So, I bought my wife a brand new 2006 VW Jetta TDI last year and wanted to share my experiences with using a diesel. One of the reasons we bought a diesel is so we can use biodiesel, plus I want to switch to a waste-oil system when the car is paid off. (On a side note, buying cars in Hawaii is a joke. Even though we were able to talk the dealer down nearly $3000 from the original price, we still paid more than $2000 more than the “street value” as listed on several car shopping sites).

We use 100% biodiesel in our car. For those who don’t know, biodiesel is made from recycled vegetable oil, which isn’t really that strange. The original diesel engines were made to run on peanut oil, if I remember correctly. And even though nearly every diesel car maker states you can void your warranty if you use anything greater than 5% biodiesel blends, it’s mostly a lie. > more <

It continues to amaze me that people aren’t willing to try new things. Whether it’s food, books, movies, or software, people stick with the tried and true. My wife’s friend refuses to try any ethnic food besides Mexican and Chinese; we’ve offered to take her to Greek, Thai, Indian, Japanese, etc. but she’s afraid she won’t like it so she doesn’t want to go.

However, the biggest gripe I have is when it comes to computers. I understand that people are “brought up” using Windows (home, work, school, et al.) so they are comfortable with it. It just kills me when people bitch about Macs, saying that they suck yet they’ve never used one; if they have, it’s been for five minutes at an Apple store. > more <