Earthquake AND Hurricane in the Same Week?

A 5.8 magnitude earthquake on the east coast is a very strange event. But to be hit by a category 2 hurricane in the same week? I guess I shouldn't be surprised by hurricane, but I was definitely taken aback by the earthquake.

The earth is an ever changing ball of molten rock.

Here is a great website on earthquakes on the east coast as well as general information and facts on earthquakes:

http://www.nesec.org/hazards/earthquakes.cfm

Turns out, earthquakes on the east coast - not really unusual. The Northeast experiences an average of 40 - 50 earthquakes per year. Some are in the ocean.


Hurricanes are plentiful. Some of the more memorable or destructive are described here:


http://www.hurricaneville.com/historic.html


Hurricanes have a season, earthquakes do not. Earthquakes can happen at any time. 


Not comforting.


The DC area seemed to have survived the hurricane last night. We didn't lose power and there doesn't seem to be any damage outside. Everything is drying off right now. But as I type, it is pummeling New York and the New England states.


As a precaution, we bought a couple of candles. Didn't need them but they will still serve a purpose to make the place better.

Hurricane Candle. Yummy.

A View Like No Other

On my administrative promotion day, 1 August 2011, Kris treated me to a Lakota ride. I felt kind of silly as this was supposed to be a promotion "present" of sorts (followed by a yummy sushi lunch afterwards). I would not have my actual ceremony until almost two weeks later.

It was a great day and a unique opportunity to view Virginia, DC, and Maryland like few people can.

UH-72 Lakota

Pre-flight.

Really nice interior but not much access to the pilots up front.

Different being a passenger. Almost tossed my cookies near the end.

I took a few videos, but this gives you an idea of our perspective.

Washington Cathedral - pre-earthquake.

National Naval Medical Center

Our friend Shelly gave birth here on August 1st! Visited her the next day but of course was not as speedy as the Lakota.

Plane taking off on RW28.

BWI

View from the cockpit. Note the cute pilot on the left. ;)

Fort McHenry

Nationals Park

I drive by the Nationals Park every day, but this is a better view!

Taxiing in. Mission complete.

Yes, I got to be a tourist for a day. It was part of a flight to continue to familiarize Kris with all the places he will need to fly in the future and I got to tag along. I hope to do this again someday.

Later next week:

Real promotion day. In a new league now and am so happy Kris was there. We are well established in this next phase of our lives. Lots of craziness but lots of fun!

Exploring Options

Looking ahead to the academic year in front of me, I'm faced with lots of reading and writing papers. The quantity of books I was issued yesterday was clear evidence of the many hours of work ahead of me.

Much of this will require individual discipline. I will need to stay on track with coursework as well make steady progress on the vaunted thesis that I'm expected to complete by the end of the year. I want to make this painless as possible and I believe that will entail choosing a topic of research that I genuinely enjoy.

I have an obsession with the anti-utopian and the post apocalyptic. I am intrigued by stories about the human struggle, finding much more value in conflict than day to day level-headedness, peace, and prosperity. I was born with this intrigue.

Favorite books are We (Zamyatin), A Brave New World (Huxley), 1984 (Orwell), One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (Solzhenitsyn), and  The Road (McCarthy) to name a just a few.


Literary fiction mostly, but some actual accounts of personal human struggle. The Stalinist time period is most interesting to me.

I think this interest may be related to my attitude and outlook on life. The glass is usually half empty, but I AM grateful for the half that is there. I'm told that I was very serious as a child, but whose fault is that? I know I don't do myself, and anyone else for that matter, any favors by clinging to negativity, but if it's an inherent trait, might as capitalize...

So, how to put a dark and perceptibly negative attitude to good use? Still working on it. But I can certainly appreciate the study of humankind's obsession with the horrors of the past. How did we get there and how do we avoid it again? What is the likelihood of future horrors resulting from current conditions? What are contributing factors? How does this affect the US?

It's all about the thesis this year (i.e. huge research project with a long paper) and I'd like it to not be a painful struggle. I only wish to study it, not experience it.

The clock is ticking.

Earthquake Day

Today turned out to be a crazy day. One doesn't expect to experience a 5.8 earthquake while waiting in line to buy a ton of books at 60% off (earth shaking prices!). 

But there I was. In line behind Mike, Shelly, and baby Odessa and the room started to rumble. It felt like thunder but it kept going and the intensity increased. I immediately thought of some sort of terrorist attack, and then maybe an explosion in the metro. The metro was right below us.

Shelly and Mike dropped their books and took off. I followed suit.  There was nothing strange outside but everyone was reaching for their phones. Mike and Shelly were on their way home by then and I couldn't even send a text to Shelly the system was so clogged. Was it an earthquake? I began hearing people talk about their friend so-and-so who works at one of the Smithsonian museums across town who felt it. Another was in Maryland. Another in Pennsylvania. 

An Earthquake? Here are some cool maps of the event:

After things had decidedly calmed down a bit outside, I went back for my deals. 

A whole bunch of neat books I won't have time to read.

All of Kris's heros.

There's no arguing that we desperately need bookcases. That will be another adventure. 

Got back to the apartment to a mirror that had fallen off a wall and some crooked pictures but that was it. Oh and some freaked out kitties.

Ok, so maybe not. Got on the phone and tried calling Kris. Turns out he was in the AIR. He had taken off at 1:30pm and missed the whole thing altogether. Only knew something was up when he heard over the radio that no one could land at Reagan National. Some people miss all the fun.

My aunt and uncle in Louisa didn't miss it. I hear they have a decent sized clean up. My mother in law in Charlottesville didn't miss it either. Neither did a cousin in Richmond. 

Never mind that I ran 4 miles in my fastest time yet. Never mind anything else I had planned for today. Today, 23AUG11 is henceforth a day when I bought books for wicked cheap and an earthquake struck Virginia.

Love - Hate Relationship

Meet my training partner - the Garmin Forerunner 305. My parents gave it to me for a birthday gift prior to my deployment to Iraq in June 2008 (#2).

Garmin has come out with newer, smaller watches (this one is huge on my small wrist), and probably with better features since then. They are expensive and this one provides lots of data so I'll stay with this one a while longer.

This watch is still $199.99 on the Garmin site, so I guess it's not that old.

The biggest problem I have, here amongst the high rise buildings, is getting it to acquire satellites. Once I'm in the open I have no trouble.

This watch has changed how I plan my training and has an impact on my run itself. This watch will display your pace and average pace, elapsed time, clock time, distance, lap time, heart rate (comes with a chest strap), mini map, and probably other features I don't even use.

Data fields are customizable

But honestly, all that information can drive you crazy. It's easy to get obsessed with it. The data fields are customizable and can rotate between displays. Mine it similar to the display above except I have it set to display four data fields.

One of my favorite features of this watch is the interval workout. You can set it to distance/distance (for run/rest interval), distance/time, time/distance, and time/time. Love it. You can tell it what pace you expect to run and it will beep at you if you fall below it.

Also, for normal running, you can set distance and time alerts. Mine beeps at me every .5 miles and every ten minutes. Unfortunately with all the traffic noise (planes, trains, and automobiles - literally!) I often don't hear the beeps so I'm forced to look at the thing more often. Ha!

The pressure is good - you have real data to measure your performance. But there comes a point where you have to leave the thing at home and just go for a run for the fun of it. Or just bring a simple watch that tracks only time and call it good.

Not at that point yet! I'm going to put in four today. I have a number in my head that I hope to achieve. This damn watch will provide me all the information I need to get there.

The Trail According to Me

I can already tell that physical exercise will be a necessary stress relief with my new schedule. My first week of school has been great, but it's clear that it will be like nothing I've experienced before. I think it will be just the challenge I need.

I've written about the Mount Vernon Trail and I'm still tearing it up every other day with my lightning-like speed. Ha!!  But it's been encouraging to see the slow but steady progress.

Part of the Mt. Vernon Trail

I subscribe to the "train as you fight" mentality and have tried to do most of my running in the morning. This is because the big event, the Army Ten Miler, will be in the morning so might as well get my body used to running in the AM. And ALSO, it's been so awful hot and humid here so running in the morning has been out of necessity.

It has only recently gotten cooler and it is easier to run or bike in the afternoon. Today, after school, I took out the mountain bike and went north on the trail to Theodore Roosevelt Island.  Was about a 5 mile ride. The trail is different at 5 pm than it is around 7 or 8 in the morning. In the morning, there is ONLY exercise being done. It is the rare person taking a leisurely stroll.

In the afternoon it's a bit different. There are families hanging out, riding bikes with their kids, watching the planes take off at Gravelly Point Park - a popular point on the trail. And just like in the morning there are runnings and bikers but LOTS more of them.

At places, the trail gets clogged while at others it's all about dodging runners, walkers, kids, slow bikers (if on your bike). As a runner, you get to hear "on your LEFT!" or the annoying "ding ding!!" of a bike bell. I hate those things. Like I'm going to dive for the ditch or something.

Having successfully navigated through and around all of these intense athletes and pleasure seekers alike, I arrived at the Island.

I chained up my bike and grabbed my water and valuables off it and crossed the footbridge to the island. No bikes or cars are allowed on this island. This island "stands as a fitting memorial to the outdoorsman, naturalist, and visionary who was our 26th President." 


Because today was an active rest day for me (ran 6 miles yesterday), I walked the 1.3 miles Swamp Trail around the perimeter of island. There were a few trail runners but I was alone for much of my walk. It was INCREDIBLE. Were it not for the sounds of traffic on the bridge to the south of the island and planes taking off from Reagan National, I would have forgotten that I was in Washington, DC (technically it's in Arlington, VA). About half of the trail was a walkway over a swamp. The rest was a dirt trail. No pavement whatsoever. 


Some guy in a blue t-shirt lapped me three times.  On one offshoot trail there was a dude standing there reading a book. He was nice enough to redirect me back to the main trail.


I'm definitely coming back in a few days to run laps. 


The Daytona 500 back to the apartment was uneventful. I survived to enjoy the fried catfish Kris was whipping up in the kitchen. Yummy!