Shakin It Up

"Early this morning Illinois was rocked with a Magnitude 4.3 Earthquake at approximately 3:59 am on February 10th 2010."

One minute and 22 miles later, I felt it. No, it was not a huge quake. In fact, had I not already been awake, I would've probably slept through it. Or maybe I still have some primitive instinctual reactions to mother nature that woke me up pre-quake. I was not awake for very long, laying there thinking "why am I awake? I should be asleep, I want to be asleep, I will be exhausted tomorrow if I don't get back to sleep." And the rumbling crescendo started. At first I thought it was the train; as far as it is when it's very quiet you can hear my lunch box handles and lamp charms buzz from the vibrations. But this time it got bigger, made the things in my room rattle and I felt the rumble move from the floor through the bed...and it was over. And then for a few seconds my entire body got really hot and my palms felt like pins and needles. Weird.

I've never actually experienced an earthquake before, and delirious with sleepiness, my first thought was I hope no one slid through the snow and hit my house. But waking up a bit more I decided if someone had driven through my living room it probably would have made more crash and less rumble. Maybe I imagined it? No, the snow plows outside had stopped for a bit and then started again; they felt it too. My non-flashing alarm clock said 4:01, which means no one crashed into a light pole or electrical box again (yes, again.) I had to wait four hours for my coworkers to confirm that it was an earthquake.

On a side note I found it disturbing that while looking up info to see details about the quake I found posts and comments about all the calls to 911 after the quake. There were no reports of damage or injuries, so what are these people calling about?
"911? Yeah, my house just shook for a whole 5 seconds...no, no one's hurt...yes, my house is still standing...I guess there isn't an emergency...but the world shook, it WOKE me up! Fox News Studio isn't open yet, I had to tell someone."