I don't like earthquakes

Here's the USGS map moments after that big one near San Jose:


See at the very top of the map, that square just to the left of Concord? I felt that one this afternoon. And see that other one a little below it, covering the "le" at the end of "Berkeley"? I felt that one this evening too. The first one was a short, sharp jolt. The second one was just a little wiggle.

Imagine how edgy I was feeling when the ground started shaking like crazy all of a sudden! There were creaking sounds and I decided that on a couch under a ceiling fan across from free-standing bookcases was not the best place to be, so I jumped across the living room to stand by the front door. The building just kept waving back and forth, back and forth. I didn't want to exaggerate on how long the shaking seemed to last so I low-balled it at about 20 seconds. (Definately longer than the one that freaked me out last winter, which was about 10 seconds long.) But official word seems to be between 20 and 30 seconds in most places. So, yeah, I felt that big one near San Jose.

I'm fine. Cats are fine. Building is fine. We're just a little shaken up, so to speak.

Check the updated map here: Recent Earthquakes.

I'm listening to the news right now, and an expert is saying that earthquakes along this particular fault tend to produce aftershocks that are even larger than the initial quake within the following 72 hours. Can't wait to see if that happens. I don't think I'll be sleeping much tonight.

lol

According to an extremely scientific poll, if I were a lolcat I'd be this one. (High scores for affection and hunger; low score for excitability.) I don't really get lolcats or the popularity of the whole lol-phenomenon of putting bad captions on stupid pictures. I think the cat is cute though.

We had quite a wake up call this morning. Earthquake at of 4.2 magnatude at 4:42 am. It was one of those quick jolting ones. We rolled over and went back to sleep. Over in Oakland, though, some windows are broken and the power is out for some people. BART is running late. Apparently it was a shallow quake which is why the shaking was so "violent" and felt over such a widespread area.

I've only had a few sips of coffee. Not nearly enough to make me functional for post writing.

Oh, and speaking of cats, we're interviewing a pet sitter for while we're out of town. The kennels are expensive and I'm afraid Ellie will be transported back to her shelter days and de-civilize to the ultra-mean kitty we brought home so many years ago. (She's only slightly, occassionally mean now.) I'm sure Grendel would love nothing more than to be locked in a box for 3 weeks and left alone to sleep, but he'd also be pretty cozy in his own home.

For Pete's sake! The ground is still moving. I felt a tiny shake this morning. Just when I started assuming it was all in my imagination, I checked USGS, and we really did have a couple micro-quakes this morning. On different faults than the one on Thursday. I feel insane.

In other news, I have a very exciting announcement, but I can't make it for a couple more days. I can say that a Ron Burgandy "Stay Classy Baghdad!" t-shirt is in my near future. Are you excited now too?

We had a 4.2 earthquake a little while ago. The epicenter was just a few miles from where we live. (Check the map here. The quake is the big square under and to the left of the big C in Concord. We live just to the left of the C, at the tiny square.)

USGS says it was "light," and if that's light I want nothing to do with anything stronger. I was freaked. out. It was one of those long, rolling quakes. The whole building whooshed back and forth. And it lasted a long time (according to the news, 10-15 seconds). I was standing in the bathroom. I had enough time to grab the counter and think about how helpless I felt. Lately they've been so quick they're over before I realize it's happened. I heard all the stuff on our shelves rattling. And there have been aftershocks. I can't tell what shaking is my imagination and what's really happening.

Lovely Earthquake Weather We're Having

The ground has been shaky lately. I felt an earthquake Friday afternoon and another one last night. And there have been other teeny ones I haven't felt. I check the USGS map regularly, and the ground has been particularly active; it's not just my imagination. Or my giant cat jumping around. I'm not paranoid about "the big one" (well, maybe just a little bit. in a healthy, making sure I have batteries and a week's worth of water kind of way. that's healthy, right?). But it's fascinating. The ground just doesn't do this anywhere else I've lived before. In living here less than a year I've already felt more earthquakes than the 6 years I lived in San Diego. It's kind of a fun break in the day. As long as it's a light quake that doesn't do any harm.

Edited to add: I've also been keeping an eye on the 24-hour Earthquake Forecast map. San Jose is much yellower than usual.