Big One.
Well, maybe not THE BIG ONE. But it was pretty big out here.
When it started, we were essentially three stories up at a friend's condo. As everything began to shake rattle and roll, we soon realized what was happening. The three of us grabbed on to each other and held on 'till things calmed down.
Within moments of when the worst part of the shaker was over, I thought I was still feeling some shaking. Pete and our friend didn't feel what I was feeling, and it could be that I was simply experiencing some odd nerve ending firing repeat sensations from memory, but it turns out that I might have been feeling some of the immediate and much smaller aftershocks.
We were at our friend's home because she had recently moved from the dark side and bought a Mac computer. Pete was helping her make the switch, and showing her how to navigate in the Mac universe.
When things settled down, our friend turned on her TV, but there was nothing about what had just occurred. Had we been at home, I probably would have turned the radio to one of the local PBS radio stations for the news, but who knows if they would have been broadcasting live.
Even though we were in our friend's office, working on her computer and connected to the internet, not one of us thought to check online to see if there was any news about what we had just experienced. Unlike the younger generation who has been raised using the internet, we are still old school enough to generally check the radio or the TV first for breaking news.
Once everything returned to normal, Pete and our friend went back to the computer to continue solve some problems and help her get to know her new operating system.
I walked out to the hallway and attempted to call Mike to see how they had fared. My first attempts to call him were marked with failure. Neither his home line nor his cell number would connect. This is not at all that unusual after seismic events. It is normal for all the telephone lines to temporarily become somewhat overloaded. A couple more attempts, and my efforts were met with success.
Mike then informed me that yes, indeed, they had felt the earthquake. He said he had been attempting to reach us at home to check on our welfare. As I have mentioned before, he is a good son. I told him that it felt really big over here, and his described our group hug as the earth moved underneath us.
That's when Mike told me that first reports were saying that the epicenter of the tremor was in the nearby City of Hawthorne, and the magnitude of the quake was 5.5.
Turns out, Cal Tech is now saying it was only a 4.7, but it sure felt a lot bigger than that, and it certainly seemed to go on for a very long time. That's probably because the epicenter was located so nearby.
So far, I haven't since noticed any serious aftershocks, but I expect that we will get a few of them in the hours and days to come. That is, of course, if this one, the one we felt tonight, is the big event, and was not, in actuality, a precursor of a bigger quake yet to come. Is there a way to to determine that? What comes first? The chicken or the egg? :-/
MOM'S STAMP OF APPROVAL!
THIS IS, BY FAR, THE BEST STAR TREK MOVIE EVER MADE! GO SEE IT!
Take it from someone who has been watching Star Trek for 40 years!
The film is wonderful!
PS: If you can see it at a Cinerama Dome-like theater, do it. You won't be sorry!