scrambling

–verb (used without object)
1. to climb or move quickly using one's hands and feet, as down a rough incline.
2. to compete or struggle with others for possession or gain: The children scrambled for the coins we tossed.
3. to move hastily and with urgency: She scrambled into her coat and ran out the door.

Viewed through the same prism as, say, the colossally shaken country of Haiti, four months of insecurity can't be considered a difficult time. But it is like, let's say, capsizing a sailboat in a lake and having to tread water for 4 hours until someone comes to help. Yes, you are able to sail in a boat...on a lake...and that is a nice thing. But, still, treading water for 4 hours is no fun and deserves a little sympathy. 4 months, an estimated 46 rental units viewed, 1 choice place sneaked away in the dead of night, 2 standard NYC apartment leases broken, numerous dollars spent, 1 share considered, 3 schools chosen and then discarded, 2 children utterly confused by the process, 1 marriage bruised...and now the scrambling is almost over.

Luke Steigerwald had the above poster of the man who invented 'scrambling' - Fran Tarkington of the Minnesota Vikings - on the wall above his bed when we were kids. His identical twin, Mark, had a poster of the Redskins' Joe Theisman. Somehow this seems strange to me now. Why didn't they both like the same quarterback?

btw, how about the antisemitic example from definition 2? Who tosses coins at children to watch them scramble? Regardless...