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!