Nick at the FAA in Washington, DC

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Me at the FAA in Washington, DC, originally uploaded by nickgraywfu.

This is a picture of me outside the FAA offices in Washington, DC. I had a great long weekend in DC - very productive and I learned a lot. My dad had some new projects come up, so we are not going to Oshkosh this year after all. There is plenty to do here, though, and I have been keeping busy.

In case you were wondering, my ideal weekday schedule looks something like this:

• 4:45am - Wake up
  
• 5:45am - Breakfast
  
• 6:45am - Begin work day
  
• 11:00am - First lunch
  
• 1:00pm - Second lunch
  
• 2:00pm - Gym
  
• 3:00pm - Coffee
  
• 6:00pm - End work day
  
• 7:00pm - Quick swim in the pool
  
• 7:30pm - Dinner
  
• 9:00pm - Go to bed
  

Rural Politics

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Today is primary election day in my suburban town of Cumming, Georgia USA (ZIP code 30041). The city is growing very fast so this is a heavily-campaigned election.

If you were a resident of my town, here are some things you would have been subjected to during the last one week.

• Thousands of picket signs along the roads advertising various candidates, varying in size from 11"x17" to huge trailer-hitched billboards.
• Twenty seven voicemail messages on your home phone during a 24-hour period with pre-recorded testimonials or attack commentary. (No joke - our answering machine has been flooded these past few days.)
• Supporters standing on the side of the road at major intersections waving banners for their candidates.
• Personal phone calls from senior citizens working for campaign committees willing to answer your questions about election issues in favor of their candidate.
• Personal letters from your neighbors encouraging you to vote for such-and-such Commissioner who will support neighborhood rights.
• And my favorite... Door-to-door visits from the candidate's father.

Random Monday SUMMER personal notes

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• I went free diving in Lake Lanier yesterday. It was terrifying. I found snorkelling in the lake so scary because the visibility was about three feet (no joke). So you dive down eight or ten feet and the water gets very cold and you can see nothing. You are just diving into a deep green abyss. Very scary.
• Nick Gray is your Atlanta Tour Guide for Tokyo Friends.
• I am listening to a bunch of The Cure MP3s right now. Props to Mark Ellison.
• This weekend I am going to visit a friend in Washington, DC.
• It is definitely summer now. I never see Blue Jays or Cardinals outside of my office window. And the green grass looks dry.
• I brought fresh broccoli and cherries with my chicken lunch today. Props to my cousin Marcus who suggested these items when we went grocery shopping last night. He is 15 and is visiting us from Ohio this week. Very smart kid.

EAA Oshkosh 2006

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I will be going to Oshkosh 2006, aka EAA AirVenture 2006, from July 25th - July 28th. Send me an email if you or anyone you know will be in Wisconsin for the world's largest aircraft fly-in.

At Oshkosh 2005, I met Harrison Ford and fell in love with Calista Flockhart. At Oshkosk 2000, I thought my orange shirt was pretty rad.

Random Sunday Personal Notes

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• I went on vacation. It was great.
• Someone smart told me that I have food agression. This is because I do not like it when people watch me eat, and also because I eat a LOT on vacation. (Still, I lost three lbs. Boooo.)
• I finished my PADI Open Water Diver course in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
• Snorkeling is still awesome. I like how easy it is.
• Some things that I saw underwater in the wild and physically touched - A sting ray, a barracuda, a star fish, a conch, a parrot fish, and a tiger grouper.
• One thing I saw underwater that I did not touch - a nurse shark.
• Club Med is famous for its crazy hand sign dancing. At 9:45pm a crowd always gathers in front of the stage to dance. The dance moves are simple - think The Macarena. Our whole family did it every night. My favorite was a song from Mexico that involved boxing.
• I noticed that the people who go to Club Med are a lot smarter than the people who go on Carnival Cruise. I met lawyers, doctors, professors, and entrepreneurs at Club Med. On our cruise I met retired people and drunk students.
• My mom picked the Turks and Caicos resort because we could fly there direct from Atlanta. Delta has direct flights from Atlanta to Providenciales. No layovers = awesome.
• I read The Da Vinci Code. It was a good work of fiction and I am glad that I read it. Most incredibly, however, is the response I got from other people while I was reading The Da Vinci Code. I have **never** read a book that introduced me to so many random people. I probably met ten new people because they saw me reading the book and wanted to talk about it.
• Did anyone see Dave Chappelle on CNN with Anderson Cooper? Chappelle is RIPPED now! Look at his arms - they are full of muscles. Dude used to swim in his street clothes.