We didn't miss the Deadline

I can't make this stuff up, folks.

I now share my job responsibilities with a guy named Mike. He's amazing and I think the world of him. He is now the communication person with our clients and I'm making all the changes they need to their ads nationwide (we publish a magazine that advertises what these people are selling) and page layout, etc.

Mike sent this email to the offending company yesterday:

Hello,

Preliminary changes are due on 3/19 at 5pm EST for the following market proofs:

Atlanta
Orlando
Orlando REDEV
Triangle

Preliminary change deadline (3/18) was missed for:
Nashville
Nashville REDEV

Thanks,
Mike


And he got this response (we have a shared email box so I see all of these emails too):

Nashville was not missed... just late. It was Returned With Changes at 5:15. The replacement photos also forwarded.

I told you in an email earlier today (at 1:27pm) that REDEV_NASH may be late. More than likely, you will receive it tomorrow. The REDEV Director is out of the office today on other business.

--D

The red is totally D's addition. I couldn't (as I said earlier) make this stuff up.

Please note that Mike clearly wrote that the deadline is 5 pm EST. That is our deadline. Period. Her audacity to write, "[It] was not missed...just late," astounds me!

Isn't that the whole concept of DEADlines? The issue is to be DEAD after such a time. Ridiculous.

Wow. These people are a handful. No wonder I feel like I'm going crazy at the end of most days. Thankfully Mike came along--because before I was doing all the communication AND changes and it was overwhelming. They have like 200 ads nationwide and last month they changed on every single ad the fact that the office hours said Sunday by appointment. They made me change on 200 ads so it'd say Sunday by Appointment. As if the capped A would make people go, "Oh, I should totally do business with these people."

In other news, Atlanta looks to be the target for some more storms today. I am torn because we need the rain so badly--but there are also people downtown and in the outlying rural areas that still have their cars and homes protected by tarps from the tornadoes this past weekend. May the Lord be our Shepherd, keep us all safe and may his will be done.

Speaking of the Lord, can we please, in unison, ask him why I dreamed (for any grammar people out there, I prefer to use dreamed instead of dreamt. They are both acceptable, but dreamt is a too-weird word for me to embrace) two nights ago that I was married to Jon Bon Jovi--and not the current JBJ, it was the one straight from the 80's. Big hair, tight jeans, and singing Dead or Alive and Bed of Roses. And also why I dreamed last night that I was having an affair (on whom, I don't know) with someone that looked strikingly like Boy Meets World star Ben Savage.

Has anyone out there seen the movie Hard Candy? Well, I honestly couldn't bring myself to watch the end of it, so hopefully I'll be able to do that soon. But if you've seen Hard Candy and also happen to have a collection of music from Goldfrapp--are you also having a hard time listening to them now? I'm totally creeped out.

That Ellen Page is quite a minx.

My favorite thing today is this Clif Builder's Bar that is peanut butter flavored and has 20 grams of protein. It's just so tasty! Oh, and if I lived in California, I would be going to see Soul Asylum open for Blue October. Wouldn't that just be a crazy great concert?

Next week: The Guys With Guitars (Eliot Morris, Drew Holcomb, Micah Dalton, Ryan Horne, & Jon Black (in-the-round)) tour at Eddie's (March 27) and Mike Doughty at Variety (March 29). Mike Doughty is someone I'd like to write more about later. He's one of those artists that used to live in his car and shoot heroin and now he's a believer and unabashedly writes about those beliefs. I'm going to the concert with 4 quite adamant non-believers. We'll see if a dialog opens. If not, here are some lyrics that I enjoy:

They say that God is great
They say that God is love
And I believe them
Don’t fear the random fate;
I trust the hand of the almighty and the infinite

His truth
Is marching on
His truth is marching on

Let me know your enormity and my tininess and
Help me see your infinity and my finite-ness and

I’m f*****g starved for love
I deeply need to feel connection with the infinite
I want the nourishment
I need to drink it just like water, and it will sustain me

My heart is yearning now
My arms are aching for some girl or other, didn’t want me
And still I need you more
Need you to soothe this searing sadness, and the nameless gnawing

-----
Ok, so I realize some may be put off by the juxtaposition of swearing and speaking of the Infinite...but I find it gritty and how I look at life a lot. Things aren't always happy and sunshine and roses and bright. Sometimes things are dark, sometimes my heart and my soul are dirty and I get it. I call people idiots in traffic when I don't actually know them or their mental capabilities. I feel hate and loathing toward the client I wrote above when really they shouldn't have so much effect on me. I see that God is infinite and I long for Him and I long for His hope from my depths. I know exactly where Mike's coming from when he says "My arms are aching for some girl or other, didn't want me." I get it. I've longed for people that didn't want me--either romantically or platonically. But through it all, I long for his infinity to command and take over my finite-ness.

peace, friends.