Raleigh Trip - Day 4

With the Technology Refreshment at Raleigh Durham Airport in the rearview, like almost returned to "normal" Nomad Life.  However, I was still supposed to stay in town to make sure that the site was satisfied with our work yesterday.  With that in mind, I got up (with my alarm) at 0630 and started teleworking.  During the morning, I only took one break, at 0800, for breakfast in the Lobby of the Staybridge Suites (Morrisville).  After that, I stayed online until 1300, when Stacy (colleague from the Installation Team) dropped off some pizza that she'd brought from Tony Baloney's in Atlantic City.  I enjoyed it as a delicious lunch - what a treat!  Meanwhile, outside, it was in the low 80s and very sunny - once again, I was tempted throughout the day to depart for some non-work adventures.  At 1515, I knocked off for the day and drove a short distance to hike on the Shiloh Greenway.  This trail, which I'd noticed on Google Maps, was a 1.7 mile trail in a neighborhood to the southwest of the airport (and my hotel).  Once I found a convenient trailhead (1530), I started walking and, eventually, completed the full trail (birding along the way).  At the end of my time in the outdoors, I also walked around in the sports fields - there was a cool Cricket Pitch nearby (it appeared that lots of folks with Indian heritage lived nearby).  During the whole time, the weather was hot (80s) and it was very sunny.  The silence was often broken by aircraft flying low overhead (departure pattern for RDU).  When I finished my walk at 1700, my pedometer said that I'd reached four miles (and my step goal for the day).  Hoping to enjoy some more of the local Craft Brew scene, I drove a short distance to a place called Hoppy House Taproom.  Inside, I found a wall of beer, wall of wine and a wall of cocktails.  Wow!  I started sampling at 1720 and soon filled up the "Untapped" board with my own entries (and cleared everyone else off).  Along the way, I got a free beer (the staff had just installed a new keg) - Nomad Life is good!  While I was trying the different drinks, I did a lot of texting and messaging with my friends.  The venue was very pleasant and I enjoyed everything I sampled. More surprising, though: I got away (tip included) for less than $11!  At 1825, I drove back to my hotel (via the Interstate) and was back in my room by 1840.  Even though I'd already completed my hours for the day, I did a bit more admin stuff for my job before transitioning to personal business.  For the next few hours, I worked on my blog, ordered gifts for friends and coordinated my upcoming travel schedule.  At 2115, I grudgingly changed into workout gear again and went to the Fitness Center to ride the spinning machine (bike) again.  This time, I wasn't trying to add to my step count, only work on my Prouty Cycling goals.  As a result, I logged four miles in 20 minutes and immediately returned to my room.  For the re3st of the evening, I watched a new episode of a streaming service series and then switched to old familiar movies.  When I finally went to bed (2315), I felt pretty good about how I'd spent my week day.  I'll depart Raleigh tomorrow but it's been a good visit!

Raleigh Trip - Day 3

Day two of the Installation Project - where the "rubber meets the road" - in Raleigh!  In anticipation of an early start, I was up at 0600 (with alarm again) and immediately got ready to depart (I wore my "Prouty" jersey).  At 0700, I went to breakfast in the Lobby of the Staybridge Suites (Morrisville).  Nearby, there was a friendly little boy (he kept waving and wanting to give hugs) and his patient mom.  Meal completed, I departed for the Raleigh Durham Airport at 0715.  After joining the rest of our Installation Team (0730), I worked with everyone to swap out old (2010 timeframe) equipment in the Tower and Approach Control.  It was warm inside the building because the temps outside were in the 80s and the sunny was beating down on Raleigh.  Along the way, we skipped lunch (I ate snacks) and we employed some good teamwork.  Even though there was a truck breakdown SNAFU, it didn't hurt us.  One of the highlights of the day was when we went to a section in the Tower Column with a gantry area - from there, the view was spectacular.  Throughout the building itself, there was training going on everywhere.  Our "hands on" work was completely finished by 1415 and we'd even wrapped up all the paperwork by 1530.  The Contractor Lead (Stacy) agreed with me that a job well deserved a celebration.  By general consensus, the entire team drove (in separate cars) to a nearby Firebirds Wood Fired Grill (arrived at 1600).  Once we were seated, I convinced the staff to give us the happy hour specials away from the bar area ($6 wine glasses).  Only about half of the team (including me) took advantage of this offer, though.  When it came time to order, I requested the three course combo for my dinner: Caesar Salad, Grilled Chicken on mashed potatoes, mixed veggies and strawberry bread pudding ala mode.  The Team members were in good spirits and the excellent food made things even better.  Since our project is taking a break (for software patches) until June, everyone was very glad to be finished in Raleigh so they could return home for family time.  Our fun time of camaraderie was finished at 1730) and, after saying goodbye to everyone else, I returned to my hotel (arrived at 1745).  In my room again, I did some more telework until 1900 (I skipped the hotel's "Social Hour").  I probably should have headed immediately to the Fitness Center but then I got distracted by some planning for my upcoming trip to Europe.  So it was very late (2115), before I got around to my daily workout.  In the end, I completed a 1 mile walk on the treadmill (20 minutes) and and then got four miles of cycling done (20 minutes).  By 2200, I'd returned to my room.  Instead of turning on a movie or getting distracted with something else, I did some reading and finished up some notes until I was ready for bed (2245).  Feeling very good about a job well done!