I feel the earth move under my feet

In the middle of the night, I had the strangest dream: I was sleeping in a dark room and I suddenly felt a force race through my body from the top of my head down through my toes - and then it was gone. Jeez louise. My life is pretty chaotic right now, so chaotic that I'm dreaming about earthquakes? What is my psyche trying to tell me?

Well... nothing. It wasn't a dream - it was really a 3.6 earthquake, in Germantown, right where I live. In fact, the earthquake's epicenter was 39.167°N, 77.252°W... my apartment sits at 39.182°N, 77.265°W. Literally ground zero. The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake occured at 5:04:49 a.m. about three miles under the earth's surface - AKA three miles under my apartment!

I certainly never thought I'd experience an earthquake here in Maryland. Maybe this big rumble will shake up Congress? One could hope, but I seriously doubt it. :-)