I was standing at the island in the kitchen of my newly built home.

I was pouring a glass of Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon that had about 1/4 gram of cocaine added (A Thomas Edison favorite).

I was only a few miles from the epicenter in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

When the P wave hit it was really "frisky". I instantly (intuitively?) knew a big S wave was coming. I quickly grabbed the door jamb of the pantry. It was like a whip, I had no idea they could get so violent. I remember having two simultaneous thoughts, "Holy shit!" and "Things will never be the same again."

Geologist Jim Berkland had told me he was predicting a magnitude 6.5. I thought to myself, if this is a 6.5 I never want to see a 7.0.

My giant theater speakers were hanging on chains, the eye bolts punched holes in the sheet rock walls to the north and south. A 45" Mitsubishi rear projection TV fell off a stand and landed on it's face.

I had a 5 kW generator and a transfer switch, but on a test one week before it had failed.

I nearly had a 1000 gal. propane tank roll down the hill onto the house.

A few seams in the drywall opened up, but there was no structural damage. The house was built for quakes.

Being alone up in the woods, all of the aftershocks made my nice home seem really spooky. I called my cab driver friend (Doody) and had him drive me to Lake Tahoe, where I spent 6 weeks. I arranged for my neighbors to feed my cats.

The wet bar and refrigerator emptied onto the floor. The pantry shelves emptied and there was broken glass, tomato and chocolate sauce all over the pantry floor. It was days before I could open the trap door to the wine cellar. All of the wine was safe in cartons on the floor. One bottle fell off the cartons and broke. The contents of the bottle simply ran out the floor drain.

I let Doody rent the 5th wheel trailer on the south lot. It was less "spooky" having someone living nearby.