Diary of a Mad Scientist

Usually I get at least a few guys in each class who’ve been suckered by JTF and they’re all excited about it’s claims and we spend some time answering questions spawned by JTF bunk. In fact, the NC class last weekend felt a bit like ‘debunking Journeytoforever’ as one person had brought a failed two-stage base-base process batch and an even more ugly failed Foolproof Method batch with him. People asked about all the JTF bugaboos.

Today in Atlanta no one cared about saving the world with ethanol, twostage process, or anything other than a ‘well if it’s too gross for biodiesel can I mix it with diesel and put it in my tank direct?’ kinda thing . They all knew about Diesel Secret. They were real sharp. I"ve never had a class NOT be interested when I ask them if they want to make an optional ethanol batch- these folks just weren’t interested when they heard it wasn’t as practical on waste oil.

Lots of jokes about whether my hair was dyed to match the phenolpthaleine.

Rob from Vegenergy who was the main host for the workshop brought his reactor in the back of his truck and Diesel Tim from Gabiodiesel.com did the same thing later in the afternoon- very educational for all, I think.

Both reactors/trucks were equally greasy- I like being able to show people a realistic view of what oil collection/processing is like. Not that it can’t be done neatly, but still. Most of us end up with spills on the truckbed sooner or later. Rob was telling people to collect oil with a trash pump if they were planning on handling large amounts, and Tim had one of those AWESOME NOrthern Tool 120V diesel pumps and a foot valve and was recommending those. I"d bought a teeny Northern pony pump to demo ($50 and selfpriming) and it paled by comparison.

None of my ‘engineered failures’ minibatches failed on cue. Dang. KOH is really tolerant of oil quality and you can really get away with some massive mistakes. I might go dumpsterdive some Church’s Fried Chicken grease tonight to save face- I don’t want the students to get the idea
that none of the quality parameters stuff matters..

I was incredibly sick with a cold all last week and this morning in the class I had a moment called Dial Tone of the Brain- the class started and the mind went blank. Sentences didn’t really form. Eventually I started talking The Biodiesel Speech and it came back. Last weekend one of the students said that watching me answer questions at one point was like watching me flip through a mental Rolodex and pull out the answer card- I’ve heard most of the questions before. This morning was kinda the opposite for a few minutes there.

This morning I was at the building before anyone had gotten there. I walked out to the parking lot at one point and could tell that my own students had arrived because there in the parking lot was a gaggle of men standing around a pickup truck excitedly pointing and smiling at a stainless steel tank that was strapped to the truckbed.

Rick from B100supply.com brought a rented van loaded with equipment for the class, which was a lot easier than me buying it at hardware stores. The Santa Claus of biodiesel homebrewing had arrived- it was Christmas under the biodiesel tree. The classroom has a packed corner full of kits, and even some water heaters. There’s a really good set of directions with this one.

I got out of the class and buried myself in email and class registrations and other entanglements- I’d been too sick for several days to focus on email and it’s grown to avalanche proportions. Two major emails from various quarters came through about the farm plant- I’ve picked up a ton of consulting work , paid and unpaid, for the next few months. My ‘inner Republican’ is getting quite excited about the business creativity involved with this project (I don’t think I"ve written about the Inner Republican, but he’s in there somewhere…). I"ve gotten to talk to a lot of people about the small producer plant design(s) while on this trip, looks like lots of collaborating is about to take place. I was completely dazed after the 6 hours of nonstop talking during the class, still slightly sick, and got on the phone for an hour conversation about the farm plant. I think I somehow managed to make sense. Not sure if I still am making sense in writing though…

Atlanta has springtime weather. I’m getting the memory-feeling of the South in the spring- humidity, the promise of swelter. The short days sure seem weird contrasted with the spring feeling. There’s a gorgeous view of downtown at night from Rob’s building. I grew up in New York- I"m a sucker for colored lights in the sky. There’s an equally appealing freightyard in the backyard, but that’s another story.

I got to eat real East Coast pizza yesterday. And it didn’t cost $35 a pie. California just can’t make the stuff. Atlanta is filled with interesting-looking hipsters, snazzily dressed hip-hop guys, I realized on this trip I"m seeing another thing I don’t get much of in my SF -area circles : everywhere I go my friends here are playing SONGS on the stereo. Not whiny electronic New Age lameness. I realized a while back that I never hear any real songs in my circles in SF. Recently I felt almost bad for inflicting rock on the shop stereo, where they usually play electronic music of some type.

Here, I"m hearing the stereo playing actual words, voices, rhythm.

Mark