Whenever I have had a subbing day this year it has almost always been a result of getting up early and hitting the web. Last night I was able to secure a job in 6th grade a little after 10 which didn’t have a start time until almost 8:30, meaning I could sleep in, at least a little bit. Okay, knowing about the snow meant I should be up about 20 minutes earlier to get shoveling out of the way. Still, I could get up about an hour later than usual. Of course you know something was bound to happen, and happen it did at about 4AM. That’s when I was jarred out of my sleep by what I thought then was the neighbors slamming the door. It took me about a half hour to get back to sleep. I was worried because it didn’t sound like a door slamming, but what else could it be. Well, eventually I did get up at about 6:45 and didn’t worry about it all day. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite early enough as there was more snow than I would have hoped waiting to be shoveled, making me a little bit late. At least I still arrived before the kids.
.
Yesterday I subbed for music at one of hometown district’s middle schools- I actually got a call for it about five minutes before the alarm was set to go off. Very uneventful. We watched videos in all classes. At least I got to see Blue Man Group, a group I had never heard before though I of course knew about them. Other class videos included Stomp and The Wizard of Oz. Today I was excited because I was subbing in an elementary school, and what that usually means is getting to teach instead of just babysit. Well, not so much. The plans didn’t include videos, but they did include a test, lots of reading and working on their own, and skit performances for social studies, in which they are studying Greek Mythology- a topic I really enjoyed myself when I was in 6th grade. Well, there was a spelling game too, and at least that was interactive. I also worked in a short math review not on the plans before they started working on their assignment, and at least one other subject, vocabulary, was more interactive as well. Additionally, I worked in some word puzzles which I like to do in elementary classes. Definitely a more productive day for me than yesterday, overall.
.
So back to what woke me up. On one of the forums I read someone who I know lives around here made a post humorously telling California to keep the earthquakes to themselves. Say what? I read his post then had to go to my newspaper website to see just what he was talking about. Sure enough, there was a 3.5 magnitude earthquake a short distance from us. An earthquake. In Illinois. At 3:59AM. That’s right, not a slamming door. Well, I guess if our tornadoes can be exported to other areas, I shouldn’t be surprised when earthquakes are imported to our relatively-geologically-stable part of the country. Here’s a link to the story (click the title), and a short excerpt:
Small earthquake wakes up northern Illinois
To some, it sounded like a train derailing, a snowplow taking out a car, a plane crash, a sonic boom.
To dogs, it was clearly something to panic about.
But the U.S. Geological Survey said what woke people well before dawn Wednesday was a mild, 3.8 magnitude earthquake whose epicenter was about three miles beneath a farm field a short distance south of Pingree Grove, near Route 20 and Switzer Road in western Kane County.
It started rumbling at 3:59 a.m. Wednesday and lasted just seven seconds.
That’s funny… I just read about the quake in the Times. You made the local paper! Well… maybe not you personally… I remember being awaken similarly a year or so ago.
I thought the idea of an earthquake in the midwest was preposterous when I was younger. Then I felt one in 1979 or 1980. I looked up (in an actual encyclopedia) about any faults in the area. I found out about the New Madrid fault. This is the cause of the recent Chicago quake and most quakes felt in NW Ohio. Interesting. I remember reading about a quake that caused the Mississippi river to flow backward.
I saw it on cnn and they had people from Elgin and St. Charles saying they felt it – guess it was centered in Sugar Grove. My parents didn’t wake up, but everyone at my mom’s work felt it. I guess their pets went nuts just before their humans felt it, probably cuz they felt it first or heard the earth shaking before humans felt it. I didn’t feel the one in Ohio, and I have to admit that I don’t know the first thing about what to do in case of a quake – go outside? Crouch in a door frame?
@justj – Mississippi River flowing backward? Fascinating… temporary, though, right?
Earthquakes in IL are usually centered in the southern part of the state, which is what I thought was the case when I saw the headline on cnn. Didn’t click on it until it said NORTHERN IL. Glad you are safe.
No worries about the Mississippi River with this quake. 🙂
@Justj: Thanks for the extra info. The story I linked to says it was a previously unknown fault line. Have they linked this line to the New Madrid fault? I only read the one story.
@Taylhis: Maybe fall down and worship our Lord because an earthquake in this region with enough strength to make us wonder what we should do is a sign of the end? 😮
That said, I don’t know what we should do either aside from that.
I never heard of an earthquake in Illinois!
Derek, I found a site for the New Madrid fault and it listed the latest Chicago earth quake as one associated with the fault.