September 14, 2005
For years I worked at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. They've gone through a few corporate image makeovers, but their current catchphrase is: Henry Ford Health System. WE CAN."

I frankly think this particular ad sucks. WE CAN WHAT? Screw you over? Lose your car in the parking lot? Kill your loved ones in the ER? Give you a staph infection?

HFH is an excellent hospital, though it has the problem of location, location, location. It's situated in the middle of Detroit and as a result, has all the problems of an urban population, and in Detroit, that means higher than usual poverty and unemployment, which means a larger than desirable non-insured client base.

Anyway, my sister and her husband work at the University of Michigan Medical System and their ads for years were: KNOWLEDGE HEALS. Certainly better than WE CAN, but the joke at U of M was: WAITING HEALS.

I'm waiting. And I'm not being very patient about it, either. I'm waiting to hear from my agent about the follow-up to Dirty Deeds. I'm waiting to hear from my agents about a collaboration agreement I sent them. I'm waiting for checks from a variety of clients. I'm waiting to hear back from a number of queries I sent to both regular and new clients. The new clients, well, I may be waiting forever, but the regular clients are usually pretty good about getting back to me. I'm waiting to hear back from a number of people I've contacted for interviews. And I'm waiting to leave and run over to the doctor's for a physical, so I can be poked and prodded for a while.

Jeeze!I guess one of the downsides of being a freelancer is you plant a lot of seeds then have to wait for them to grow. So today, at least for a while, I'm waiting.

Impatiently.

Best,
Mark Terry