This afternoon, an 5.9 magnitude earthquake hit the Washington, DC area (Mineral, Va., to be exact), and it sent the area into a panic.  I was at my office in downtown DC, when the quake occurred.  At first, I thought nothing of the first shake, but the second one was a lot more intense.  My office was evacuated, and upon going outside, I saw tons of people in the streets looking dazed and confused.  When a colleague told me what happened, I remembered the earthquake that took place in Columbia, Md., a few years prior.  While that earthquake was not as strong as the one today, it certainly brought back memories since I was in the middle of delivering a presentation for one of my undergraduate courses.

However, Hurricane Irene is coming for a visit, and she is headed for our area.  The dangers with this system kinda trump the tremors from earlier today, and there is no doubt that emergency preparations have begun to take hold.   While I might be grocery shopping for the necessities, I know batteries, flash lights, extra water, and other non-perishable will be added to this list.

So, be careful out there!  Hopefully, no other crazy events between now and the weekend.