That was fun, being woken up at 4:30 by the whole house shaking, firmly and evenly. There was nothing tentative about it at all; it knew its own strength. The conversation was more or less:

Her: "What was that?"

Me: "What the hell?"

"It's an earthquake."

"In the Midwest?"

"Thats the only thing it could be."

Then it was over. The whole thing couldn't have lasted more than 35 seconds. Of course I didn't sleep too well after that.

[Update: holy shit: aftershock at 10:16; they are saying that one waas 4.5, as opposed to the original 5.2].