I feel the earth move… not

So as I sit and check the morning news, an earthquake that registered 5.2 on the Richter Scale hit the Midwest this morning. Reports say that it was felt all the way here in Chicago.

Either I am a heavier sleeper than I thought, or maybe reports of how far away it was felt are maybe slightly exaggerated. From what I read and see, the damage hit hard to the south part of Illinois and into St. Louis and then into Louisville. It seems from the lovely map provided by Reuters that it was far enough away we probably felt little to nothing. Not that I would want to feel an earthquake or necessarily experience one, but then again I’m the type of person who is disappointed that he’s never got the chance to see and photograph a tornado up close.

Yes I would really like to do that. Rick, who’s been through his share of tornadoes as a kid, just looks at me like a freak and shakes his head, and probably with more wisdom than I want to believe says, “Hmm, I don’t think you’d really want to do that.”

Knowing the way our pets are, I’m surprised that Jose didn’t go to his red alert mode if in fact the tremors could be felt here. They say animals are extremely more sensitive to these kind of things and tend to recognize it sooner than humans. Considering the fact that Jose woke us up two nights ago at 4am just because the smoke detector battery beeped to warn us it was dying, and knowing that he can detect a thunderstorm is coming way before we can, I’m sure if there was any shaking or movement at all he would have gone crazy. Or maybe not.

I asked Rick if he felt anything, and he too looked a tad perplexed. I don’t know. Evidentially we live too far on the north side or all of us (me, Rick, even Jose) are too heavy of sleepers, since Erin and Riley did feel the shaking and they live only about 4 miles south. Since there was indeed a slight earthquake, it might explain the mysterious new cracks along the ceiling and wall in the living room. Yes, the cracks have been there for a while, but you know, it’s not the first time in recent memory an earthquake was reported here in the Midwest, so maybe the cracks started after the last one. Just so I can say there is proof it could be felt here in Chicago.

Well, that’s what I’ll start telling people at least.

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Update: I found this interesting article at Wired, and find it a bit coincidental and eerie that 102 years ago today, the Great 1906 quake devastated San Francisco.

Things that definitely make you go, hmmmm.

Super Tuesday

Pop quiz hot shot: Did you get your ass out there and vote today? I did.

7 am, the library at the end of my street is our precinct. I got in, got my Democratic ballot and slipped into a booth pretty quickly. But I still hadn’t made a final decision. I like Barack, but he just seems too broad. I don’t know, he’s got the charm, he has the ambition, he seems to has the general publics’ best interest at heart. I think. I mean, he doesn’t really take a firm position on anything. Rick decided to vote for him, reasoning that Hillary comes off like a micro-manager: always has their hands in everything, but without the ability to see it through to completion because there’s too much clogging the system. Obama, he said, is a the big picture guy, and they are the ones everyone remembers, like FDR and Kennedy.

So 7:06 am, and I’m stuck. I waffled between the two in the booth, and then went with my gut for my final decision. I chose Hillary. Sorry, but she’s got balls. Final answer.

But I did split the delegates between the two. And I harbor the hope that the winner chooses the other as his/her running mate. I think that if Hil is the Democratic choice, she just may turn to Barack and ask him to be the Veep. Then we would get the best of both worlds.

It’s interesting as I see the early results, Obama is leading far and away over Hil here in Illinois, at 65% of the votes with 60% of precincts reporting. Not a huge surprise, while they both have the home state advantage, Barack is a little more recent and has momentum. Then I look and see Hillary took NY and Mass, and it’s no surprise there either. It’s going to be a long night.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ticket, Mr. McCain, or as I now dub him, Major McPain, is limping into the top slot, while the catchers Mitt slides into second. These two are seriously dumber than a box of hair. At least Romney has some personality; McPain is just so… oh hell, blah doesn’t do him justice. But I was shocked that Ron Paul actually got 5% of the early returns here in Illinois. He’s got this expression that just screams, Uhh, gee Tennesee, dum dum dee dum (I know I’m pissing off Ed and Alan right now). But I will concede that he can speak more intelligently than he looks, as the debate revealed. He is actually the lesser of the Republican evils. Sorry, you don’t have a chance in hell.

It could be worse, far worse. Mike Huckabee. What a genius name, can you imagine saying that? President Huckabee. *wretch* He won in West Virginia already, but that’s not surprising either. With that name, it sounds like he would be at home in Appalachia. Yes folks, the flip side is instead of Ron Paul, we could have a man that makes James Stockdale look brilliant: President Huckberry FuckFinn running things. Ugh. What an ass. He might as well get Fred Phelps for a running mate, they are soul mates.

Ok, I’ll stop my riffing on the candidates lest I get trapped into some political conflict with someone. I’ll turn my target toward another horror of the day.

I discovered some of my coworkers, and evidentially, half of Illinois chose to not vote. I see there are over 7 million registered voters in the state of Illinois alone. As I look at the returns, maybe half voted. As one guy I work with put it, ‘no one is ever happy with whomever makes it into office anyway.’ Sure, yeah, you have a point, you can’t make everyone happy all of the time. But why be apathetic about it? You’re given a chance to make your voice heard, if you choose to say screw it instead because the weather was mediocre or because no one is happy because their guy or gal didn’t make it into office, then you deserve to suffer.

As I rode the bus to work yesterday, two guys stood near by me, and glanced over my copy of the Red Eye as I happened to turn to a page featuring the candidates. The one turned to his friend: ‘Are you voting tomorrow?’ The reply: ‘No, it’s just the primary, I’ll wait until November.’

Now given, the second gent did go on to say he was actually going to vote, but he did express a sentiment that many feel. Why bother? To which I express this sentiment: If you chose not to vote, hey it’s your prerogative to throw away your rights. But then sit down and zip it. I never want to hear you bitch, whine or moan about the state of our country, no matter how fucked up it is. You gave that up the moment you chose not to exercise your voting rights.