In which there is Seismic Activity and an unexpected science experiment

I've lived in Los Angeles for over eight years now (ack!), and had, until this afternoon, felt exactly two earthquakes.

One was within a month of my moving here, and the other was this past Sunday morning. I was in bed for both of them.

The first was in the middle of the night, and I was woken up by the rattling of a sliding door, which my subconscious interpreted as a kamikaze attempt on the part of my cat to explore Elysian Park. When I woke up, I realized the room was shaking, and thought, "huh. Earthquake. Hope the cat's not freaked out." Which, having nerves of steel and a temperament better suited to some Norse mythological beast, he certainly wasn't.

The second was while I was fully awake. My bed started shaking, and I assumed the dog had jumped on it, until I realized the windows were rattling and my bed suddenly felt like a waterbed. Wavy!

This afternoon, I was, um, working DILIGENTLY here in the beautiful IMAX building in Santa Monica, when I got an IM from a friend working in Hollywood: "Did you feel that?"

I'm pretty used to not feeling minor tremors, and was about to hit enter on my response, "No- earthquake?" when the building started to shake.

Estimated time for shockwave to travel from Hollywood, CA to Santa Monica, Ca (approx. 14 miles): about 20 seconds.

When I don't need to do the math, I really love science.