Betty, at the risk of hijacking the thread, what was unusual about the Nisqually quake (and we live right on top of the epicenter) was that it lasted so darn long. That was the longest 45 seconds of my life.

No, I don't teach in the morning; I had finished practicing, and was sitting in the chair next to the fire place reading when it hit. I rushed to get the tv on and the quake was just hitting Seattle. Kind of spooky!

The psychological after-effects were kind of weird. Flying was unsettling; every bump made me think we were having another quake, an obvious impossibility at 39,000 ft!