Green Like Me

There are people who should embrace the most cutting edge technology/products and those who should just wait until they're available for general public.

Take the Beta version of any software. If you don't mind finding bugs and reporting them to Apple, Adobe, or the like, then go ahead, be the "test body". But, if like me, you're frustrated by the glitches whenever Apple rolls out their new OS (at work) and complain about the sluggishness of your new Windows Vista (at home), you should probably wait until the kinks are worked out.

There's a certain wow factor about having the first Prius, being the first person skating around on Rollerblades (if you can remember that long ago), or taking a picture with the camera implant in your eye, but it might not be worth the trouble.

Which is part of the reason I'm incredibly fascinated with SVO cars, that is, diesel cars which have been converted to run on Straight Vegetable Oil instead of diesel fuel, something Lovecraft Biofuels in LA has perfected and is taking nationwide. My friend Chris has one and it really amazes me that he can run it off old filtered vegetable oil he got from a Chinese food place.

But, as it turns out, you need to be a certain kind of person to own one of these cars.

1. The kind of person who likes to drive around in older cars that break down more often than newer cars (not me)
2. Someone who doesn't drive around with his/her tank almost at empty, because there are not Straight Vegetable Oil Stations on every corner (once, again, not me)
3. Someone who doesn't mind working out a business transaction for a car with a complete stranger who may, in fact, disappear the moment you hand them your money (yup, me again)

What probably brought this point home most strongly was that my Check Engine light in my VW Jetta came on, again,and it got me to thinking about the last time I checked the oil.

If you've never seen an oil dipstick cry, then I don't think you've lived.

The walk to Ralph's for 10W-40 actually gave me some time to think about this.

And make me consider that I should probably go back to riding my bike to work.