All Quiet on the Eastern Front

...and the Northern and Southern fronts supposedly. The West is still a problem, but not as much because evacuation orders have been downgraded to warnings. And we finally went one full day without a power outage. So, 10,000 acres and $10 million later, the Gap Fire is more than 50% contained. That's a good thing. That means I no longer walk outside and see this:

I do, however, walk outside and see layers of ash and dust everywhere. When you walk along the sidewalk, a puff of dirt surrounds you with each footstep. Kinda like Pigpen of Peanuts fame. The air quality is only slightly better than Beijing. Therefore, I've adopted this new fire fashion:

It's really catching on - all the cool kids are doing it! And, yes, that is a picture of Peter Sarsgaard on the mask, which is only funny if you're familiar with the SNL Sars Guards masks. Click here to get familiar. And then go ahead and roll your eyes at me.

Despite my ability to turn an emergency into something as inane as a fashion statement, I really am quite grateful that I can upack my evacuation suitcase today. Hopefully it's going back in the closet for good.