I feel the Earth. Move. Under my feet

Huh. For a while this week I was relieved I was not trying to travel home for Christmas what with the 3-day closure of DIA, the thousands of strandings, and the tales of my family digging out from the Holiday Blizzard of '06. But now I'm not so sure...

This morning brought with it the third (third!) earthquake in less than 4 days. Yes, they've all been small -- minor really. But they've still made my apartment creak and shudder, rattling my shelves, windows and nerves. And weirdly, they've all been centered in the same spot on the Hayward Fault, directly beneath Berkeley on the other side of the Bay, maybe 12 miles away as the crow flies.

First was Wednesday evening just as we were leaving work. Then last night as I was sitting in my living room playing Guitar Hero -- until the couch abruptly lurched, that is. And now again this morning as I lounged in bed reading. Two 3.7s and a 3.5.

Are these little readjustments that are relieving some pressure along the fault and therefore decreasing the liklihood of a larger earthquake, or are they preliminary foreshocks, as it were, adding to the mounting strain and increasing the odds for the Big One? An occasional tremblor is interesting enough and to be expected in these parts, but given that I've just felt more in 63 hours than I had in the preceding two years, well, it makes one wonder. The Christmas Quake of '06 has a certain headline papery inevitability to it.

In any case, I'm getting dressed and going to replenish my water and canned-goods supply.