Nic & Josh - Our First Earthquake experience

When the 6.5 San Simeon earthquake occured, both Nicole and I were at work. Seems like everyone around us immediately felt it and were freaking out. I was working at my computer when it happened. I was completely clueless that it was happening. I guess I was concentrating too hard to realize that the window blinds were swaying back and forth about 5-6 inches. After it happened, everyone got up and starting talking about it. I was asking what they were referring to and then it hit me. I just experienced my first earthquake of decent scale.

About 5 minutes after it happened, Nicole called me concerned about it and making sure things were ok at my office. I had no idea what happened. I tell ya, work may end up killing me someday just because I wasn't aware of what just occurred. 15 Minutes after the event, I became a little dizzy as most people experience after a Rolling quake. Rolling is what the land did in this earthquake. Its either Rolling, Jarring or both. Most people think that Earthquakes are like the ones in Superman movies where everything is shaken back and forth. This case was a rolling effect.

The earthquake's center of activity occured in San Simeon which is where Hearst Castle sits. Frank & Connie recently visited Hearst Castle during their extended thanksgiving vacation. Nicole and I had honeymooned there as well. The castle wasn't bothered structurally, not even any cracks. William Randolf-Hearst built the castle on top of a large concrete slab foundation for these purposes. Smart man.

California actually has hundreds of earthquakes weekly as shown from the US Geological Service's map: