Exactly a year ago today I had one of the weirder experiences of my life as a reporter—maybe in my entire life—when the downtown office building I was sitting in for a Patch regional meeting began to shake.

My coworkers and I were at the AOL offices on Hull Street in Locust Point for a training session, talking about something especially mundane: how to use Twitter more effectively. As the quake began, a few of us exchanged glances and continued talking.

I remember thinking that the Underarmour employees must have been exercising on the roof—if you ever head down to the Tidepoint (now Underarmour) building, you'll see what I mean. Those people are constantly exercising.

As the rocking got more severe it was as though all 13 people in the room recognized what was going on at once. Conversations cut off mid-sentence, and everyone bolted for the exit stairwell.

Outside, after I found my wife (who happens to work for AOL) and made sure she was safe, the news cycle began.

In the minutes following the earthquake we recorded interviews with our iPhones, sent out updates through Facebook and Twitter, and kept an eye on what you were telling us.  

It wasn't long before we figured out that a magnitude 5.8 earthquake centered on an area near Richmond, VA and that it had been felt as far away as Canada.

The way that my Patch family worked during this disaster (it turned out not to be so serious, but it had potential) made me proud to be a reporter and reminded me of one of my first days on the job.

Last year's earthquake wasn't even the only bizzare weather event to happen to your Parkville-Overea editor. Before this site was even visible to the public, when I was still working on our directory, I was awakened by a phone call from Bryan Sears: "Nick, it's your journalism career calling," he said. "there was a tornado in Parkville."

But that's another story for another day.

Where were you during last year's earthquake on Aug. 23? Had you ever experienced anything like it? Tell us in the comments.