Earthquakes and Hurricanes and Reviews - oh my!

August sure is going out with a bang!

Earthquake: On Tuesday afternoon at 1:51pm the DC area was rattled by a 5.8 magnitude earthquake centered in Mineral, VA. Where were you?

Fellows at the NOAA campus in Silver Spring felt a pronounced shaking on and off for about 10 seconds and were instructed to leave the building before being sent home about 30 minutes later. Kate, Matt and I took the opportunity to grab some ice cream while we waited for the Metro to clear up (which was running at a max speed of 15mph for safety).

Nicole was just coming in from having a late lunch near the Capitol, and thought she was feeling dizzy. Which seems logical - surely I'm dizzy and it's not that the Earth itself is moving. Buildings downtown were also evacuated and many were sent home. Some had to wait a few (or more) hours before being allowed back into their offices to get their things. 

Abby was at her desk at the Naval Observatory when plaster began to rain down. She and a co-worker ran into the doorway to wait it out, at that point hoping it was an earthquake and not something worse. She later attended an earthquake party and made a recreation of the event.

Megan was at a Senior Research Council meeting in Princeton, NJ. She thought someone had just stomped by in a huff, shaking the floor (as senior researchers are known to do).

Hannah may have been the farthest away and still felt the building wiggle all the way up at the Portland, Maine, district office.
More info on why this one traveled so far here. Though not a particularly enjoyable experience, I'm glad everyone made it through unscathed.

Hurricane: Get ready for an exciting weekend, Ladies and Gents, because Irene is paying us a visit! Right now she's a Category 2 making her way for North Carolina and ultimately up the east coast. It's unclear at this point exactly what effects we'll feel in DC, but I'm going to to out on a limb and predict power outages at the least. Those of us doing the CA Marine Sanctuaries trip have rescheduled our flights to hopefully beat the storm tomorrow morning but for those of you sticking around (or for Matt in NC) - keep an eye out and stay safe!

Mid-Year Reviews: Hopefully not as stressful as the aforementioned natural disasters, it's time for Knauss mid-year reviews! If you haven't already made arrangements to meet with Chelsea and your supervisor to go over you progress so far, be sure to do it soon. I found it to be reassuring that I'm following my Professional Development plan pretty well and any experiences I'm still looking for are now on the table with plenty of time left to do them.

It has been a big week - take some time to relax this weekend (though likely indoors).