Less than an hour after the final tremors of the earthquake that rattled Catonsville and much of the east coast dissipated on Aug. 23, a T-shirt emblazoned with "I survived the Virginia Earthquake" was selling for $16.99 oneBay.
Tony Uzupus, who designed the T-shirt, said that within five hours of the quake, he had sold five shirts.
"I figured I'd strike while the iron was hot," said the 29-year-old Catonsville resident.
By Aug. 29, Uzupus had sold three dozen shirts to people from all over the east coast, including one in Catonsville.
Uzupus said orders are "still trickling in" but competition has increased as others have created shirts to commemorate the 5.8 magnitude earthquake.
Because the earthquake came as a surprise, Uzupus stood out for the speed in which he was able to get his design out there.
"It was just kind of dumb luck I guess," he said. "I threw it together in 10 minutes.
"T-shirts are a hit or miss thing."
While Uzupus had a hit with his earthquake shirts, he never felt a rumble, he said.
"I'm mad I didn't feel it," he said. "It's a once in a lifetime thing for it to happen here in Maryland."
The earthquake struck as Uzupus drove to his office in Woodlawn where he works in information technology and he said he never felt a thing.
Only after he arrived at the office and heard his co-workers talking nonstop about what had happened did he get his T-shirt idea.
His head start for his earthquake shirt didn't hold true for last weekend's hurricane.
Meteorologists had predicted that the storm would hit the east coast several days before it made landfall on Aug. 27.
So two days before the storm hit, Uzupus said he was still considering a few different designs.
He finally settled on one that said "Hurricane Irene got me wet" and posted it the day before the hurricane hit.
However, other shirt-makers had the same warning and time.
"I looked (on Aug. 25), and I had already found the Hurricane Irene T-shirts that say, 'I survived,'" Uzupus said, a touch of exasperation in his voice. "It hadn't even happened yet."
Timing isn't everything in the custom-shirt business, though.
"I think half of it's the shirt design," Uzupus said. "The other half is how you sell it."
On the website featuring his products, Uzupus said he tempts people into buying by writing about his product's limited supply and uniqueness.
Despite the increased competition, Uzupus said he had sold 12 of his hurricane T-shirts by Aug. 29.
"As far as what I'm used to doing, that's definitely a success," Uzupus said of his two most recent T-shirts.
Uzupus has capitalized on news-making events before in his shirt-making hobby.
"I look forward to anything that people start talking about that's newsworthy," said Uzupus, who graduated from Towson University in 2005 with a degree in mass communications. "It's unfortunate that it comes in the way of an earthquake or a natural disaster.
"I definitely wouldn't want to do something that capitalized on somebody else's misfortune."
Uzupus said he was fortunate when Hurricane Irene hit Catonsville on Aug. 27.
His property didn't sustain any damage and his power wasn't out for very long.
Designing T-shirts is a hobby for him, he said, and he's looking forward to his next design, even though he doesn't know what will inspire it.
"I'll hopefully come out with a new T-shirt soon," he said. "I don't know what it will be yet, but who knows what will happen in the news?"