Earthquakes and hurricanes and Steve Jobs quits. Oh my!

I know you heard we had an earthquake here in the mid-Atlantic.  I know you heard about it, because the bureaucrats in Washington, DC felt it.  Yep, the president of the United States felt it.  He was in Martha's Vineyard, golfing, but he felt it.  The Washington Monument is broken.  The National Cathedral is broken.  Our government got half a day off on Tuesday.  And, the news outlets got something to talk about.  Yep, Tuesday, August 23 at 1:51 p.m. the EASTERN seacoast had an earthquake.  (take that California)  Personally, I was at my desk, working, when the quake hit.  I am an experienced earthquake survivor.  I recognized the shaking for exactly what it was, said "earthquake" (loud) and ran from the building.  I was the first one out.  Evidently my character has been revealed.  When in a disaster situation, I will get myself out of harm's way and leave my co-workers to fend for themselves.  Now we know.  In case there was any curiosity as to whether I would hold the door open and usher folks to safety, the answer is "no, I won't be doing that."  I was living in Monterey, CA during the October 1989 quake.  I was nearly scared to death.  That was the biggest shaker I've ever felt.  The Bay Bridge collapsed.  The Cypress Freeway in Oakland collapsed.  I didn't have power for a week.  My neighbor's houses were broken.  It was a disaster.  I lived in Naples, Italy from 1984-1987.  We had tremors regularly.  The city of Pozzuoli was, effectively, closed after an earthquake in 1983.  The tremors lasted all of '84 and '85.  These were my first earthquakes.  I remember the first night I was to sleep in the hotel after moving to Italy, there were 30 tremors.  Needless to say, I didn't sleep.  I have survived another earthquake.

Also, we have a hurricane on the way.  Irene.  I really don't like hurricanes.  They are messy.  You know they are coming.  You try to prepare.  You hope you have enough clean water.  You know you won't be having a hot shower.  Then you clean up the mess.  I keep hoping, hoping, and then hoping a bit more for Irene to travel east.  Please Irene, travel out into the Atlantic.  We don't want you here.  I am much luckier in the hurricane disaster area.  I've only experienced hurricane Isabelle.  It was a mess.  I was scared.  We didn't have power for 5 days.  We were ok.  Our house was ok.  We lost about 30 trees on our property, but not one of them hit the house.  I hope I haven't used up all my hurricane luck.  I'm not looking forward to Irene.  But, I know she's coming.

Lastly, Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple.  I'm hoping this is not the disaster so many think it will be.  I don't think it will be.  We've known Steve has had failing health for quite a while.  We've seen this coming, too.  Like Steve, I believe Apple's finest and most innovative days are ahead of them.  I have confidence in Tim Cook.  I'm a Mac.  I know I told you this in my 100 things post.  I'll bet most of you have Apple stock in your mutual funds.  Just sayin'.  I hope Steve Jobs can get better.  He's so young.  It's very sad.  However, I don't think it's the end of Apple.

Ok, there you have it.  Three disaster situations.  You decide.  Is it the end of the world?