Thank Goodell It's Friday

I want to be honest with y'all, I had planned to write some about the continuing clusterfudge that is the labor negotiations, give y'all the glimmer of hope I felt when both sides agreed to a rookie salary cap, only to see that brief opening go to waste in an idiotic Twitterstorm between NFL and NFLPA representatives.

I was then going to go over my Oscar Predictions from two weeks back, see what I got right, and what I got wrong. I was also going to write about exercise music, what it is, what you like to listen to when exercising, that sort of thing.

But then the world turned upside down again, as it sometimes does, and I honestly don't want to write about football right now, or the Oscars, or music, or much of anything today.

Please, head on over to CNN.com or FoxNews.com and familiarize yourself with what's happened in the world while you were sleeping, or watching television, or playing video games, or what-have-you.

For today, say a prayer, even if you don't pray, for the devastated people of Japan and the Pacific Islands, and say a prayer for our fellow Americans in Alaska and Hawai'i who are in the path of this wave, and say a prayer asking that our West Coast isn't hit hard by this disaster, that the people of California, Washington, and Oregon will be safe, as well as those in Mexico, Central America, and South America.

I am not an overtly political person. I am not a "cause" person. But I am a person. A person who feels empathy, and right now, that empathy is on overdrive.

I'll post any information I can find about relief efforts, donation efforts when I find it. For now, I'll post this link to the Red Cross, who are usually at the forefront of relief work for such disasters.

Thank you.

Update 0948 11 Mar 11

Here's a link for a relief organization the great and funny Simon Pegg, the English actor famous for Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and as Scotty in the new Star Trek, posted on his Twitter account, @simonpegg.

Update 1245 11 Mar 11

From @ThatKevinSmith, or Kevin Smith, the hilarious director of Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma, and Zack & Miri Make a Porno, comes a text you can send to the RedCross that will add ten dollars to your phone bill.

Text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 to disaster relief for Japan and any other islands/countries in the way of this devastation.

Your ten dollars can help, and this is as instant and as painless a way to donate. You CAN donate more than once. If you have the ability, please help.