We traveled from Tokyo to Kyoto by shinkansen yesterday. We’ve traveled by train in Japan dozens of times without incident, but this time I somehow managed to leave a suitcase on the train. I’m claiming distraction due to a local fellow striking up a conversation with us while we were en route. This led to a somewhat drawn-out and faintly confusing encounter with the Lost & Found office in Kyoto Station. When we arrived at the hotel, we described the situation to the receptionist. She took matters into her own hands and arranged to have the suitcase delivered to our room sometime today.
Rooftop Garden
That’s a very quick shot of the garden outside of the lobby at our hotel.
We did some shopping today, both in Tokyo Station and in Ginza. It rained a bit but somehow we managed to avoid most of the rain.
In Tokyo
Yes, we’re back in Japan. We arrived early evening yesterday and it’s now about 6:45AM on Tuesday, local time. I didn’t get a chance to put up my customary pre-departure announcement here because, in short, life’s been a little crazy lately. We are looking forward to a relaxing stay in Japan. Somewhat ironically, a big typhoon hit Japan just as the storm in Boulder was tapering off, causing flooding in Kyoto and other areas.
I learned long ago that I shouldn’t make promises about my blogging activities while traveling, but my goal for this excursion is to post a minimum of one photo a day. It may just be a silly snapshot with no explanation, and it almost certainly won’t be touched up nicely before I post it, but it’ll be something. That’s the idea, anyway. To that end, here’s a shot of the Tokyo Station as seen from our hotel-room window, somewhat hastily taken shortly after our arrival:
Now Available: Audio Damage Hardware
Something really exciting happened in the middle of the flood, but I didn’t mention it at the time because, well, it was in the middle of the flood. What happened was Audio Damage’s debut as a maker of synthesizer hardware. Yes, just after our 10th anniversary as a corporation, we announced not one but three Eurorack-format synthesizer modules. They are: DubJr, a delay; Grainshift, a pitch-shifter based on granular synthesis; and Errorbox, a bit-crushing digital-distortion effect. Here are photos of them:
End of the Storm
It rained some this morning but was clear and sunny from around 11:00AM onwards. Quoting from the Daily Camera:
Meteorologist Matt Kelsch said the yearly precipitation total hit 30.14 inches Monday. The previous record for moisture in Boulder in a single year was 29.93 inches, set in 1995, he said. … This year, almost 15 inches of the record 30.13 inches fell between Monday evening and Friday in the deadly storm that caused a 100-year flood across Boulder County. That amount doubled Boulder’s previous record for a single storm, which was 7.37 inches of rain May 5-8, 1969.
Some Rainfall Graphs
It’s just after noon, and it’s raining again. I suppose this rainfall graph probably tells the story as well as I can; I just grabbed it from NCAR’s site:
Yes, nearly 1.3 inches of rain this morning. That would be a lot of rain for around here even if the ground wasn’t already saturated. However, that reminds me that I haven’t yet posted this graph, which I grabbed at 10:22PM on 9/12/2013:
So, about 10 inches of rain accumulated in a 24-hour window at the beginning of the storm. That’s at a station near here and hence several miles out from the mountains. I’ve read that some areas received 15 inches of rain.
When the Going Gets Tough, the Geeks Get Going
We got a break from the rain last night and today, but it’s supposed to rain more tonight–maybe a lot more. We spent more or less the entire day doing stuff to either recover from the previous days or prepare for the coming days, such as some very hurried yard work, laundry, etc. I spent most of the time installing a sump pump. It sounds like an easy-enough job but, as always, the devil is in the details. The most devilish detail in this case was the fact that the pump moves water with such vigor that my initial test resulted in a sudden flow of water out of the floor drain rather than into it. Not good. I ended up re-routing the exhaust tube down a 4″ drain pipe, which was actually a better solution for several reasons. (Good thing Tracie’s dad was home after the failed test. I was at a loss for solutions and was wondering whether I’d have to cut a hole through the side of the house. He suggested looking for a drainpipe stub.)
Splish Splash
First of all, thanks again to everyone who has asked about our well-being. We are fine, all things considered. It is undeniable that we are in a region officially declared to be a disaster/emergency/apocalypse/whatever, but our house is not in any of the most perilous locations, i.e. the locations that have been getting lots of attention in the media. In the past I would have said that we’re miles away from any sort of flooding danger, but now it would be silly to say that considering that there are roads closed less than a mile from us, and roads further from the canyon streams than here (most notably I-25) are also closed. It is accurate to say that we are not in imminent danger, though.
Amazing Rain
It’s 1:55AM and Boulder is flooding. There are evacuations in the mountains near town, several structures up there have collapsed, and one dorm on campus is knee-deep in water. The tag #boulderflood is number 3 on Twitter’s trending list. The NCAR station a few miles from here has logged 5.5 inches in the last 24 hours:
Something I never even imagined seeing: road closures near our house, which is far away from the designated flood zone:
So far everything’s okay here at the house. The road closures near here must be the result of combined runoff, not of Boulder Creek rising (which, according to a Tweet I saw, is “… running at 4,000 CFS. Normal flow runs around 300-350 CFS.”). All of that 5.5″ of water has to go somewhere, after all. There’s a big irrigation ditch just downhill from the house, so I’m not particularly worried.
Lots of Rain
It’s been raining like crazy for the last two days. I don’t recall seeing a weather alert like this before:
The National Weather Service in Denver has issued aStatement as of 9:46 PM MDT on September 11, 2013
* Flash Flood Warning for…
northwestern Jefferson County in northeast Colorado…
Boulder County in northeast Colorado…
* until 1245 am MDT
* at 945 PM MDT… local law enforcement reported a continuation of
flash flooding in Boulder County… with numerous Road closures and
stalled vehicles due to flooding. Up to 3.5 inches of rain has
already fallen in southeast Boulder… with widespread rainfall of
1.5 to 2.5 inches over the rest of the warned area. Another one to
as much as 2 inches of rain can be expected in some locations
before decreasing.