Buffalo Trip - Day 3

For the first time during one of my Installation Trips, we were asked to perform the tasks during daylight hours!  Feeling like this was a rare opportunity to see how the process worked during the day time, I was eagerly awake at 0500 (before alarm).  For once, I held off on teleworking and spent time reading and working puzzles.  At 0645, I went to breakfast in the Lobby of the Holiday Inn Express (Cheektowaga).  When I finished my meal, I returned to my room and packed up for the day.  Outside, it was dark and rainy (temps in the 50s).  Like the day before, Jennings again came by to pick me up (0715) and we drove to the Buffalo Niagara Airport (arrived at 0730).  The rest of the Team arrived shortly after that and we were all cleared to begin working at 0800.  As I'd hoped, the day time work was much easier, with everyone clearly on their game.  It's wonderful what a full night of sleep will do for one's mental clarity...  We had no issues and the work progressed at what seemed to be lightning speed.  I skipped lunch again (just had some light snacks) because we were doing so well.  Things went well and I was very impressed with our Quality Assurance rep and Test Director.  Jennings kept everyone on track and the Team members did their best.  Overall,  I was very happy with what I saw and we returned the system to our customers by1515.  Even better: we don't have to come back tomorrow!  Jennings and I wrapped up a few more items with the on-site reps but, by 1530, we were ready to depart the Airport.  Everything seemed so textbook and perfect!  After Jennings dropped me off at my hotel (1545), I exchanged texts with my high school friend, Dave S.  He had told me he'd be available for dinner as soon as I was available and he was true to his word.  After I teleworked the remaining 30 minutes of my day (1615), I met him in the parking lot (by then, it had stopped raining).  This was probably the first time I'd seen Dave since college (early 1990s) but it seemed like we'd just gotten together the previous weekend.  Dave drove me a short distance to one of his favorite restaurants, the Pizza Plant - it was located in the town of Williamsville.  When we arrived (1630), the place looked rather deserted and Dave was afraid that it might be closed.  Fortunately, they were open and I had a chance to experience the excitement of their exhaustive (exhausting?) menu.  Wow - I didn't know I wanted so many choices!  After some effort, I managed to figure out what to order: a "Goombah Pod" (essentially a calzone version of a burrito).  The food was very good (and filling) but didn't come with any sides.  I remedied this by ordering a special chocolate cookie for the dessert.  To wash everything down, I tried a (local) Pod City beer (Anchors Away).  Meanwhile, Dave and I had a very good conversation - the first in decades.  It was amazing to learn so much about each other's lives - even though we've exchanged Christmas Cards for many years, there wasn't much detail in those.  I was sad to learn about the passing (almost 10 years ago) of his mother (Donna), who was a wonderful female influence in my life after my mom died.  Dave and I also recalled (happily) the good things we'd each brought to each other's lives when we were young.  Such good memories: running, basketball games until after dark, video games, movies, etc.  This was one of those reunions where you are glad to learn that a friend had done very well since you knew them.  The biggest surprise might have been that Dave was one of the cameramen for the Buffalo Sabres - I'd been watching his work during the previous evening!  Around us, the restaurant gradually filled up until it became loud and boisterous.  Fortunately, our walk down memory lane had already reached its peak...  At 1915, Dave took me back to my hotel.  We talked for a bit in the car before saying goodbye (1945).  Very glad I managed to reach Dave and get together!  After reaching my room again, I changed into my workout gear and headed to the Fitness Center (pool still closed).  I logged 20 minutes of biking (4.4 miles) and then walked on treadmill to reach 10K steps.  Once my workout was finished (2045), I worked on my blog, made eBird entries and read.  For the rest of the evening, I watched movies.  In the end, I stayed up until about 2230 and then it was lights out for the night.  I went to sleep with good thoughts about the success of our Installation and happy feelings about seeing one of my oldest and best friends.  It doesn't get any better than that!