acoJim Thomas, executive director of the Mn-Bibb County Planning & Zoning Commission

Age: 57

Birthplace: Oklahoma City, Okla. (moved to Macon as an infant)

Family: Wife, Jo Thomas; son, Gordon, 23; daughter, Logan, 19.

Education: Mount de Sales Academy, 1974; University of Georgia, bachelor of landscape architecture, 1979, and a licensed architect.

Personal interests: I remain creative; I do water color, started some pastel work, an avid woodworker and reader, play guitar. I’m a baseball fanatic -- I’m a closet St. Louis fan -- but my wife and I follow the (Atlanta) Braves.

Favorite type of movies: I like period pieces. Some favorites are “Barry Lyndon” and “2001: A Space Odyssey.” I like old movies. I’m a sucker for John Wayne movies.

Books: Been reading lately a lot about early American history right after the Revolution up until 1812, and I’ve been reading about Aaron Burr and (Thomas) Jefferson and how they didn’t get along.

Cooking: I can cook a pretty mean peanut butter sandwich, and if I want a hot meal, I toast it. Jo is such a good cook, I don’t do much cooking. I can cook a really good breakfast.

Most unusual thing you’ve done: While in college he and a friend ordered a hang glider from California. The first time they used it was on a gentle slope at Wesleyan College. “We got it about 8-to-10 feet off the ground. It was way cool.” Thomas hauled the glider around a few times as he moved, but “I left it somewhere so an archeologist could find it in 200 years.”