October 30, 2010 - Buffalo Springfield - A Reunion For The Ages!

Last weekend in Mountain View, California, the remaining 3 surviving original members of Rock N Roll Hall of Fame members, the Buffalo Springfield, reunited for a live concert for the first time in, get this, 42 years!

Singer/songwriter/guitarists Richie Furay, Stephen Stills, and Neil Young hit the stage for a pair of gigs as part of the 25th annual Bridge School benefit concerts, an initiative to raise money for a charitable cause that has been organized and steered by Neil Young.

Members of the Buffalo Springfield initially met in New York city, circa 1964, as they were all young aspiring folk singers. As it happened, the music scene quickly switched to southern California and a wave of eastern musicians started trecking out west. Richie and Stephen had essentially given up on their work with the Au Go-Go Singers in New York and had made the treck out to Los Angeles. One day, they were stuck in traffic, when Neil Young happened to drive by the other side of the street in his infamous herse! Neil recognized the two guys and pulled over for a chat. Well, the conversation that took place in that car ride lead to the creation of a Rock/Folk band that would go on to change music history!

The Springfield took their name from a construction company that was doing road work across the street where one of the band members lived at the time. They would go on to create 3 studio albums as well as countless unreleased demos (that would later be released). Their greatest hit was a protest song entitled For What It's Worth, which is best known for the lyrics: "Stop, hey, what's that sound? Everybody look what's going down!"

Unfortunately, egos got the better of them all and this lead to the demise of the group, just 25 months later. Recently-recruited bass player Jim Messina and Richie broke away to create Poco with Rusty Young and George Grantham, while Neil and Stephen created an alliance with former Byrd David Crosby. A 'trade' between record label contract allowed Richie to literally be swapped for Graham Nash, and this allowed for the formation of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, who would go onto rock stardom with 6 top ten rock albums.

Poco, although not initially successful in terms of charting hits, became the pioneers of the newly-formed country-rock genre, leading to the creation of many other groups that would go onto super stardom, including the Eagles. Messina would eventually leave Poco to form a very successful due with Kenny Loggins, while Richie eventually departed Poco to work with another former Byrd, Chris Hillman, and Eagles songwriting partner John David Souther. All of these artists also released as series of solo albums.

Despite all being in their mid 60s, the band was in fine form, playing through an hour-long set of tunes from their three albums. Richie's voice was as strong as ever. a recently slimmed-down Stills looked and sounded great with his raspy voice. Neil wore one of his vintage 60s jackets and was content to focus on guitar for most of the night, allowing Richie and Stephen to handle the vocals for most. The night concluded with an all-star jam that also included opening acts Eddie Vedder, Elvis Costello, and Kris Kristoffersen, on a rendition of Neil's solo hit Rockin' in the Free World.

Although i was not personally in attendence, the magic of the Internet has allowed for the entire first concert to be made available for listening pleasure on youtube and other places.

Photo credits to Rolling Stone magazine!

for more information on these musicians, check out:

neilyoung.com

richiefuray.com

crosbystillsnash.com

Jennifer

October 24, 2010 - lovely fall colours!

well, i had a good sleep in this morning, which was much-needed. shortly after 12 noon, i went out for a light run to the pond and back, and it was so lovely, that i decided to head out later in the afternoon for a second set. i ran 17k in total, and felt great all the way thru. i am now down 7 pounds in October, which is amazing. cutting back on the bread products seems to be the key.
Here are some of the many pics i took on my second set.

October 23, 2010 - weekly update

Well, it's been a good week for me. 2 separate job interviews for privacy analyst positions - both with arms-length agencies of Government. It will be interesting to see if these lead to work offers. I believe i am now up to 40 job interviews since i became Jennifer, with the only job offer being the job i currently have, as a file clerk. Despite these continued rejections, i actually seem to gain confidence with each interview. It's quite disappointing though, to get rejected, and even more so upsetting given that i have no idea of knowing for sure whether i am legitimately losing competitions, or facing discrimination due to being transsexual.

meanwhile, i ran 5 out of the 7 days, even with calf muscle pain due to the Cape to Cabot. I am finally starting to get into a groove. The best news is that i am now down 6 pounds in October! The careful eating has clearly paid off. Anyway, i will be pressing hard over the next 6-8 weeks to do as much running as i can, before the snow starts here!

Jenn

October 17, 2010 Cape to Cabot Race

Well, it was a rather nice day for running last Sunday morning. I had a good sleep and felt good heading down to get the 6.45 am shuttle bus to Cape Spear. After struggling through the Provincial Marathon 3 weeks prior, and having picked my training up a notch, i came into this run with more confidence. I knew the hills would be tough, so i took things slow at the start. I was near the back of the pack, but running strong.

There was no pressure this year as all i wanted to do was finish in good health. It took me a while to get warmed up. The early hills really made me breath hard. I ended up running a very strong 11-15th k, which were mostly downhill. i ended up straining both of my calf muscles though, as i had not done very much downhill training, but to run those 4 k in 22 minutes gave me a strong boost of confidence. the run through downtown st. john's was fun, and the signal hill climb was mostly a walk, but filled with supporting fans. I crossed the finish line in a time of 2 hr 25 minutes, which was actually better than i had expected; with splits of 76 and 69 minutes. it would have been better had i not had to take 2 diarrhea breaks! I was pushing the body so hard that the stomach got a bit upset. Anyway, i am now one of only 32 people who have run and finished all 4 cape to cabot races. It will be my hopes to run a 5th next year, and put an end to the streak of consecutive slower times!

October 18, 2010 - Boston Registration Opens and Closed today!

Wow, history was made as the Boston Marathon opened registration this morning at 8 am EDT, and closed at 5.03 pm due to reaching full capacity. I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise to see an increase in demand for this race, given the fact that the marathon sport has seem unprecedented global growth in recent years, and given that Boston is the ultimate goal for most marathon runners. But to go from reaching capacity in 2 months last year, to 8 hours this year, must come as a major surprise to all. I suppose this is a good problem to have, if you are the BAA, however, there's definitely an issue here, as several thousand runners who have worked their entire life to qualify, will end up extremely disappointed if they were unable to get to a computer to register today.

It will be very interesting to see what they decide to do, if anything, to address this matter. Tougher qualifying standards could be implemented, a lottery system could be used, or a combination of both.

Although the BAA keeps stating that increasing capacity is not logistically possible, what they could do is add a third wave of the slower runners, but delay their starting time by several hours. That may be a way to get more people in and out of Hopkinton on race day.

Oh well, it was a bitter day for me, not because of this issue, but because i was unable to even attempt to register, as i had not run a qualifying time in the past 12 months. Oh well, i've got the rest of my life to work hard and attempt to qualify each and every year from here on!

Jenn

Dasher Doo!!!

It's not every day that i can get a really good picture of Dasher, so i decided that this one was worth sharing! The nickname Dasher Doo is courtesy of Kim, who compared him to Scooby Doo in terms of their love for Scoobie 'snacks' (in Dasher's case, his fondness of cat treats!) This picture was taken Oct 1, 2010.

October 13, 2010 - awesome endorsement!

The following endorsement appeared on my youtube profile today from one of my new supporters. I found this to be truly touching. It's great to know that there are folks out there who understand and appreciate both the importance and the level of complexities of the work that i take on.

"'Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.' You're a living example of this quote. Thanks for inspiring and empowering others in their lives, we are eternally grateful to subscribe to your channel, looking forward to more great vids to come."

Jenn

October 9, 2010 - lovely fall day!

well, my weekend started out with a really nice strong 13k run from work to home then out to see some friends in Paradise. 7 hours later, (at 3.30 am) i hit the road again and ran home. these were two of the strongest two 9k sets i have run all year! i ran each set in approx 57 minutes, and felt strong all the way through! this even after a busy day at work.



Finally, a decent week to report on. so good that i will break it down:

sun 21.1k
mon 3.0
tue off
wed 9.50thu 14.90
fri 13.00
sat 10.10

hoping to push a little harder and get over 100k in the week ahead. it will start with a long run on sunday morning.

meanwhile, i took some time to visit the infamous local business, Lester's farm, to check out their animals and fresh veggies! here's a few pics:

October 7, 2010 - back at it

well, the ankle has improved to the point where i can now resume running. i have actually ran 4 out of the psat 5 days, including 15k tonight.





i am planning to gradually work up my weekly km totals to 120-140k per week, so that i can drop the weight that i need to drop.





A few more marathon pics finally surfaced..

Jenn

October 5, 2010 - a pic surfaces!

Well, i guess when you run at the back of the pack, even when you are Jennifer McCreath, people don't tend to take notice of you. Here's the lone picture that has surfaced of me participating in my 25th career marathon, my 4th consecutive Newfoundland Provincial Marathon. Oh well, hopefully there will be more pics that surface eventually. I do know others do exist!

Jenn

October 3, 2010 - fall movements

well, fall is here, as the temperatures are starting to get cooler. we had a nice lovely day though. it was about 13 degrees with mostly sunny. i decided to test the ankle for the first time since last sunday's marathon, and the run went fairly well. i did 21.1k at a slow and gentle pace. i ran over to kents and burtons pond, then to the store. i also fed the ducks some birdseed, which is always fun!

speaking of movement, i've added even more team members to my two non profit organizations, and we are getting very close to having some sort of official launch. this will likely include the unveiling of a new website (or two) as well as some sort of press release or press conference. We will also be engaging private businesses and government entities in the near future to discuss sponsorship and other types of endorsements. the momentum is starting to swing fast!

meanwhile, i have a job interview for a senior analyst position here with the provincial government's department of fisheries. looking forward to taking another shot at a job at that level.

Jenn