The first one I ever felt hit midmorning one day while I was hard at work dispensing technical support on the phone. My office was on the third floor of 3098 Highland Drive in Salt Lake City, a low rise office building. As I was seated at my desk with my head down staring at the floor and yapping into my headset I noticed my chair starting to rock back and forth ever so slightly on its wheels. About that same time, my officemate Dan said aloud 'I think we're having an earthquake.' Truly excited, I put the call on mute and jumped to my feet, but in that brief second the quake stopped. I stood expecting to feel more shaking, but there was nothing but rock steady disappointment. And of course there was no damage---it was probably what I would call a magnitude 2.5 or so quake.
The second quake I felt in Utah hit in the darkness of night while I was sleeping. I remember waking up and realizing that my hands were gripping the sides of my bed. As I became more conscious, I realized that my bed was gently shaking. Again the quake wasn't a big one, it quickly faded and I returned to sleep shortly thereafter. In the morning, I dismissed the episode as a dream until I saw the news mention a magnitude 5 quake near Afton, Wyoming. The quake had been felt on the east side of town (where I was living) because the rock in the Wasatch Mountains had transmitted the shaking rather well. Most of the Valley---being built on wash material, not rock---felt nothing.
Neither of these quakes were anything special. Minor temblors good for a brief adrenaline rush, nothing more...
Of additional note, while I was living in Utah the Kobe and Northridge quakes occurred. I remember watching coverage of both on television while at work at Sculptured Software. The image I will always have of Northridge is the aerial shot of the water and natural gas main break where the gas was burning. Such a strange sight.
