increase of 10lbs
Seated row: @ 80lbs, same
Calve raise: @ 135, increase of 30lbs
Curls: @ 20lbs each hand, same

This is all from going to lift about 2x a week. My goal for May is to get there 3x a week.

On the recommendation of my friend Rune, I’ve started reading Arnold’s weightlifting book. Once I get through it (might take a while, the thing is 800 pages!) I might try to vary up my routine and implement some of Arnold’s advice. Earl thinks I don’t need it, and that I should just concentrate on just getting there 3x a week and being consistent with my all-body workout. I think that has merit, however it doesn’t account for my natural inclination to get bored and want new challenges.

To sum up, I could be a lot more happy with where I am, but at least this is something. I’ll take it. Hopefully my next check in will be a lot more progress!

Crunching some numbers to figure out if it will actually cheaper to just get a new car that won’t break down all the time.

I’ve determined that for the past 9 months, the Jeep averages costing us about $350 a month in repairs. This does NOT account for general upkeep, oil changes, insurance, or gas. I also spend about $200 a month on gas.

:-/

One other way which there is no way to really account for but should also be taken into consideration is the STRESS and STRIFE of it breaking down and stranding us, having to change or cancel plans because the car broke down, the hassle of bringing it to and from the shop, and also just the mental drain of driving an unreliable car that could break down any moment. It sucks when you hit a little bump in the road and are all “OMG IT’S BREAKING AGAIN QUICK PULL OVER” when it’s really just a pot hole. But that constant fear that it is going to break down and cause a dangerous situation on the highway can be rather draining.

Benefits of the Jeep:
- I like that it is a POS so I don’t really care if it gets scratched on the city streets, gets hit, dents whatever… doesn’t stress me.
- 4 wheel drive is bomber for trips to Tahoe and beyond. That really hairy ride coming back from ski camp in Utah wouldn’t have been possible in a civic!
- enjoy size of SUV for dog and dog kennel, work equipment, ski gear, friends in back, cooler, etc

…. dogs so funny lookin when they pose upside down?

I reckon it’s the goofy expression:

Tried on cats. Doesn’t work.

(also, based on my sample size of one, cats seem far less inclined to pose upside down and must be bribed with chin scratches).

Helloooo world

Wow it’s been a busy couple weeks. I apologize for not updating much; I certainly have been slacking on the blogging front. Here is what’s going on in my world:

• Work: Work is awesome!  I am still loving my new job and am going to be testing out of my “Probie” status anydaynow.  I’ve heard they like to spring the test on you, so I’ve been studying up NREMT style about 2-hours a day for the past few weeks and am feeling relatively prepared.  I’ve also been working LOTS.  I did a 36hr shift this week- it was cool!  Started Monday at 6am and finished Tuesday at 6pm.  I’ve never worked a 36 on my own before and though I took in lots of junk food and caffeine, it wasn’t too bad.  I wasn’t completely zonked at the end of it, though I did decline to meet E at our usual post-work gym date on Tuesday night.  I came home, took a shower, chowed down and went straight to bed.   Other than the 36-hr shift, I have a pretty great schedule this month.  I work one 24hr shift and one 12, so I’m only working two days a week (although picking up OT shifts when I can) which is pretty great.   Right now I am in the middle of SIX (six!) days off until I work again.
• School I’ve made the decision that since I love working as an EMT so much, to continue on in Emergency Medicine and get my Paramedic certification.  Right now I’m doing research on various Paramedic programs around here and beginning to prepare my applications.  It looks like I’ll be applying to three or so different programs, all of which would start this coming fall.  Really happy and excited to have made this decision; it feels very “right.”
• Career- in other exciting news, the SFFD job hire list came out, and I passed the test and made it on it!  Although so are hundreds and hundreds of other people, so I guess that means anytime in the next three years I can be pulled from the list and brought into training.  We’ll see what happens with that… though exciting to know I made the cut and am on the list.
• Skiing- We’ve been going almost every single weekend.  Last weekend we had a great time at Squaw and stayed at my friend Dom’s house in Truckee.  Gorgeous bluebird ski days and fun skiing with friends.  The weekend before that, we did a Kirkwood trip, and before that were at Dodge Ridge.  I have to say, many more ski days than planned (E morphed into quite the snowboarding enthusiast and now pushes for us to go up every moment we can) and *alllllmost* more than we can budget for but… :shrug:
• Fitness- meh.  Not so great on this front- I regressed here.  Pulled a shoulder/neck muscle last week so took about a week and a half off to nurse it.  Not getting in the mileage I’ve been planning and NOT feeling very fit right now after sitting around all week injured.  Need to ramp it up on this front!  My friend Amy and I are hiking Mt. Diablo on Sunday, so that should be a kick in the rear I need to get back on track here.
• Blogging- I am extremely behind on updating this site.  I have so many photos and adventures to write up (hiking, skiing, beach days, etc) however have really been focusing more on doing a great job at work and settling into my new career over this website.  Sometimes, I wonder what is the point of maintaining this blog at all.  I get so nervous writing about anything work-related because of HIPPA and also fear of getting Dooced.  Also, I have been developing some aversions towards braying so much of my personal life online.  I dunno… I guess I’ve been changing more towards wanting to keep things private and reserved just for me and the people I love in my life.  Believe it or not, I am leaning towards disabling my facebook account and like I mentioned, just am sort of fleshing out where I want to go with danceswithcorgis.com.  I enjoy the fact that friends and loved ones read it to catch up with me, however there certainly are some foes who I know still check out what I am up to…. which creeps me out a tad, and makes me feel adverse to sharing the really special stuff.  In the meantime, I also have courtneygreene.com which hopefully over the next few months I will build into a nice little professional portfolio with resume, certifications, volunteer experience etc.  Also (cheesily enough), E and I own earlandcourtney.com which we don’t really have any immediate plans to do anything with but thought it would be fun to have.  We should throw up something stupid on there in the meantime just to be silly.

Anyways, hope all is well with you, Dear Readers.  Please bear with me while I get my blogging groove back on.

May your day of lurve be happier than this gaggle of adorable pandas (lookie here for article and more pics)

We are off to ski! See you on Monday
C

This morning in my groggy state I rolled out of bed in the dark and- as per my usual routine- attempted to get dressed for work without turning on any lights (sleeping nerd).

Socks on, pants on, Shitstomper boots on. And then I’m standing there in a haze fumbling with my belt. And fumbling with my belt. What the heck??? Why won’t this thing fasten? What the heck is wrong with my belt?

Ahh, screw it. It’s 4am and I need to be at work in half an hour, so I don’t have time to be standing here messing around with this- grab my lunchbox and out the door I go.

Get to work and we have a call right away, so we quickly stock the rig and rush off. After the call (and after coffee) I am in Starbucks and go to pee. AGAIN- what the heck is wrong with my belt? Seriously, why wont this thing work? Agggh. I fumble clumsily for a minute trying to make it fasten and finally look down in frustration to figure it out.

What I discovered- apparently, I have lost so much weight that I have run out of holes in the belt. I can’t tighten it any more! So every time I’ve been trying to put it on it just slides and no holes to close it. I’m going to have to take the drill out tomorrow and drill some new holes in that sucker. (No, I am NOT going to buy a new belt because that thing was like $50. It’s this crazy industrial woven leather cop-type belt that you can hang a lot of junk off of.)

Little surprises like this are a very fun part of shedding weight!

Featuring a cappuccino as big as your head!

Actually, it’s not alllll that lazy.
On the itinerary:

• walk Linus
• grocery shopping at the Farmer’s Market
• putter around a coffee shop with Nerd
  
• run 6 miles
• write birthday present thank you notes
• mail birthday present thank you notes
• cook hard boiled eggs to eat for the week
• cook quinoa to eat for the week
• write and mail a check to my dentist (yes I am still paying off my massive dental surgery from this summer! ack.)
• brush Linus
• yoga from 6:00-7:30
• write up a blog post about our ski trip
• respond to all emails in my inbox
• plan this week’s workouts
• take a shower
• cook spaghetti and ground buffalo meatballs for dinner with homemade sauce using up all last week’s leftover veggies
• respond to all PMs in my TGR inbox
• call my Uncle Joe to catch up and see how he’s been
• put away the pile of laundry
• wash my work uniform

I’ve got a pretty busy week ahead.  I’m working 5 days!  While that doesn’t sound like a lot, it’s 5 12-hour shifts, so a much longer week than usual (normally I work 3 12s and pick up an extra shift if possible).  Plus, I have an EVOC Driving Course for work on Friday!!!! Hurrah!   Very psyched for that class. Not only does it look crazy fun, but I get paid the whole time I am taking it.  Woot!

ROCK ON, MY SOUL SISTER!!!

Here are a few photos of Linus sitting on a bench, just for you.