There were two quakes this evening: a magnitude 4 shock around 6:30, and a magnitude 3 shock a while later. The epicenter was in Piedmont, just a few miles away. If I was a doomsayer, I might interpret the combination of dry lightning, earthquakes, and the prominence of Mars as inauspicious signs. Fortunately, I'm not a doomsayer.

I was tempted toward doomsaying on the BART ride home, though. The first Richmond-bound train to arrive in the station after I got there sat for about fifteen minutes before disboarding all passengers and going on its way. One of the doors was stuck, and so it was officially Out of Service. Most of the passengers couldn't hear the tinny voice of the PA system asking them to step back so the train could depart; consequently, it took a while for the train to leave even once it was emptied. I had misadventures with BART in the morning, too; the machines were mightily unhappy about my ticket, for reasons that neither I nor the station agent understood. He fished the ticket out of one of the machines, shrugged, and said Did you put any more money on it? No? Well, try the other machine and see what happens.

What happened, fortunately, is that it worked.

I bought technical books this morning: Batchelor's fluid mechanics text, Chandler's little green book on statistical mechanics, the SPICE book, and a book on multiscale modeling. None of the texts was exorbitantly priced, but they weren't cheap, either. I think I just spent most of my planned allotment for books for the month. Even with the expense of money and shelf space, though, I've rarely regretted acquiring a technical book. They are the tools of the trade.

To the curious anonymous asker: the title Tea Total for this blog is a pun on teetotal, a verb which means to abstain from alcohol. I chose the name because I enjoy tea and puns.

• Currently drinking: Water.