Erin, I missed you! Glad things are looking up.

I have a Bartleby of an author today. When we send authors the edited manuscript to review/answer questions, we give them a 2-day turnaround time.** The majority of authors return their articles in this time frame, although some need to be poked with a stick to remind them.

Bartleby!author's article was due back today. She replied to the email with "I am out of the country on vacation and cannot return the article until next week." And I am sympathetic to the plight of vacation, but like a call center representative, I have to follow up with the next scripted response, which is: "Thank you for letting me know, etc...We have very stringent deadlines, etc...could one of your co-authors review and return the article?"

Bartleby!author replied this morning with "I have spoken to my co-authors and we will return the article next week."

That is a very polite pain in the ass, you special out-of-the-country-vacationing snowflake. Damn.

**(I think 2 days is a VERY short turnaround time, but I am not the one who came up with that policy. Feel free to dislike/decry it, but I can't really argue about it because it wasn't my decision. I'm just the enforcer.)

That'll be me in a week, responding to everything (if I respond) with "I'm out of the country on vacation".

I am not an author, though, so there's that.

I keep singing Graceland with altered lyrics - "we're going to Iceland, Iceland, Reykjavik city, we're going to Iceland [doodle-doodle deedle-deedle-dum bom bom] Amsterdam's on the way, and then there's an eclipse and we're in Iceland" etc Should be doing my self-eval that is due while I'm gone, but my brain won't stop with the singing.

t /totally taking the wrong message from Tep's tale

I am not an author, though, so there's that.

Which makes things SO much easier! I do get that the conflicting schedule is a pain for the author, but that's why we ask if the co-authors can review the article.

Oh well -- this allows us to engage in the time-honored editor tradition of badmouthing our authors. (And, in turn, our pestering emails allow the authors to grouse and vilify us as well. It's a win-win!)

That is kind of a crazy turn-around time. Is it 2 business days, at least?

Oh well -- this allows us to engage in the time-honored editor tradition of badmouthing our authors. (And, in turn, our pestering emails allow the authors to grouse and vilify us as well. It's a win-win!)

Part of the great tapestry of civilization.

People, stop being creepy to people I like. (Ice cream is a perfectly valid coping mechanism.)

Can I start the process alone and the add my dad if needed or is it better to start with him? I don't want to get into escrow and have it be a thing.

Yes. You will know very quickly if you need your dad to co-sign. If your credit isn't good enough then you won't make it to escrow in the first place, because you won't have the preapproval letter. Sellers these days are very reluctant to accept offers from buyers who aren't preapproved.

I think 2 days is a VERY short turnaround time, but I am not the one who came up with that policy. Feel free to dislike/decry it, but I can't really argue about it because it wasn't my decision. I'm just the enforcer.

Stupid policy, but go Enforcer!Tep.

I have snow up to my front door. This is slightly crazy because I have three steps leading to the porch, and the porch itself is covered. I do not like March thus far.

That is kind of a crazy turn-around time. Is it 2 business days, at least?

Nope. Which I *super* disagree with, but, again, it's a deadline that was in place long before I came along.

Now, the way it plays out is that when the author doesn't reply by Day 2, I send an email politely reminding them that they received their article 2 days ago, and asking them to check their spam/trash, and to let me know if they need me to re-send it. And then they usually get it back to me within the next day or 2.

So it's not like authors have a 2-day deadline and if they don't get the article back within 2 days then they don't get published. But the AMA has been tightening up their production schedule to really unrealistic amounts, and so we start out by giving authors 2 days, because we know they can actually have 4-5 days, but if we tell them 4-5 days, they'll take 7-10 days, and 7-10 days is absolutely untenable.

But yeah, again, I think sending authors an article on Friday and telling them we need it back Sunday is bullshit, partly because when I get an article back on the weekend, *I* don't do anything with it until Monday morning, because fuck that.

Snow day for us. It rained most of yesterday day, then the temp went below freezing and the rain turned to sleet (plus all the wet roads freezing, we have huge puddles in parking lots and streams running to all drainage), did that for a couple of hours, then snowed over night. 3-4 inches (officially 2.5 at airport which is a record). It is sunny and 27 now, so nothing is clearing. We are not prepared for this.

If it was just the snow we would be great, but with probably an inch of ice under the snow, no thank you very much.

Spring Break for mac starts Saturday and we have a 4 day trip planned. I have approx 8 million things running through my head that I think NEED to be done. Many of them do actually need to be done. So, get ready for a list post.

Mac was not excited to learn that I have declared today a cleaning and packing day. too damn bad kid, we need to take advantage and get me out of this panicked headspace.

Went to work, boss man asked why the hell I was there. Um, because no one called to tell me not to come in? So I shoveled a bit there, went home at 9:30, shoveled there for an hour, will wait for the snow to stop, shovel it all over again, go to work tomorrow and shovel all the things boss man couldn't be bothered to shovel today (to clarify, he lives at work).

both of us - fold and put away clothes from drying racks
me - vacuum front room - carpet and furniture (damn animals)
me - use up as much of the perishable food as I can (lunch will be a big salad and left over chicken, guac for mac?, baked potatoes for dinner?, sautéed greens for me)
both of us - vacuum respective bedrooms, put away clothes
both of us - pack
me - litter boxes
mac - vacuum furniture in backroom
me - DEAL WITH THE PAPER EVERYWHERE
me - upload medical bills to sf
me - start taxes?
me - check all bills to make sure are paid
me - food scraps to compost.

That should take a bit. Now to shower and get dressed and get going. Last night I did start a bit by sweeping kitchen and back room and taking out recycling.