December 22, 2006

A 3.7 Earthquake? Call Me When You Hit 5.0.

One of the side benefits of living in the San Francisco Bay Area is the occasional rumble - a typically gentle bumping and shaking that reminds you the ground below isn't exactly made of reinforced steel and concrete. Though the region has escaped drama for nearly 20 years, ever since the 1989 Loma Prieta quake, we still have shakes every now and again from the 3 to 5 range that have us jumping on USGS online to see just how high we tickled the Richter scale.

Tonight, we felt one. Here in Sunnyvale, on the 4th floor of our condo, we noticed the shaking, and figured it wasn't anyone on the roof or running in the hallway. Instead, it was the Hayward fault, in the East Bay, doing what it does best - slipping. Not much, mind you, but enough to make us aware of it. The quake, if you can call it that, registered at 3.7, and didn't cause any damage.

Though we don't get warning of quakes, I'd trade that uncertainty for the yearly battles with tornadoes and hurricanes other regions face. And, honestly, we actually like them. They're fun. They're different. But we're not impressed by anything in the 3's. Let's get this place and shake it up a bit.

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