Some headlines, facts, estimates and other phrases found online 4 days after the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Sad times. Help if you can. Be grateful for what you have.

Sendai Devastation

• An 8.9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami have crippled Japan
• USGS upgraded to 9.0-magnitude, occurred on Friday, March 11, 2011 at 2:46 PM at epicenter, 130 km (80 miles) E of Sendai, Honshu, Japan
• In pictures: Mounting shock
• The landscape of parts of Japan looks like the aftermath of World War Two

Lives

• at least 10,000 people are believed to have died
• “There was 30 minutes’ warning”
• the wave sheared house after house off at the foundation, leaving only concrete bases and wood floors scoured eerily spotless by the rushing water
• Japan Begins To Dig For Dead Amid Nuclear Crisis
• 2,000 Bodies Found On Miyagi Coast
• No one to rescue in Natori
• Japanese finding more tsunami victims; survivors face deprivation
• In Sendai, long lines of quiet desperation
• “I don’t know if it’s good that I survived”
• Body bags run short in ‘overwhelmed’ nation
• 300,000 homeless bed down without electricity
• Millions face a fourth night of fear following Friday’s quake, tsunami and resulting nuclear emergency
• Freezing temperatures are expected to exacerbate the hardships for Japan’s quake survivors

Radiation

• The fuel rods in all three of the most troubled Japanese nuclear reactors appear to be melting
• A third explosion in four days rocked the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant
• Engineer: Nuclear Plant Not Designed To Withstand Quakes/Tsunamis
• 17 U.S. Military Personnel Test Positive For Radiation
• German Airline Screening Japanese Flights For Radiation
• Germany, Switzerland Suspend Nuclear Plant Approvals
• Japan accident dims odds of U.S. nuclear revival
• Ultimate impact of damage to Japan nuclear reactors still unknown
• Chernobyl Outcome Unlikely
• Risk of radiation reaching U.S. said to be remote
• According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), there are no signs of fuel melting at Japan’s nuclear plant
• Fearmongers go into their own meltdown: ..the Western media’s obsession with what is happening there is seriously overblown and reveals more about us and our fears than it does about the reality on the ground in Japan.

Earth

• the most powerful measured seismic event in Japan’s history
• the fifth most powerful to hit the world in the past century
• more than 160 aftershocks in the first 24 hours — 141 measuring 5.0-magnitude or more
• preceded by a series of large foreshocks over the previous two days, 4 earthquakes greater than magnitude 6
• the quake caused a rift 19 miles below the sea floor that stretched about 250 miles long and 100 miles wide
  tectonic plates slipped 59 feet (18 meters)
• coastlines moved up to 8 feet
• the quake also shifted the earth’s axis by 4 inches, shortened the day by 1.6 microseconds, and sank Japan downward (by about two feet?)
• some waves reached six miles (10 kilometers) inland
• 30-foot walls of water
• the tsunami’s waves necessitated life-saving evacuations as far away as Chile

Details:
USGS | CNN | Huffington Post | BBC | MSNBC | LA Times | New York Times | Washington Post | Yahoo | The Australian | Fox News | Seattle Times | CNET

I’m finally getting settled in my new apartment after a week or so of moving. It’s one of those big multi-unit places with all the amenities, and it’s brand-spanking new to boot. Too new, almost: my address is not even on Google Maps nor in many organizations’ databases yet, so I’m having trouble changing it and ordering stuff online. The place is named Prana, supposedly this is Sanskrit for ‘life force, or vital energy, particularly, the breath’… sounds more like Boulder than Lafayette, but in any event it feels like a good place to reboot one’s life. When I say the name of course people are more likely to think of the omnivorous South American jungle fish that is rumored to end lives rather than positive new beginnings.

I picked Halloween to start moving. I guess I figured that since I wasn’t participating in any spooky activities this year that embarking on my transition from an 8 year relationship would be an appropriately scary thing to do on this day. I decided to just keep packing/loading/unloading my pickup truck over the next week or two until I was done. At first I speculated that it would take me about 10 trips driving over. Then upon reconsidering the mountain of boxes and things accumulating, I thought, well, maybe more like 20. But I was underestimating the carrying capacity of my Tacoma, and my original estimate was pretty close. Unloading was fun, only 38 steps up to my 3rd floor apartment. After a few of these climbs in succession in mile-high air while straining under heavy loads I was left gasping for breath and questioning my insanity.

There’s still some odds and ends to go but here’s the stats and some fun facts:

• 9 full truckloads
• about 120 schleps up the stairs
• I was amazed to calculate that this is only about a half-mile in elevation gain. I’ve done so much more than this backpacking, but I can attest that it really is much easier carrying things strapped to your back than cantilevering them out in front of you with your arms.
• Lifesaver: the back brace I purchased at RiteAid on the first day
• Worst moment: after a week of this I was shattered and needed a few days off
• Best moments: the view from the top – from the Flatirons north to Long’s Peak and beyond
• Most challenging: wrestling an entertainment center and a queen size mattress (albeit not at the same time) up the 2 flights of stairs
• Surprise: the black widow spider I found clinging to a lane float in the pool… these gals loved to periodically colonize the garage in California but I never saw one in Colorado before
• Most relaxing: soaking in the hot tub after a few rough days of moving
• Little moment of pride: successfully backing my truck into the tight garage for the first time, at 3 am on a Saturday morning no less
• Big moment of pride: I moved everything myself. Girl Power!

Honestly… do I really think I need this much stuff? Too many hobbies? (probably) Pack rat? (maybe a little) Bit of both? (undoubtedly) But, I did throw out and/or not keep a lot of stuff. And this small apartment actually isn’t looking too cluttered (except maybe the walk-in closet). Plus there’s a pile of leftover furniture to sell or give away back at the house. Nevertheless I think I may still have some more work worth doing on the letting-go department.

As it turned out, moving was really good exercise. And strangely every now and then I do find myself using one of those things I’ve been lugging around from place to place but haven’t used in over 10 years.