Checking in from the land of blue skies, green water, and gently rolling hills. Literally.

Thanks everybody for thinking about me! Y'all are the greatest electronic family a guy could have.

I was at my desk when the temblor hit at about 11am. Shook us a good minute, and the vertical blinds were swaying for long after that. Crawled under my desk. About half way through the quake, the power went out.

We all assembled at our emergency assembly site in the back parking lot, and were eventually told to go home.

It took a good 90+ minutes to get home (it usually takes 40 on a bad traffic day). Didn't notice any broken buildings or anything, but all the power was out until I got actually into my hometown of Sumner, about 25 miles southeast of Seattle, and maybe 10-20 miles from the epicenter of the quake (a good deal west of us, apparently, although I haven't seen a map).

Listened to the local news-radio station all the way home. Lots of older, structural-brick buildings in the old part of Seattle apparently collapsed either partially or wholly. So far haven't heard of any deaths, thank Heaven.

The only damage here at Mouse Central was a couple of knick-knacks that fell off the mantlepiece. And, oddly, two screws from a hinge on one of the kitchen cabinet doors fell out. The kids all get tomorrow off while the schools are inspected for structural damage.

Crazy stuff!

Alex