I'm like, so used to this I guess

[Math Is Hard]

I walked to my class today and everyone was talking about a 5-point-something earthquake that just hit. I didn't feel anything. Although I have had a little bit of vertigo the last couple of days. Maybe part of me sensed some pre-rumblings.

 

[WarPhalange]

I saw it on the news while eating lunch. It was a 5.4. I experienced a 6.8 a some years back and that wasn't deadly or anything, so I don't get what all the fuss is about a 5.4. In LA no less, where you'd expect these kinds of things.

 

[lisab]

I thought of you when I heard about it!

What were you doing at the time - driving? I've never been able to feel a quake while driving.

 

[Math Is Hard]

I went through the 1994 Northridge quake so I got pretty well initiated then. Still, it's so weird that I didn't notice anything. I was either walking or having lunch in the cafeteria when it happened. I saw no reactions of people around me. I went to class and heard all about it, then got back to my office and there's all these campus alert messages and emails from people asking if I am ok!

I think I'm in the Twilight Zone.

 

[Math Is Hard]

I thought of you when I heard about it!

What were you doing at the time - driving? I've never been able to feel a quake while driving.

No, just walking - I think. It's very weird. We are all OK and accounted for here in Bruintown, though.

 

[Math Is Hard]

I missed the fire drill last week, too. I went out for coffee and came back and everyone was standing outside. I always miss the fun stuff. When I was a kid I slept through a few tornado evacuations.

 

[Moonbear]

I missed the fire drill last week, too. I went out for coffee and came back and everyone was standing outside. I always miss the fun stuff. When I was a kid I slept through a few tornado evacuations.

I slept through a fire alarm in college. If I lived in a place with frequent tornadoes to worry about, I'd probably have to get one of those weather alert radios that sounds an alarm (like an alarm clock) when there's a tornado warning. The sirens never wake me up, plus, growing up in an area where there were no tornadoes worth mentioning (maybe once every 5 or 10 years a tiny twister would knock over a couple trees...the Nor'easters did more than that), the sirens were used as a signal to call the volunteer fire department to the station house to respond to a fire, so I grew up learning to just ignore hearing sirens unless I was on the road driving.

 

[Evo]

I haven't slept for longer than 2 hours in 5 years. The other night my cat knocked a small knick knack off a shelf onto the plush carpet in the living room and I was sound asleep in my bedroom with the door closed and 2 fans going full blast and ear plugs and the noise jolted me out of a dream.

What is wrong with you people?

Yes I suffer from ultra sensitive hearing.

 

[Math Is Hard]

I slept through a fire alarm in college.

Wow! Those can be pretty loud! That wasn't a real fire, I hope.

that reminds me, I'm surprised I didn't hear a bunch of car alarms go off during the shaker.

I think I stepped into parallel universe where there wasn't an earthquake today.

 

[Math Is Hard]

I haven't slept for longer than 2 hours in 5 years. The other night my cat knocked a small knick knack off a shelf onto the plush carpet in the living room and I was sound asleep in my bedroom with the door closed and 2 fans going full blast and ear plugs and the noise jolted me out of a dream.

What is wrong with you people?

Yes I suffer from ultra sensitive hearing.

oh, dear! You really are a light sleeper!

I am kinda like that in that I can't tolerate small noises when I am trying to concentrate. Two of my coworkers have never learned to chew with their mouths closed and I have to really crank my headphones when they are eating because it makes me crazy. One of them sucks his teeth all day, too (nervous habit). They love to crack and spit sunflower seeds (it's so gross). One day my headphones weren't working and I really thought I might have a nervous breakdown by the end of the day. *sigh*

 

[Moonbear]

Wow! Those can be pretty loud! That wasn't a real fire, I hope.

No, it was the usual false alarm. I didn't know about it until the next morning when everyone was talking about how tired they were after getting up in the middle of the night for the alarm, and I was asking, "What alarm?" I was just as surprised as everyone else that I slept through it. They certainly were loud, even when in the room with your door shut (not like the alarms at the building I work in now that I listen to for several minutes without realizing it's a fire alarm...it's really wimpy sounding...more like the over-temperature alarms on freezers in the labs, which is what I thought it was. When it rang several minutes without being turned off, I finally walked out of my office, intending to check the lab across the hall to see if anyone was around, figuring it was one of those freezers that needed attention, and then saw the lights blinking on the fire alarms and realized what it was. Of course, by then, they were already announcing the "all-clear" notice. What good is a fire alarm when you don't recognize it as one?

that reminds me, I'm surprised I didn't hear a bunch of car alarms go off during the shaker.

I think I stepped into parallel universe where there wasn't an earthquake today.

That's really weird. Then again, I'd probably not notice car alarms either...they so often go off for no reason, I'm not sure there's any point in having them anymore. Everyone ignores them anyway. Maybe you have really good shock absorbers in your shoes!

oh, dear! You really are a light sleeper!

I am kinda like that in that I can't tolerate small noises when I am trying to concentrate. Two of my coworkers have never learned to chew with their mouths closed and I have to really crank my headphones when they are eating because it makes me crazy. One of them sucks his teeth all day, too (nervous habit). They love to crack and spit sunflower seeds (it's so gross). One day my headphones weren't working and I really thought I might have a nervous breakdown by the end of the day. *sigh*

Yeah, me too. If I need to concentrate, those little noises drive me nuts (though, I can work perfectly fine in a crowded coffee shop...it seems to be all or nothing with me). If I'm not yet asleep, those sorts of little sounds will also drive me crazy and keep me awake. But, once I'm asleep, I'm like a little kid, able to sleep through anything. My boyfriend finds it somewhat amusing. A few times he's felt a bit "amorous" in the middle of the night, and tried waking me up. He couldn't believe I could sleep so soundly, especially when he also knows how much I usually toss and turn trying to get to sleep.

 

[tribdog]

My girlfriend falls asleep instantly and is really hard to wake up, at least until my prescription runs out.

 

[edward]

I took my grandson to a movie last week at a megaplex theater in a mall. The movie had just started when the fire alarm sounded. The lights came on and everyone got up and headed toward the back of the theater and out into a long hallway.

I took my grandson by the hand and led him down to the exit near the screen. Those exits go directly outdoors.

I opened the door and we went out, but since I didn't smell any smoke I paused and held the door open. I look back and watched all of the people try to cram out into the hallway.

It turned out someone had pulled the PULL ONLY IN CASE OF FIRE HANDLE. The employees were clueless, people eventually came back in griping that no one had told them what to do.

I say that the employees were clueless because they never did announce that it was a false alarm. According to people coming back in the only thing that the employees did was to reset the alarm system and let people figure it out on their own.

The movie goers were clueless because they headed for the most distant exit.

 

[Math Is Hard]

He couldn't believe I could sleep so soundly, especially when he also knows how much I usually toss and turn trying to get to sleep.

I got in trouble with a boyfriend once because he decided to come by at midnight (he had been out clubbing), banged on my door, and got no answer. He thought I was spending the night somewhere else, but I just never heard him.

My girlfriend falls asleep instantly and is really hard to wake up, at least until my prescription runs out.

tribdog! how are you?

The movie goers were clueless because they headed for the most distant exit.

I can't believe the others didn't go out the way you did. I thought everybody knew those doors were there for a fire exit so people wouldn't all run to the back of the theater.

 

[tribdog]

tribdog! how are you?

mad. I just bought the new "High Speed" Cricket internet. It is so damn slow. I'm missing my old 26.6 dial up. Plus the $50 mail in rebate has all sorts of restrictions I didn't know about. If I've read it correctly I have a window of about 3 hours to mail in the proof of purchase, two box tops and 3 weeks worth of fingernail clippings. I'll should see the rebate sometime next year, unless I forget to put the stamps diagonally on the envelope. Then it could take 6 and a half years.

 

[Cyrus]

It wasnt an Earth quake, it was just chuck norris farting.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

I felt it in Long Beach. It was a pretty good shake and roll. Not bad, I didn't think, but I heard sirens almost immediately afterwards (fire trucks).
If you're much further up north it may not have been very rough up there. I've had plenty of people tell me about earthquakes that I never felt. Probably because the effects were practically non-existent where I was.

 

[Moonbear]

I can't believe the others didn't go out the way you did. I thought everybody knew those doors were there for a fire exit so people wouldn't all run to the back of the theater.

Sometimes I wonder if being put through so many fire drills is backfiring. Sort of a "boy who cried wolf" effect. People hear fire alarms and don't seem to react unless they actually smell smoke, which could be MUCH too late. The only time I see a whole building properly clear during a fire drill is in one of two situations, 1) where they actually don't let people back in until the fire department has searched through the whole building and kicked out anyone who didn't leave, so people learn to get out just to get back in faster, or 2) when there are plenty of coffee shops nearby and fire drills become a good excuse to take a coffee break.

 

[stickythighs]

I missed the fire drill last week, too. I went out for coffee and came back and everyone was standing outside. I always miss the fun stuff. When I was a kid I slept through a few tornado evacuations.

Probable fellow former Hillwood neighborhood neighbor,

Did they not have the tornado siren at the fire station on Mountain Gap Road back then?

What's with the stupid fire drills everywhere? People act like most buildings are a labyrinth or something.
When I was a kid (like 7 or 8), my parents had us do a fire drill once in our house, as if I couldn't find my way to the front door

 

[Moonbear]

What's with the stupid fire drills everywhere? People act like most buildings are a labyrinth or something.

The one I work in is. Though, in that case, I don't think drills are ever going to help find my way out, since there are corridors I get lost in even on a good day.

When I was a kid (like 7 or 8), my parents had us do a fire drill once in our house, as if I couldn't find my way to the front door

The point is supposed to be to know how to respond when the way to the door isn't so easy to find. For example, knowing your alternative exits, or how to get to the door when the hall is so filled with smoke that you can only crawl down at floor level and feel for exits rather than see them.

The problem I see though is that people just start assuming every fire alarm is a drill because there are so many drills. While that was good in grade school, because all the kids immediately lined up and headed out in very orderly directions with the guidance of a teacher who knew where the nearest exit was, it's not as useful for adults who tend to say, "Oh crap, another stupid drill" as they go back to their office for their coat and purse and slowly wander out toward the exit closest to the coffee shop rather than closest to where they are located. It's also not terribly useful when nobody knows who should be around anyway. If I'm sitting over in the hospital cafeteria when there's a drill in my office building, I'm not going to even know the drill happened, let alone be at the appropriate check-in location for our department.

The hospital has a better system, since they can't evacuate patients for regular drills. They have voice announcements with the drills, telling people they are either testing the alarm system, or to stay in their rooms/offices, or to evacuate a specific wing where the alarm was triggered while they investigate. If it were a real fire, the voice announcement would indicate that it was NOT a drill. That was also the case at another university I worked at. With so many drills, it was much more effective to have a voice announcement that it was NOT a drill if the alarm was activated by smoke/fire/heat detectors or by a pull station. (Of course, sometimes it was still just steam from an autoclave tripping a heat sensor, but that only happened if someone opened the door too quickly, in which case they knew it was their fault the moment it happened and could let people know what was going on.)