Saturday, September 06, 2008

temblor

I was parked on the couch, reading something. I reached for a glass of water on the coffeetable and the windows started rattling. This isn't an unusual occurrence in my apartment, but my cat had "the look" .. and then the rattling lasted for too long. Earthquake, people. A minor one, but still. It basically feels like a REALLY big truck driving past your house, all rumbly. I put my hand on the wall to feel it and it was over.

I immediately IMd a friend, and .... twittered it. Then, I tried to find info on the quake. Nothing. I finally found the USGS site, which has a "Did you Feel It?" survey page. Tres cool! Apparently, the quake was a 4.0 centered in the East Bay. The survey page asks you a number of questions about where you were, what you felt, what you noticed, etc. When you submit your information, it gives you your rating of the magnitude of the quake in your 'hood, and what the USGS is rating it for your zipcode.

I can only feel this way because it was such a minor event, but, HOLYSHITTHATWASCOOL! It was a little jolt of excitement, a reminder that I live in an active area, that the world is bigger and more complex than you can imagine, and that things can change on a dime.

No comments: