Friday, July 16, 2010

Did the earth move for you, too, baby?

We just had an earthquake! A small one, for sure - 3.6 magnitude, epicenter just a few miles up the road from me in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Everything in my building shook, and one of my framed posters took a swan dive to the floor. Glass didn't break, though, and I attribute the fall more to my lame efforts at picture hanging than the mild "shake and wake" of the quake.

Ironic that Ms. Insomnia was actually sleeping for once when this happened at 5:04 a.m. And now, I'm fully awake. On my day off.

Earthquakes: Mother Nature's alarm clock. Hopefully, she didn't hit the snooze. No need for aftershocks, please - really, I'm up.

4 comments:

Washington Cube said...

I happened to be awake, after having a bad dream, so got to "enjoy" the event. My second earthquake. Nowhere near as dramatic as the first, which I then mistook for some post 9-11 bombing thing.

It sounded like a bomb this morning, and the house shook some, but within seconds my mind now computed "earthquake." I will say this, earthquakes trigger off some primal thing in all of us in terms of "rattling" us. Other friends reported cats fighting (two people heard this) and weird bird activity (one) just before it hit. At least this time, my bed didn't go sliding across the floor.

Chuck said...

Yikes! Not a fun way to wake up. Glad none of your stuff was damaged and that it was a small one. I haven't lived through one of those yet, myself...lots of typhoons and one hurricane, but no earthquake (yet!)

Unknown said...

Been thru a couple of those things.. NO fun... really a basic DOES NOT COMPUTE thing goes on in your mind when the very earth is moving.. my first was during my first trip into Mexico back in Jan of 71... I thought it was just the Mescal till I noticed that the water was actually sloshing in the fountain in the courtyard... TIKES!!
experienced on in Alaska as I was getting out of a shower.. the instinct is to run for the door.. not so much when it's 10 below zero outside & you are NEKKID!!... I slept that evening fully dressed & bags packed... heavy coat at the ready...

NOT a good way to wake up at all!!

C_C

Merujo said...

Amusingly, there was an earthquake while I was living in Moscow. Minor again, but our old embassy building was swaying a bit and it freaked people out. Happened in the middle of the day, and it was pretty hilarious to see these Texan contractor nightshift construction guys run out into the street in their tighty-whities, with their nearly nekkid Filipina entourage racing after them, thinking the world was ending.

Ah, Moscow!!