Running, biodiesel, etc

Wow, another 5 mile day! I'm actually starting to enjoy running like I did when I was in high school. I'm going for 6 on Saturday if everything is going well. The rampant cold/flu that has been in camp for a month now has got its claws on me and I'm trying to keep it at bay. I've got a cough, but no fever, etc. A little Robitussin at night helps me sleep and I wake up feeling pretty good.

Chris and I have decided to start running every day (except Sunday) and then work out in the afternoon. I rarely eat breakfast and lunch is all of about 15 minutes and a sandwich to go for dinner so I have plenty of time. My goal is ten miles before the end of the year. Funny, I can remember when my goal was to run the 4.3 mile perimeter road. Funnier still, when we started, I was having trouble with a mile.

On to the biodiesel part of today's notes. In my spare time I've been looking at alternative fuels. Yes I know I work for a company that makes most of its money off the oil and gas industry, but that doesn't mean I want to be a slave to the market. Soooo, with that in mind I've been looking at alternative means of power both for the home and the vehicle.

Biodiesel, for those who don't know what it is, is diesel fuel made with vegetable oil- commonly used fryer oil. This is the French fry oil at fast food restaurants, etc. When burned as fuel, it lubricates well, burns hotter and cleaner, and dumps less pollution into the air. All of these are good things. I've really gotten back on an environmental kick lately. The excess and waste in this country is appalling. I'm not talking about the army here, I'm talking about the Iraqis. I can't say much about the US except they do what they have to to dispose of waste. The Iraqis onto he other hand have no sense of environmental ethics that I can see. Kuwait was the same way. They just dump stuff wherever and I guess expect someone else to pick it up or Allah to take care of it or who knows...... There is every thing from food wrappers to cars and trucks scattered all over the place.

If you could collect and recycle just the plastic drink bottles here, you could make a fortune. Of course that would require investing in the technology to do so and that's still a limited market, but it's still an idea. Oh the places my mind goes sometimes.

Given the current state of the economy here and the unemployment rate and the fact that labor is so cheap, I'd love to see a CCC type program put into place (Civilian Conservation Corp for those of you wondering). The average person here will work for about $3/day with no real qualms about it. If all the numbnut zealots would quit blowing everything up, you could organize people into clean up crews to start cleaning up all of this mess. I'm not talking about just the trash, I'm talking about the war debris, and the junk that is everywhere. Put these people to work beautifying this place and you could have a halfway decent looking place. Fix the roads, clean up along them, repaint the towns and the mosques (they're usually quite colorful), start farming efficiently and practicing water conservation and quit fueding with the Jews and the Christians. When you think about the number of religious sites that are located here, and the number of people of all faiths who would love to see them, this place could do a booming religious tourism business. I know it sounds silly, but look how many people go to Israel to walk around and look at the desert. Hey, it could work I think.

Well I got off on a tangent, and it's time to go to bed so I'll call it quits for tonight........