I think the most awesome thing about the quake so far has been the Twitter propagation outrunning the quake itself -- New Yorkers getting the tweets about the quake, then feeling the quake. (At least you were listening to the radio; I would've had a CD in and not noticed a thing.) Though the information that the Virginia quake was 1/63000th the power of the Japan quake might keep me up at night.

And yeah, it almost leaves you with a moral obligation when something that noteworthy happens, that you have to use it as an excuse. (Glad the doc was able to get you in, regardless, after that drive. I'd have been in tears or homicidal if I'd been turned back. Or both.)