Jennifer McCreath joins Linkedin!

I have finally created a
Linkedin profile!

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Hamster named after Keith Urban passes away 1/1/2013

Well, it's with sadness that I write to report that a sibling of my hamster, Scooter, has died of an apparent stroke. Mickey the Hamster was renamed Keith Urban in honour of the famous country rock star, after a concert appearance here in Newfoundland in August by his namesake. While it was reported that Keith was often afraid of human contact, he warmed right up to me the day I took this picture; and he seemed to have a warm and friendly personality that rivaled that of his brother Scooter.

As was reported in an earlier blog, Scooter, Keith, and 4 other baby hamsters were a surprise addition to their human family, and I was the beneficiary of Scooter, who I've now had the pleasure of sharing my home with now for the past 14 months.

It's always sad when a pet dies, but it is part of what is an overall fun and amazing experience that I feel enriches lives. Animals can help us humans park our crazy life problems at times, and learn to enjoy the simple things.  A pets' love is truly unconditional, and I think many of us judgmental humans out there could learn some valuable life lessons by studying the life of a lovely creature such as a hamster.

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Hopkinton 2014 Project Launch 1/1/2013

Well, I have decided to give it one last shot at attempting to get back into shape and resurrecting my running career.  It started with a vision Friday Night Dec 28, 2012, as after sitting and watching bowl games, I decided to go out for a light run of one mile, just because... lol  A Saturday afternoon run the next day, cemented the goal: get back to Hopkinton, Massachusetts for the 2014 Boston Marathon.

After taking the next two days off to rest, I was back at it this morning on this chilly and very windy January 1 morning. I logged 3.2k on a very hilly route, but finished at my target pace. As I plan to slowly add mileage, the main goal is to stick with it. My weight has ballooned to a career-high 282 pounds - mostly due to inactivity this year, and as a side affect to a mood drug I was taking for 3 months in the fall. I am now off that product and already feeling better.

I am going to publish all my training logs, as incentive to work hard.  So here is the first update:

Dec 28/2012 - 1.60 km in 12.45 (5:34 marathon pace) 2 degrees drizzly weather
Dec 29/2012 - 2.00 km in 15.30 (5.27 marathon pace) 2 degrees drizzle, slush, fog, wind, felt strong
Dec 30/2012 - rest
Dec 31/2012 - rest

Jan 01/2013 - 3.20 km in 25.28 (5.35 marathon pace) 2 degrees high wind. hilly route strong finish

follow my training progress on twitter via hashtag #hopkinton2014

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Reacting to Newtown Connecticut Shooting

Well, I have been trying to figure out what I was going to say about this story, and I still can't come up with anything. Even more ironic, were the spin-off threats that hit several Newfoundland schools in the days afterwards.  The topic came up on CBC news this past week and one of my tweets was quoted.  It just totally blows my mind that this type of violence could happen in what is supposedly a safe and civilized society. It has been a rough month for violence, as we had an NFL football player shoot his wife then himself, and now this Connecticut situation where someone shot his parents dead, and several students and staff at an elementary school.  While I have no idea of the circumstances, I find it interesting that the main stream media has not caught on to the additional fact that this guy not only opened fire in a school, but he did kill his parents, apparently. It's bad enough to murder anyone, but from where I sit, the fact that he killed his parents, points to what may be the true cause and story here.

Bottom line, we need to find a balance between taking precautions necessary to ensure safety vs not being afraid to live our lives.  What I will speak out about, and what makes me sick, is that certain niche entities are trying to utilize this tragedy to score political brownie points - specifically, the gun rights vs gun control folks, and the religious right. To think that a prominent person (can't remember who now), stated that this should be blamed on the gay community??  Gimme a break!

Also, I don't want to get too deep into the gun control debate, as I have not done sufficient research into the matter. But I will state that this crime would have been less likely to have happened, should the perpetrator not had access to firearms. Sure, a gun alone can't kill someone. It takes a person to use the gun. But at the same time, I think society needs to take a really close look at gun accessibility - because far too often, we see stories in the news about crimes being committed by the use of guns.

I don't have all the answers. In fact, I probably have very few. But I wanted to blog about this and express my outrage and disbelief that this event happened in Connecticut, and that spin-off threats occurred here in Newfoundland.


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McCreath promotes Animal rights in Newfoundland

With the recent string of animal abuse stories here in Newfoundland, and around the rest of Canada, I have decided to pull up my socks and take on a more active roll in animal rights activism work. I have recently gotten involved, donated money, filed membership paperwork, and/or engaged and/or plan to engage, each of these 5 organizations. I will encourage everyone reading this to click on all of their websites and learn more about how you can help.

http://www.BeaglePaws.com
http://www.HeavenlyCreatures.ca
http://www.SPCAstjohns.org
http://www.BirdAndSmallAnimalRescue.com
http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/NF01.html

(photo credit to Beagle Paws)

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4 new Vlogs today! 12/22/2012

hope you enjoy!

Muskrat Falls Review
Keith Russell's Sexist Comments
Meeting Justin Trudeau
Ontario Stonewalling Trans ID Changers

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Bowl Game Picks

A little late, but here are my Bowl pics:

Straight up winners:

Arizona over Nevada
Utah State over Toledo
San Diego State over Brigham Young
Lafayette over East Carolina
Boise State over Washington
Fresno State over Southern Methodist
Western Kentucky over Central Michigan
San Jose State over Bowling Green
Cincinnati over Duke
Baylor to upset UCLA
Louisiana Munroe over Ohio
Rutgers to upset Virginia Tech
Texas Tech over Minnesota
Air Force over Rice
Arizona State over Navy
West Virginia over Syracuse
Texas to upset Oregon State
Texas Christian over Michigan State
Vanderbilt over North Carolina State
Southern California over Georgia Tech
Tulsa to upset Iowa State
Louisiana State over Clemson
Northwestern to upset Mississippi State
Oklahoma State over Purdue
Georgia over Nebraska
South Carolina over Michigan
Stanford over Wisconsin
Northern Illinois to upset Florida State
Florida over Louisville
Oregon over Kansas State
Oklahoma to upset Texas A&M
Pittsburgh to upset Ole Miss
Kent State to upset Arkansas State
Alabama over Notre Dame

Spread:

I predict that all of my winners will cover except:

East Carolina covers against Lafayette
Washington covers against Boise State
Ohio covers against Munroe
Nebraska covers against Georgia
North Carolina State covers against Vanderbilt

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