Nagtagumpay! Success!

Tanong: Ano uminom ako Ricky?
Sagot: Ginebra San Miguel, poor man's Gin.


Question: Ricky, what did I drink?
Answer: San Miguel Gin, poor man's Gin.
4 shots of 70% alcohol as a small celebration or our successful installation of the vegetable oil system at Gammad Auto Shop. A gift from the team of mechanics. Yes, I’m still buzzed and being that this is a rare occasion, making the most of it. Writing.

We were supposed to have the undivided attention and assistance of one mechanic- Noli, but instead we had a team of 6 motivated, curious, and talented mechanics learning how to install the system in Ricky’s vehicle. It was a train the trainer event that wildly exceeded my expectations. We were done in 5 hours from our arrival and very informal viewing of the very informal briefing videos I made with my small digital camera.
After trying it out for a while we'll have a press conference about the project.
Shoe Mart (aka SM) , a huge department store here is interested in the converting a vehicle also. That's cool!
In these photos you can see the finished product with Ricky explaining the system to neighbors. It's exciting to see the excitement spread.

I’m at the Pusod office in Lipa City, Philippines. I first met these folks in 2001 at the Land, Air , Water Environmental Conference in Eugene, OR. Pusod means belly button in Tagalog. It is both the root of origin and also the point of nourishment. It is an environmental newspaper. They report on local environmental and social issues. Today, there is a buzz in the office. Yes, another one besides my own and I hear them talking in Tagalog about the relative cost of using waste vegetable oil or buying normal diesel. It’s a beautiful thing even that I understand them. Taglish helps also.

Now the question I know someone is dying to ask and that I’ve been asking myself and answering to the reporters today are various versions of “will this make a difference?” Yes, I say, because it will get invoke people’s curiosity about different possibilities and that is a powerful thing. There are other ways to do things and that is clearly obvious when doing something so different- that smells so much better also. You hardly notice the exhaust compared to the persistent flavor of sulfur that normally emanates from diesels trapped in the realm of dinosaurs and brimstone..aka sulfur emissions from a dirty fuel/by product of regular diesel. It's true that the supply of waste vegetable oil is limited and not everyone can use it, but if more drivers did, things would greatly improve. I learned from Ipat (with Pusod) last night that there is a market for people filtering and reselling the waste oil and using it again for cooking. That oil contains more carcinogens and shifting the market will keep people from getting sick from it. Also, much of the waste oil gets into into waterways from the sewer systems. If instead they used it for a different purpose as a cleaner fuel, there would be less contamination of these areas. I can't wait to see what else ripples from this.

Later on- at 5am here (I’m still adjusting to the time)
I also had the best Bibinka ever (so far). My cell phone shouldn’t be unlocked and used here.
I’m going to buy a used one here….

Sige na,
(keep on)
Jason