In Washington

I have successfully arrived in Washington, despite an hour long delay, and some serious turbulence. We were originally supposed to fly around a storm, had we left on time, but then when we had a delay, we were given permission to take the direct path to DC. The problem was, the storm hadn't exactly moved on yet. So we had a bumpy ride the whole way there.

I received my camera while basically in line at the security check-in at Charlotte Douglas. It's really spiffy, and it's charging right now. As soon as I can, I will take a couple photos and load them up. Just to make sure I know what I'm doing.

By the way, I think FedEx hates the living crap out of me. I'm being super cereal about this guys. First they lose my passport, after delivering it to the wrong house, and then they take so long to deliver my camera, that I had to leave my house, requiring my sister to track down the truck that had my camera, retrieve it from the truck while it was on the way to our house, and drive all the way to the airport to give it to me. I understand my brother works for FedEx Kinkos, but they hate me. And I think my brother is behind it all. I will find out if he is.

Tomorrow is orientation for my trip. I have to be at the headquarters for the National Counsel on US-Arab Relations at 9 am, and spend all day doing god knows what, to prepare me for the worst sunburn of my life. I am getting all spiffy for this event, and will be trimming my beard for the first time in almost 3 weeks. I was thinking it would be cool to have a really big beard for the Saudi's to see, but I think it'll be way to hot to keep it up over there. Plus, I'll just look like a mountain man, and that's Addison's gig. Don't want to poach roles.

I took a cab from Dulles to my hotel, and the driver was an Azerbijani. He was an awesome guy, and we started talking as soon as we left the gas station. He was absolutely enthralled with the idea of a red-headed white guy going to the Kingdom, trying to convince all the Arabs to like Americans. We talked about a lot of different topics, from Kashmir to cricket, to alcoholic drinks. He was really entertaining, and actually made me feel like I got my moneys worth. At the end of the trip, he wanted to know when I was running for office, so he could go wherever it was that I would be running, and vote for me. I'm securing votes everywhere I go!

I don't know if I'll have regular internet access tomorrow, cause the free internet is supposedly only a one day affair at my hotel, but I'll try to post again tomorrow. And come Saturday/Sunday, I'll be posting pics and posts from Saudi Arabia!