earthquakes, a hurricane, what the heck is next?

"Amanda, is your desk shaking?"

"Um, I actually feel the floor shaking under my feet..."

That was the comment my co-worker Molly made to me when we were standing, chit-chatting near my desk when a 5.8 earthquake started in Virginia and rattled its way all the way up the east coast and into Canada. Now, I have never been in an earthquake before so I wasn't really sure what the heck was going on. All of sudden, once Molly made that comment it became worse, the whole office building (in DC) was shaking, vibrating, people were running out of their offices into the main corridor. Once the shaking ceased for a moment we all sort of stared at each other. What do we do? Should we evacuate? Well, since most of our walls in our office are large sheets of glass we booked it down the stairs and into the streets as everyone else had done. Needless to say it was a very bizarre day and I was a bit shaken up by it. Sure, it wasn't that bad (thank goodness) there were no injuries reported really, no extensive damage (nothing like the devastation in Haiti or Japan) so once it was over everyone felt at ease to make jokes and whatnot. 

However, we aren't quite out of the woods just yet as Hurricane Irene thunders towards the east coast, so far planning on slamming the Carolina's first and working her way up. Seriously people, what is happening? Maybe it is just timing and everything is hitting us at once (as the old adage says, "when it rains, it pours") but it is all very odd isn't it? Oh well, my parents, cousin and I feel somewhat prepared for the storm that awaits us, hope everyone else along the east coast stays safe too!