"13:13 CST should have been a sign."

It is not everyday that I eat dinner on a sailboat, on a man made lake, inside a large atrium, surrounded by fish, after a crazy thunderstorm rained out my original dinner plans that were taking place on some artificial turf.  

But that is how I ended my day today. It was pretty cool, expensive, but cool. Today I had another first, I saw Jim Lovell speak about his experiences on Apollo 13. Do you need to stop and read that again? I have been to conferences and have seen lots of inspiring speakers, but today took the cake. Plus, most people did not want to sit close the front so I sat very close to the stage and did not need those jumbotron screens. In a room full of higher ed professionals, some in student affairs like myself, lots of IT folks, and people from every type of school out there he gave some great advice. Jim reminded all of us that you can never really be prepared for crisis and you should always expect the unexpected. He also told us that when Apollo 13 launched at 13:13 CST  he should have seen that as a sign! 

What an amazing story and he shared lots of humor with the audience. The kind of humor that one has after an amazingly stressful crisis that ended well. Every job has moments and stories like that, working in Student Affairs has those crisis moments for sure, but almost getting lost in space really takes the top prize!