I was up quite late working on a report for work. I am now incredibly tired. For some reason I thought it was Wednesday when I woke up, though it was clearly Thursday when I went to bed at 3:30.

I got a huge coffee mug from 7-11 (20 oz) and everybody kind of chuckles when they see it, like I’m a huge caffeine freak or something. Never mind that I haven’t put coffee in it, it is usually hot chocolate or sometimes tea. I’ve gotten into the habit of stopping at 7-11 for a 79c hot chocolate in the morning, which is like 1.09 in a disposable cup, so I’m saving money and helping the environment.

Speaking of helping the environment, Ambar mentioned the possibility of using vegetable oil to power diesel vehicles, and I have been reading up on that. Check out www.veggievan.org for info. Kind of makes me want to get a diesel car. From the look of the forums, there are places that sell “biodiesel” which is made from recycled restaurant oil, and smaller parts alcohol and lye, which works just like auto diesel and burns cleaner. Problems include the awkwardness of making it yourself (since you need large filtering and blending equipment) and possible contamination with beef fat (it produces fuel, but it contains chunks that must be heated before burning). Apparently the EPA cracked down on some guy wanting to sell it, because you need “certification of the fuel” which costs like a million dollars in order to sell it. There are supposedly places around the bay area where you can get Biodiesel for like $3 a gallon. You can also modify your vehicle to run on straight vegetable oil (SVO). I’m surprised there isn’t more of an effort to reclaim waste grease and recycle it into fuel.

Enough for now.