Hello, everybody. I'm sure most of you have already saw the devastation and aftermath of the horrific 8.9 earthquake that has engulfed Japan Friday afternoon. That would be followed by a 23-foot tsunami that put the entire Pacific including Alaska and British Columbia, Canada on alert, though waves were not as bad as expected.

The massive quake shook several cities and villages including Tokyo, which was hundreds of miles from the epicenter. In Sendai, 200 to 300 bodies were found by police; the estimated death toll throughout could exceed 1,000. This was the fifth biggest quake in world history; Japan's worst was an 8.3 in 1925 that claimed 143,000 lives, while 6,400 were perished in the 1995 Kobe quake that measured 7.2.

Japan is also home to the world's third largest economy, and it too was felt as auto plants, refineries, nuclear power plants, and electronic factories were shut while Tokyo's Narita Airport was closed and rail services nationwide were stopped. And even though they were far away from Japan, the tsunami forced Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner to evacuate Vancouver Island in Canada, where they were shooting "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn." Even Jimmy Kimmel had to cut his vacation in French Polynesia short when the quake hit, tweeting, "Suddenly, relaxing on an island in the South Pacific isn't so relaxing anymore. Good thing I brought my aqua stilts." Over in Hawaii, the tsunami no threat at all to production of CBS' "Hawaii Five-O."

Kimmel is among the handful of celebrities who took to Twitter to share their condolences after the tragedy; here are a few of them:

• Taylor Swift: "I'm sending my thoughts and prayers and love to those in Japan who are hurting."
• Katy Perry: "My prayers go out to anyone that is being effected by the disaster in Japan... #prayforjapan"
• Nicole Scherzinger: "My heart goes out to all those affected by the earthquake and subsequent tsunamis. Pls keep Japan in ur prayers. God bless and be with them."
• Justin Bieber: "Japan is one of my favorite places on earth…it’s an incredible culture with amazing people. My prayers go out to them. We all need to help."

And you, can by the way, by going to redcross.org; or if you're not near a computer, text REDCROSS to 90999 (a $10 donation will be added to your mobile bill).

But even though it was too long for Twitter, I liked Natalie Portman's Facebook statement the best: "I am completely stunned and shocked. I saw the pictures and videos of Japan, it's really terrible what happened, how the whole city destroyed the tsunami and earthquake. It hurts to know that there are many missing and dead. I can not believe what happened, our world is responding to what we do against them and I think over time it will be worse if we do not start to become aware of our actions."

You know, the Oscar winner has a point here: What was transpired in Japan hearkens me back to the last tsunami in Indonesia in 2004, or even worse, Hurricane Katrina several months later with Kanye West's remark (you know what he said) being the wake-up call. Over the last month or so we have seen Australia and later New Zealand being rocked by a flood and an earthquake respectively, and now with Japan, it has been shown proof positive that it's really not nice to fool around with Mother Nature. But...we've got Father Time to get us over this.

Now, on to some much lighter fare...the 2011 Iditarod, as we're near the homestretch and it's everybody's race as Hugh Neff and John Baker are right now preventing Lance Mackey from making it five in a row. On Friday, Neff reached Anvik and the Yukon River first, with $3,500 and a seven-course gourmet meal as his reward (I couldn't find any information on the meal; sorry). Over this past week we've some some constant lead changes by Martin Buser, Sebastian Schnuelle, and even Kelley Griffin, but the last 400 miles or so really makes the last great race.

As of publish time, Baker is in Eagle Island followed by Neff and Mackey, who's down to only nine dogs now. If Lance still wants to join the Five-Timers Club, he's going to need more than nine dogs to provide a lot of muscle; otherwise, it'll be Baker or Neff powering their way to Front Street in Nome in a few short days.

(UPDATE: John Baker left Eagle Island early Saturday morning followed by Sebastian Schnuelle and Hugh Neff; Lance Mackey has now crashed to 12th place)

This weekend, we'll be springing forward as Daylight Savings Time begins, but I wish the only thing that should be falling back is the hefty gas prices. Everywhere you look, the cost for unleaded gas is now upwards to $5.00 a gallon. Now that's a sharp contrast to the price of milk, which in now up to $4.00/gallon in some areas. $4.00 a gallon!!!

Okay, what gives? A few years ago on this blog, I went off on the fact of rural areas here in Alaska paying steep prices for food, including $7.00 for a gallon of milk while we in Fairbanks and Anchorage pay about $3.00. But now, it's already becoming the norm all over the country: food costs are increasing everywhere, especially dairy and meats.

Subway recently surpassed McDonald's for the most number of restaurants worldwide, though in terms of sales, McDonald's still dominates that. The reason? In these trying economic times, we Americans were sitting on the same boat for countless years, though the popularity of "The Biggest Loser" literally changed all that, which still makes Jack LaLanne proud up above. But I swear...if I see a $5.00 gallon of milk the next time I shop, it'll be off to what I call the "backup" milk (i.e., dry milk or the milk you can store in the pantry until opened) until I start buying fresh milk again.

And last but not least...Charlie Sheen may have gotten the pink slip from "Two And A Half Men", but he remains uncontainable. And now there's news that Charlie's taking his antics on the road with two shows in Detroit and Chicago in April (with more possibly to come), which comes as the actor filed a $100 million lawsuit against Warner Bros. and CBS for breach of contract.

Sheen has garnered over 2 million+ Twitter followers and growing in the span of two weeks (Lady Gaga still leads the overall count with 8.7 million), but the big question now is: Who is tapped to replace him? Well, "Parks and Recreation" has got Rob Lowe in a headlock, and John Stamos said "Hell no!" The latest Funny Or Die video has Jerry O'Connell auditioning for the role (though his "The Defenders" is on the bubble), and other names being thrown in the hat: Matt LeBlanc, Jeremy Piven, Matthew Perry, David Hasselhoff, and even Ted McGinley!

But you know what? When it comes to thinking outside the box, the one name that pops up in my mind: Rick Fox! Yeah, the former NBA player turned actor would be the definitive candidate to take Charlie Sheen's job on "Two And A Half Men"; he got a career boost following "Dancing With The Stars" last season. Of course, that would make girlfriend Eliza Dushku very happy as he's trying not to make the show "One And a Half Men And a Dribbler Who's Banging The Girl From 'Dollhouse'". So long and stay strong.