Shaking & Waking
It is a strange feeling to wake up at 5:25 a.m. and realize that your house is shaking. That's what happened to me this morning. You all know that when you first wake up you feel a little disoriented at first. So when I woke up, despite the fact that the building was shaking, I didn't really think anything of it. It was almost as if a shaking building made sense and was a common occurence. It probably took me a second or two to realize what was happening - an earthquake. Once I realized what was happening, my reaction was one of mixed excitement and nervousness. In general, I am not easily woken, so any earthquake that is strong enough to wake me automatically qualifies as worth my attention. Despite my realization of what was happening, I didn't do anything except look at the clock - 5:25 a.m. it read. Then I just listen to my dresser rattling as the building shook. A few second later it was over and I was asleep again.
When I got out of bed at 6:15 I logged onto the U.S. Geological Survey website to make sure I hadn't just dreamed it. And it turns out that I had not dreamed it at all. There was a 4.7 magnitude earthquake reported at 5:24:51 a.m. - exactly when I woke up in a shaking, rattling and rolling room. OK, perhaps you can nix the "rolling" bit. Though it was the largest earthquake recorded by the USGS in Canada and the lower 48 in the past week.
Apparently this quake made the news in Utah because my sister called me today to check in and make sure I was still alive and not buried in a pile of rubble. Far from it. In fact, I don't think any damage was reported at all. Even near the epicenter (which was southeast of San Jose) it was only considered "light" activity. Still, 4.7 sounds like a pretty decent quake. When you conside the the Loma Prieta quake of 1989 was a 6.9 and caused freeways to collapse, you would expect 4.7 to be a little more than "light." Still, at least this wasn't the "big one."
On an unrelated note, I've booked my flight to India for October. I'm flying halfway around the world (9,888 miles one way) to attend my friend Divish's wedding. It takes two days to get there and a day and a half to get back. I leave San Francisco on October 11 and return on October 24. Despite being gone 14 days, I'll only actually be in India 10 days. Yah - a lot of travel!
I'm very excited about the whole trip. I've heard stories about these Indian weddings, and naturally I've seen movie depictions of them. I fully expect that the people of India will break in unified song and choreographed dance on the streets at opportune moments.
So I've discovered that a great time for me to blog is while in transit between home and work. I can type entries on my phone (as I am doing now) and then either post them while in transit or post them once I'm home. If I drove to work, this wouldn't be a very good idea!