Superficial Distractions

First off, here's the pile of meat my boyfriend had at dinner last night:


Okay, okay. I know. You can probably tell it's a pizza. But to me it looked like a big plate of raw, shiny meat. Ick. It's actually prosciutto and my boyfriend ate it all. Blech - all things ham make me nauseous. I opted for the butternut squash ravioli with sage butter. Mmm.

You can probably tell that I'm still trying to keep my mind off of this: Bozeman Explosion.

I've been doing a butt-load of graphic design work. And e-shopping. And actual shopping. I'm going to refrain from telling you about the design stuff. I will, however, tell you about shopping. Because I'm sure it's thrilling to read about. If you disagree, just ignore that this post ever happened. I'm practicing avoidance by looking for shiny things to distract me. Otherwise I'll keep dwelling on the utter crappiness of last week.

Post-dinner last night, I dropped by Best Buy and instinctively picked up this:

I have a habit of judging books and video games by their covers. Luckily, this seems to turn out well for me. The last game I randomly picked up was Divine Divinity. Weird, off-putting name, but it's a great game. So far Tales of Vesperia seems to be pretty great as well. It feels very old-school RPG in format, but the look is standard Anime - as I'm sure you can tell by the cover. The graphics are pretty fun. Anyhoo...on to other exciting things.

Shoes.

Shoes are a problem for me. I really enjoy them, aesthetically. Unfortunately I have weird feet. And a bum ankle. (Which slowly continues to improve, but I'm still stuck with settling for less than fantastic shoes.)

Summer is coming here in LA, so I found myself gazing at these puppies:


Sigh. I'll be able to wear heels again eventually. These also caught my eye:A not-too-high wedge, I think. Unfortunately I have oddly short toes, so sandals end up looking strange most of the time. Plus that ankle issue I mentioned earlier

This pair totally repulsed me, and I didn't bother to find a better photo online:


Unfortunately, I ended up buying a ton of "meh" shoes. The last time I bothered to shoe shop was last October. I kind of might have totally worn out some of those already.

Don't tell anyone that cares about fashion, but I bought some clogs with a squishy lining. They are very, very comfortable. Which is pretty much a style no-no, but what can I do? I also got some sandals that were barely a step up from flip-flops. And a pair of penny loaferish flats and black ballet flats (with a twist). I desperately needed more work-appropriate foot attire.

I was going to indulge in photographing them, but I'm actually not really proud to wear them.

Some of my goals for the year include buying things I like at the time I discover 'em (they disappear otherwise) and learning to cope with transition pieces. Sometimes I can't find or afford something when I need it. Rather than going without, I am trying to be at peace with things that I think are only so-so.

My thoughts are with Bozeman, MT

I often joke about how I felt incompatible with Montana living. I rarely talk about why I also love it.

Today I must share with you how much I enjoyed my college town. There's something really wonderful about how warm and friendly everyone is. It's a tight-knit community, and the people there are truly willing to help out one another. They care deeply about their neighbors, and the tragic events yesterday ended up highlighting the benefits of living in a smaller town.

Bozeman Explosion

The peaceful, beautiful quiet that occurs in Montana after a snowstorm was violently disrupted by an enormous explosion in the downtown area yesterday morning. The landscape of historic Main Street was forever altered when a gas explosion took out Boodles restaurant and bar and caused severe structural damage to nearby buildings. As the day progressed, several other businesses were completely lost or severely damaged by a fire that raged for approximately 15 hours as emergency crews tried valiantly to shut off the antiquated gas lines. Broken glass and debris littered the streets blocks away from the burning buildings.

Image taken shortly after the initial explosion from: Bozexplod

Businesses destroyed included Boodles, the American Legion, the Rocking R bar, the Montana Trails Art Gallery, Lily Lu's children's store and the Pickle Barrel, which is inside the Rocking R. "The Rocky Mountain Rug Gallery and Starky's Delicatessen were also significantly impacted by the explosion and subsequent fire."

Some of the businesses that sustained damage were Odyssey, Ro Sham Bo, The Root, Girls Outdoors, Earth’s Treasures, Barrel Mountaineering, Helly Hansen and Western Drug. Even City Hall, many blocks away, had a broken window.

I signed onto Gchat yesterday morning to initially discover the news via a good friend's "status." She confirmed that she was fine and my first instinct was to call my mother and check on the location of my little brother and family friends. Next I hopped online to see what information I could find.

At first, I found the news coverage on the local press websites to be lacking. Eventually, I ended up turning to one of my Facebook friends. He started this: Twitter Feed, Bozexplod.

Thanks to Twitter, I was able to get real time updates of all of the emergency efforts in Bozeman. Each of the dedicated individuals on the feed spent their time relaying important information on resources for those affected by the day's events - where to stay, how to find information on missing persons, how to help, etcetera.

Thanks to the constant stream of "tweets" I knew exactly when 11 people were missing. I found out that the number had been reduced to five. Then one. I knew which businesses had been effected. I knew which streets were closed and how emergency crews were working to minimize the impact the streaming gas and raging fires would have on the community. I knew how far away the smoke could be seen and I had galleries upon galleries of constantly updated photostreams documenting the damage and the progress of emergency workers. I knew the governor had flown in and the National Guard was on call.

I knew this all from my office in Los Angeles, California.

To me, this is the power of social media. It is immediate, it is fluid. It can bring together people and resources on a level that more traditional media never has. Of course there were some tasteless individuals that attempted to RickRoll the feed. A few contributed conjecture and/or incorrect information. They were quickly weeded out and quieted by the dedicated individuals that flooded the web with truly useful information - far before the major media outlets picked up on the news.

Surprisingly and thankfully, no injuries were reported. However, there is one woman confirmed missing and crews were unable to begin sorting through the rubble until today. My thoughts are with her family and friends.

*EDIT* P.S. For those of you in and around the Bozeman area, please support the hell out of the businesses downtown that are open. It's a vibrant, fantastic downtown and I know you'll band together to help make it even better than it was before. */EDIT*

*2nd EDIT*
From: Digg

*/2nd Edit*