Reelin’ and rockin’ all the way across the Pacific

UPDATE: Paul’s awake. It’s 7:30 a.m. Saturday in Tokyo. His household is doing okay.

“Aftershocks through the night — 7:30 AM now, might be done with them.”

Hopefully so.

It is difficult to imagine the kind of shaking and subsequent damage that came in the massive earthquake striking Japan late last night, U.S. Central Standard Time, my time. At least that is what I have been able to gather reading stories and looking at time zone converters. I have to use those or my World Time Clock app on my cell phone because places across the International Date Line are and always was tricky for me.

The last I looked on Facebook my friend Paul, who lives in Tokyo and who has contributed tremendously to the IT and other portions of this blog, was most likely asleep as it was about 6 something in the morning there. When I first learned of the 8.9 magnitude quake — what is being called the strongest in the history of Japan — I was about to leave for work this morning. I read through some comments before leaving which Paul had posted on Facebook about “the ride” they were all taking. I had actually read a comment last night Paul had posted about a quake, that got his attention, which I suppose was a foreshock of the big one or big ones. Nonetheless, I was relieved to see that Paul, Mika and the kids were doing okay after the major quakes and aftershocks. Others where the quake or tsunamis hit were not so lucky. Authorities in Japan say as many as 1,000 may have died from the earthquake and its aftermath.

Before leaving for the office I likewise watched some live pictures CNN had in the early morning hours in Hawaii, where they were expecting tsunamis from the quake. The waves shown in the pictures weren’t very dramatic but I understand some parts of the islands were affected by a tsunami as was portion of the California coast.

I began looking for information about the earthquakes, Japan and how the U.S. was affected when I got home this afternoon and I got it. For something so large as the quakes and subsequent tsunamis, you can almost run into an information overload on the Internet. I have yet to turn on the TV and see what, if anything, CNN or the other cable channels are doing. You never can tell about them.

Meanwhile, I will keep tabs on Facebook, e-mail and other forms of news to see how things are going with our friends and neighbors across the Pacific. I’ve been meaning to have a Skype, face-to-face, with Paul soon. Perhaps we can “see” each other this weekend. If I come across anything I should post here, I will do so.