When I heard about the rumblings in Mt. St. Helens about three days ago then heard about the quake in the bay area I wondered if this might be something larger to come. I sure hope not. And as for this whole blame game thing, knock it off before you even start.

I heard on the news that there has also been some activity at Mammoth Mountain. Some toxic gasses were released which caused trees to die, but it didn't say when that happened. It could have been yeterday, but was more likely some time ago

I was at my sister's house outside SF when there was a small quake the same day that Princess Diana died. We were watching a news break-in announcing her death and the next minute there was this thud like someone had kicked the wall. I immediately asked what it was, and they immediately knew -- an earthquake.

It was over before I had time to gauge my own response. I wish these hurricanes were as inconsequential as that.

Did not feel anything in the financial district of San Francisco sitting at the desk. Was probably on Fodor's that's why :)

Now feeling lightheaded is a completely different story, has nothing to do with the quakes, no?

I live in the southern section of the Sacramento valley. I did feel, for a moment, odd, dizzy, lightheaded, whatever. Kept thinking about it, went onto sfgate.com 30 minutes later and read there had been the earthquake. It was strange because I was at my dining room table (I was on my laptop). Don't think my chandeler swayed but not sure because I had not looked up at it as I didn't think of an earthquake in that moment. Just wondered what was wrong with me. Have family in Florida, confirmed yesterday that they are alright. Have family in Portland OR. They arrived there 10 days before Mt. St. Helens blew in 1980. So we all called each other yesterday to check on each other. Too strange. Born and raised in CA, the east bay. I think, personally, that I would take an earthquake over what the residents of Florida have been through

There was a bit of a boom and a little jolt in my office in Santa Monica, but I was packing boxes to move to my new office, and there's construction going on in my suite, so initially I thought it was the construction workers. Then I heard about the earthquake. Hope everyone up in the Parkfield/Paso Robles area is OK.

Others have given good answers about the varying nature of the "feel" of an earthquake. The massive Northridge quake of 1994 (which threw several buildings around like Legos up in the SF Valley) was a long rolling shaker by the time the seismic waves hit Torrance (where I was living). But it was still LOUD! Sizable quakes create sound waves in the earth that generate noise as they hit buildings-- and then the shock waves hit that can do the damage.

I went to the USGS website-- some joker from Glen Ellyn IL wrote in to say he/she felt it!! I'm so sure...!

I remember the Loma Prieta as occurring with a lot of accompanying noise simply because it was a hot day, everyone's windows were open, and you could hear furniture, dishes, etc. crashing to the floor very clearly!
Some very observant friends of mine in rural Sonoma have noticed that right before a quake, there is a split-second where all the birds and insects stop making any noise at all, and everything seems "too quiet".
An office mate of mine said yesterday that she felt her rear end shaking whilst sitting in her chair - how's that for the saying "shake your money-maker"!

Ah Loma Prieta. I was at work in a recently retrofitted part of the hospital. I had just finished feeding a baby and was standing up with him in my arms. There was this very loud noise, the floor actually shifted and all the power went out. I remember thinking to myself "this is where the walls cave in..sit down". That quake seemed to go on forever. Many of the houses in our neighborhood(with three springfed lakes) were condemned. We were living in SF at thae time. I met up with someone visiting our neighbors who was stuck in a downtown highrise for the quake. His comment to me was "I can't believe you live with this all the time". To which I replied, this is not all the time..if it were, SF would be known for drinking scotch straight up rather than for sipping its chardonnay!