"To those who've never been, no words can explain it. To those who have, no words are necessary"
When I was prepping for my first burn, one of my campmates used to throw it at me from time to time as he patiently tried to answer the many questions I had. Then afterwards it was in that Beyond Black Rock documentary that came out post-burn. It seemed very prophetic. With the rise of sites like flickr and youtube I haven't heard others use it as much as they used to, but it still rings true.
The dust is corrosive, but it's not acid. It's the opposite, actually. Alkali is a strong base (remember doing litmus test stuff in chemistry class?), on the opposite side of the pH scale. That's why people recommend washing stuff with vinegar, it's a cheap, readily available solution on the acidic end of the scale that counters and neutralizes the dust. I love the smell of the dust too - I used to bring a small bag home with me at the end of every burn. I stopped after moving to SF, my gf really didn't like the idea of having tightly wrapped "playa bombs" unleashing a dusty apocalypse. Besides, our lives (and brains) are pretty playafied - there's plenty of exposure to the stuff (and the smell) in our van and our storage space.
Savannah - look into steampunk. The running gag is steampunk is goths who've discovered brown, but closer to the truth is it's industrial/goth burners and designers who wanted something that would coordinate better with the playa
Nearly went bust yesterday on a big plywood buy, grabbed 20 more sheets to cover all the parts that still need to be cut. The guy I've been working with at the lumber yard has been fantastic, keeping a stash aside for me (it was a special buy material) for the last month and a half, but I needed to make sure we got all our needs covered on the project as soon as possible. If that had run out the alternative choice didn't look as good, wasn't as strong, and cost nearly twice the price.
And then in the oddball purchase department, I finally figured out the right combination of keywords to use to order a new handle for the sliding door on our cargo van. The playa has a tendency to make plastics more brittle and susceptible to breaking over time, and that goes for door handles too. Shortly after getting back last year (the van's 7th or 8th trip to the playa, I think) the handle snapped off like a dry twig, and it's been in the 'meaning to get fixed before we go back to the playa' pile since.
early 20's neighbor lady came out and watched a bit 
If I (personally) wear black, I feel like I'm fighting the dust. If I wear dust-colored, I feel like I am the dust. 
