I’ve been looking forward to this day for months. You see, every year all my old college roommates get together for a long weekend event that we like to call (in homage to the name of the townhouse where we spent our last two years) “The Overlook Cup.”

With 10 busy guys, the planning for The Overlook Cup usually begins at least
6 months in advance. It usually takes that long to find a suitable weekend during which the majority of us can get away. This year’s host is Neill Wessell, who lives in San Francisco and has the privilege of hosting the first Cup outside of the state of NC.

With our crew spread all across the country (Durham, NYC, Richmond, LA, Charleston, KC, DC/Winston) there’s quite a bit of excitement in just being all together. When you add six months of email chains, years of memories, and a slew of great plans to the mix - well, one can get downright giddy.

Then United called last night. Or, I should say, the auto call came, informing me that my flight at 4:50pm on Wednesday the 25th was canceled.

Total bummer.

I called the United rep to figure out a) why the flight was canceled and b) how I was going to get to Cali. The answer to Question a) was fishy at best - a lack of crew availability (a day ahead of time, of course!) They booked me on a later flight that gets me to San Fran after midnight - not exactly ideal. Alas, I’m flying on a free voucher, so big bad United is none too keen to work with me - I’m just another passenger on a flight that they’re probably going to hemorrhage cash on anyway.

So I’m sitting here in RDU, pounding out a little work and a little live blogging. It’s an inauspicious start to what I hope will be a memorable weekend. Let’s hope things get better from here - I’m sure they will.