my husband and I were enjoying lunch with a lady from Texas in the dining car of the Coast Starlight Train heading south between Sacramento and Los Angeles. She had been in California for one month.

"Oh, I've been so frightened my whole time here!" she stated.

"Of what?" I asked.

"Of the big one!" answered she.

"The big what?" I asked, perplexed.

"The Big Earthquake, Of Course! I'm terrified it will hit and I'll die while I'm here."

"Well, you must have natural disasters in Texas. What big, natural events might get you in Texas?" In so asking, I displayed my geographic ignorance.

"Oh, just a hurricane." she answered in a no-big-deal voice.

"A Hurricane?!? How can you be so calm speaking about a hurricane?!?" I queried.

"Well, you know its coming; you can get out of the way."

Maybe it is because they call it a cathedral, thus falling into the Papist pretentions of the liberated woman of Babylon. Instead of standing by our stouthearted Cromwellian heritage and worshipping at a church.

"Every body acquainted with Bath may remember the difficulties of crossing Cheap Street at this point; it is indeed a street of so impertinent a nature, so unfortunately connected with the great London and Oxford roads, and the principal inn of the city, that a day never passes in which parties of ladies, however important their business, whether in quest of pastry, millinery, or even (as in the present case) of young men, are not detained on one side or other by carriages, horsemen, or carts. This evil had been felt and lamented, at least three times a day, by Isabella since her residence in Bath; and she was now fated to feel and lament it once more; for at the very moment of coming opposite to Union Passage, and within view of the two gentlemen who were proceeding through the crowds, and threading the gutters of that interesting alley, they were prevented crossing by the approach of a gig, driven along on bad pavement by a most knowing-looking coachman, with all the vehemence that could most fitly endanger the lives of himself, his companion, and his horse."
-- Jane Austen, "Northanger Abbey", Chapter (*cough*) 7

Psh - those ladies should try navigating extraordinarily jammed DC freeways while trying to follow a GPS that gets schizophrenic near Arlington and watching the clock on the dashboard ticking away and listening to a radio saying all flights out of Reagan Airport are currently on time which means you should have been there at least an hour ago but you couldn't do that because your car was in lockdown thanks to "civil" (hah - right!) "servants" (double hah!!).

I tried to read while on the plane, but it was just a tad difficult relating to their concerns about traffic - not to mention their slightly different pace of life...

Gina, my favorite line in your article was "(Seattle is in California, right? It's somewhere over there.)" Which is why I told Ellen that East Coast reporters would think I got lost near "Ketchup" (not Ketchum), Idaho while geocaching with her family. (I'd blame it on the GPS, not the humans.)

Kim, you might note the last time the West Coast had a hurricane, or a tornado, was...? So absolutely we have no standing to think of anyone as a wuss. I hope the upcoming Irene turns out to be not much.

And regarding cellphones, Kim, most of those around me were using them (if they got through) to explain to someone else at length and in ridiculous detail how they felt during the quake. This, rather than getting off the phone so a mother could call her child to transmit to each other that both were okay. Selfish indifference and thoughtlessness of that kind has always infuriated me.

Jason, according to the radio broadcast I was hearing some portions of the Washington Cathedral were damaged. I'll leave it to you to speculate on the reasons God might permit that to happen - whether it might be due to the congregation now being able to sit, or becoming pacifists, etc. :-)

Kim, cell phone infrastructure can be easily overwhelmed by a spike in phone traffic. If you really want to communicate during an emergency, get an amateur radio license and an amateur radio; a good hand-held radio costs about $100. Then get all your friends licensed with radios, too. :)

Info about becoming a licensed amateur radio operator:
http://www.w5yi.org/page.php?id=17

Believe me I don't call East Coaster's wusses. Puritans used to keep the militia's powder in the Church which meant they could not light the powder in winter. They also had to stand through the whole sermon.

Watch who you're calling a wuss, LeeQ! A little traffic jam and you whine... just kidding. I whine about traffic jams twice a day.

I'm a bit miffed at my cell phone carrier. My shinny new mini-computer cell phone didn't work when it counted. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that was the whole point in owning one.

Just for you, my friend:

http://gawker.com/5833738/californians-are-being-insufferable-about-this-earthquake

:-)

Though I'll admit, it DOES seem unfair that you left the Land of Earthquakes only to run smack into one over here!

I was working at a Federal office in Maryland. I was due to leave for the airport at 2:00, but it struck around 1:45. It is amazing how quickly Federal employees can move - when motivated. :-/

Outside, the guards at the parking lot had activated those huge "keep the terrorists from driving in with a truck bomb" gates that come up out of the ground. They wouldn't even let anyone go near their cars, even though everyone wanted to go home (and I wanted to get to the airport). After about an hour of us standing around in the heat, they let us in - to get onto gridlocked freeways. There's nothing quite like inching along behind the wheel while watching the clock and thinking "My flight leaves in 45 minutes, and I need to go through TSA screening - once I actually get to the airport!"

Fortunately for me, my flight was delayed. Unfortunately, that would mean I'd miss my connection. (The Rapture will be a slow event, because all the believers will need to go through Atlanta, which will be congested.) Fortunately, an earlier flight was delayed, and I was able to get on it, make my connection (which was also somewhat delayed), and arrive home late last night.

I'm now working on a supply of "My Friend Survived The D.C. Earthquake, And All I Got Was This Lousy T-shirt" gifts.

For those of us on the West Coast, though, it's yet more evidence that East Coasters are wusses. (This attitude can and will be used against us, when Hurricane Irene hits.)

.
But it has nothing to do with today’s earthquake…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5oY2oYKHFY&ob=av2e

http://grooveshark.com/s/In+The+Light/2gr4JQ?src=5

:)

No earthquake over here. Is everyone OK?