I call this unfair!

I have, in my mind, the perfect grant proposal. It’s been nestling in my mind for a while. It should be nestling on paper, but for one reason or another it is still only in my mind. It almost made it to paper-form last night, but then my mother phoned and I realized I had yet again neglected to call her this past Sunday (see post, January 18) and therefore I owed her a bit of listening. So no proverbial ink hit the paper.

Today would have been a good day as well to let the words take shape, but in anticipation of the grant writing process, I had put off all student appointments until today, thinking I’d be done with the grant by now. I’m not done, and the students are lining up outside as we speak.

The deadline for the grant is February 1, 2004. Yep, February 1st. It does not take a great mind to figure out by now, as we are approaching the end of January, that February 1st falls on a Sunday. So I called the government office expecting a reprieve. Certainly I can POSTMARK it or FEDEX it by tomorrow, January 30, can’t I?

No, she tells me. The deadline is clearly stated on their fresh and fancy website: February 1, 2004. That means it has to be in their office by tomorrow (Friday, January 30, 2004) afternoon.

So why create the illusion? Why instill unrealistic hope? Can I sue for false advertising? If I fly our to D.C. and slip it under their steel governmental heartless door on Sunday, will they not accept it?