An Unexpected Gift...

What's not to love?

A few weeks ago, I received a package in the mail from my employer, Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), recognizing my ten-year anniversary of employment.  It came as a surprise, since 2009 was not the year of my employment with the company.  I started with Camber Corporation, which had been acquired by HII, in 1990.  That’s 29 years ago.  I took a brief hiatus in 2005-6, during which I was still on Camber’s books as a Contract Laborer, On-Call.  I came back to work full-time in 2007 – 12 years ago.  And HII acquired Camber in 2016, just three years ago.  So although I was grateful to receive recognition, I was baffled by the timing.

The package contained a beautiful polished lucite number 10 about 7” tall that could be displayed on a bookshelf.  There was a personal letter of appreciation and a small yearbook of pictures in which I was featured doing various kinds of work.  And lastly, there was a catalog of gifts from which I might choose something to reward me for my faithful service to the company.

Mary Ann and I talked it over and elected to request a Char-Broil Model 1010 Deluxe outdoor grill.  It’s unique in that it has a gas burner setup on one side and a charcoal grill on the other.  When I submitted my request I was informed that it would be shipped in about six weeks.  It arrived on Tuesday, April 2nd.

The three boxes as they arrived on a wooden pallet

Tuesday evening after work, I began to unpack the biggest of three boxes that had been unloaded on a wooden pallet.  I decided not to begin assembly until I had unwrapped and inventoried all the 65 parts shown in the assembly manual.  Everything had arrived undamaged and I arranged everything in preparation for assembly on Wednesday.

The assembled grill

I started at the crack of dawn, figuring that I could get some assembly done before work hours.  I managed to get most of the lower assembly done with few issues.  Then I reached the point where you had to lift the firebox assembly on to the base.  I decided that was a perfect job to leave until lunchtime.  At noon, my friend Jim Lauria came over and the two of us hoisted the upper section into place.  After work, I managed to complete the last steps in the assembly.  It looks like a fairly well-designed unit.

The weatherman was predicting rain on Thursday, so Wednesday night I dashed down to Lowe’s in Huntsville to purchase an extra-large grill cover.  It fit perfectly.  I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the Meads had some grilled meat this weekend!

The working area

And now protected