<p>Yep. Seems fine now. Pentagon was evacuated, but DH just called and he’s back in his office now. I’ve never felt such a strong earthquake before.</p>
<p>Y’all posted faster than the CNN Breaking News email got to me!</p>
<p>Wow, go away for a few days and look at how many posts have piled up!
I haven’t gotten through all of them yet…</p>
<p>Congrats to all that have moved in; they all sound pretty successful. For those who haven’t yet, know that the stress beforehand is worse than the actual event.</p>
<p>We moved DD into her dorm Fri, a few days early for her PreO (Habitat for Humanity). Flew out Thurs with 5 checked bags (Thank you, Southwest!) among the the 3 of us, and picked up another box of “hand-me-downs” from Ds’s GF’s apartment on the way to the hotel. Fri AM, picked up keys & ID cards, schlepped all the stuff into her dorm.4th floor, no elevator! We all got our workout. Spent an hour or so messing w/ furniture, then unpacked. Made the afternoon run to the mall for the BB&B stuff, then hung out until the evening, when we walked her over to the welcome picnic for her group. Got goodbye hugs out of sight of the others, then DH & I had a leisurely, somewhat quiet dinner at a nice Italian restaurant near the hotel. Flew back Sat, thought things went pretty well.</p>
<p>Sunday, DS thought it was funny that, by lunchtime we had gotten an email, text, and phone call from her before lunchtime. Still thought everything was basically OK until dinner, when the phone rang. When DH picked it up, I could hear her crying over the phone in the next room! Seems she got cold & wet working outside when a thunderstorm blew up. Came back to the a/c dorm room–very cold. So she decided to take a hot shower–no hot water!!! That, and the fact that there wasn’t anyone around to commiserate with, triggered a total meltdown. I ended up spending almost an hour over the phone talking her down. Didn’t sleep well that night.</p>
<p>Texted her yesterday, just asking how things were going? One word answer: “Fine”.
ARRGH! </p>
<p>Actually, it turned out she had already texted Dad that things were better; a suitemate was moving in, and she had hot water in the morning. So I guess she was mostly venting on Sunday night. A little bump in the road that I am likely to remember for a lot longer than she will.</p>
<p>Felt it here in PA - I’m an hour north of Philadelphia and 1 1/2 hours southwest of NYC. I’m at work and none of us knew what was going on. Weird, but not scary.</p>
<p>^^^We’re kind of used to them here; didn’t know you got them! 6.2 is pretty strong. Hope no one got hurt.</p>
<p>For anyone not familiar with the area Mineral Virginia is right near Charlottesville… so Bluejr is right at the epicenter. Excellent. 
I’m sure he is fine, although he hasn’t returned texts yet.</p>
<p>I felt it here (nyc).
Since I didn’t check the news, I was wondering what it was (a very light strange buzzing noise) until I read this!</p>
<p>Our office building shook here in NYC, ran down 32 floors, then we learned it was the earthquake, were told we could go back up. Better than the alternative.</p>
<p>Dh felt it at his office in the middle of NJ (Bridgewater area) and txted me. Hope Blue wasn’t too shocked, it isn’t like these things are typical! Or expected!</p>
<p>BI–Cell service has been sketchy. No service here at first, then texts were going thru. He might not have service yet.</p>
<p>^ yea, thanks for the reminder. Texts tend to go through quicker, but even those can be slow. He just got back with me. He was just leaving class. He says everyone is okay as far as he knows. I haven’t received any emergency alerts from the school which is odd. I’ll have to double check to make sure my phone was properly registered. After we worry about the student safety I honestly worry about the structural damage there at UVa. It is a world heritage site. There are structural issues that are currently being addressed at the Rotunda. I hope that any damage is minimal. Architecture there, Monticello, and in Montpilier are really amazing. There were initial statements saying that the Washington Monument was possibly leaning.</p>
<p>Okay…gotta run, Bluedad’s been evacuated and he has underground parking so there’s no getting his car today. Guess I’ll have to figure out how to retrieve him. This brings back horrible, horrible memories of 9/11 for so many of us…</p>
<p>BI–hang in there! My DH had to go back to work! He’s at the Pentagon. Guess your DH gets a few hours off, that’s if he can get home! Hopefully roads are all OK.</p>
<p>Wow! DH felt the earthquake here in Boston in his 33d fl. office. I missed it; I was in the car, so the tires probably absorbed it and the roads are so bad I probably put the shaking down to awful paving. Just saw a Facebook posting from a friend that one of the spires is down at the National Cathedral.</p>
<p>I had planned to hold off on care packages until early October. However, D and S (HS '14) developed an obsession with penuche fudge in Maine this summer. S has vowed to learn to make it “right”. He is obsessive about stuff like this, so I have no doubt it will happen. He spent a whole summer making chocolate mousse 1-2 times a week, and now makes the best mousse I have ever eaten. D made him promise to send samples of his progress, so I am now envisioning weekly care packages and thinking about non-fudge items I can slip in for fun. Good thing D shares a common room with 9 other young women, or we might be the culprits in the ‘freshman 15’.</p>
<p>D was in the side-sleeping era, but we had a foam insert we could put her into to keep her in position. I always felt guilty that she couldn’t roll around, but I was more of a rule-keeper in those days.</p>
<p>thoughts and prayers for safety for all our CC friends and family!</p>
<p>DS’s birthday is mid Sept so we always sent a care package then. DD’s birthday not until Thanksgiving, so I’ll have to come up with another excuse. We’ll see her early Oct, so I don’t know when we’ll send something.</p>
<p>Thanks VAMom2015…thinking of your DH and those he works with at the Pentagon today. The noise and movement had to be terribly traumatic. Bluedad is at some undisclosed location…super.</p>
<p>You know how animals can detect these things…Bluepup was outside with me and insisted on coming inside and then went down to the basement. She’s been acting ‘off’ since Bluejr left so we didn’t think anything about it. Now I feel bad for ignoring her… :(</p>
<p>My thoughts are with everyone in this latest round of worry (special hugs to those with kids newly moved to the affected areas). D1 posted on FB today all of the various natural disasters she’s already experienced, and about the only ones left are a volcano eruption and a tidal wave. She’s feeling pretty lucky. </p>
<p>I’m joining the weepers today … I can feel it coming. I really don’t want to watch D say goodbye to her pets. That feels sadder than saying goodbye to her myself. Also, she still isn’t talking about how she and BF are going to handle this separation, so I’m feeling like I can’t do or say anything supportive. Sigh.</p>
<p>Hi All</p>
<p>Thinking of everyone in the “zone” - pretty unusual for that part of the nation. I think the news connecting this to the 10th anniversary is very irresponsible…these are completely different events. Stirring up fear does our nation no good.
Right now CNN isn’t giving any real details about damage yet…however they are talking about aftershocks around 2.5…</p>
<p>Segue…Does anyone remember the silly movie BedTime Stories…</p>
<p>Right now I am feeling “under-demeciated” ie unappreciated.</p>
<p>I have printed out the mailing/packages instructions about 3-4 times in the last few months–even at least once in the last 10 days.
Do you think kiddo can find it???
Uh, no–because the maps, info and papers. move in info, printouts of preferred classes kiddo has selected, etc etc is all<br>
???<br>
what ???
overwhelming ???</p>
<p>Kiddo special ordered something and it hasn’t arrived–so the delivery address and method must be changed…Otherwise it will be overnighted to the house and kiddo will be in college --and some methods cannot be sent to the PO Box…
So kiddo needs to know the scoop…</p>
<p>Kiddo packed the laundrey label stamp without using it…this after I said what it was for–that there is a black and white one–and both kiddo and sibling will need them…
Had that conversation looking right at kiddo sitting on the bed…
So I guess those tightly packed duffle bags will be redone??? IDK</p>
<p>And the papers for HIPPA, FERPA, and so on… need to be done…have been moved from pile to pile for 2 weeks…
Kiddo is ready to just “go” yet so many details are “forgotten”…
Uh, Has kiddo emailed the student who is part of FCA yet, uh no…that person tried to reach kiddo a week ago…</p>
<p>OK–so while kiddo is so excited to GO, all of those little details aren’t done…</p>
<p>We are scheduled to leave with S and drive to his school in DC this Friday. He received an emergency alert on the school system advising that all school buildings at Georgetown were being evacuated due to the earthquake. He then got a follow-up message indicating all buildings were closed until further notice. I sure hope they get this resolved before this weekend when roughly 6,000 students decend on the campus for move-in. I appreciate the need for safety and building inspections but this could really cause some problems for this coming weekend.</p>