Livin' and Lovin' in A-town

SALUTE WITHDRAWAL

I would like to withdrawal my previous salute to Rita. I would not like to offer up a "Cheers" to her anymore. Thanks to Rita and all of her glory, my event was cancelled this evening. Now, before you automatically think that I'm just whining around and have no pitty on those on the coast...that is not the case. I have a lot of sympathy for those on the coast, even though the dang hurricane hasn't even hit. However, due to this catastrophic storm heading our way, my event, which was the opener of our speaker series, has been cancelled.

Our speaker for the night was Lester Holt. Before today, I liked Lester. I thought he was a nice guy, Christian man, and an easy guy to talk to. After today, I KNOW Lester is a nice guy...he's a great guy. Lester is a news anchor on MSNBC and a weekend anchor on the Today show. In the world of journalism, he is an extremely respected and admired gentleman. He's also a member of the Church of Christ, hence his appeal to us.

We received word yesterday that he was being sent to Galveston and there was a remote possibility that he wouldn't be able to come to Abilene. However, we remained optimistic and went on with our plans. But, just to be safe, we made a plan B and a plan C. Plan C was what would happen if he didn't come at all. I was up until 2am this morning talking with Lester's agent discussing flight arrangements and last minute details. We were both still very optimistic. When Lester called me this morning at 8:30am...he didn't sound so optimistic, but we still figured he'd be able to catch a flight out of Houston and be in Abilene by 3pm. Wrong.

At 9:45 this morning, Lester called to tell me the bad news. He had tried everything in his power. NBC tried everything in their power. Everyone was working so hard to get him to Abilene. But, nature was against us. Rita was against us. He sent his sincere apologies and promised to re-schedule as soon as he got back to New York.

My team and I immediately jumped into plan C. We called the media, the campus, the caterer, the florist, and all 450 people who had bought tickets to the event. My team was absolutely amazing. I couldn't have asked for better crisis management. Everyone was calm and took care of business.

We're not sure when Lester will be able to come to Abilene. We'll start negotiating dates when he gets home. But, I know that I will look forward, once again, to working with this man. If it had to happen this way, I couldn't have asked for a better situation. I guess in the long run this ended up being one of those life lessons. Something that prepares you for the future. So, cheers to my team. Cheers to Lester, his agent, and to NBC. And, cheers to Rita. Thanks for the lesson.