Date format in an XML export

Hi - I have an Excel 07 spreadsheet mapped so that certain columns export
their values in XML for use with some Flash charting components. The issue
I'm having is that my Date column is exporting using the universally valid
date calculation - you know the 5 digit date in the 30 thousands? This is all
well and good, except the chart component has no translation capability. It
just displays 39118, 39119, etc. It works if I type in "That there is Joon
thirty-first" but if it sniffs out that I'm doing a date of any type, it
reverts to this 5-digit calculation. It tells me that the dates are not valid
XML, and converts them, but I just want them to carry forward as a text value
into the XML transform.

Any ideas? I've already tried format-special, but it's during the XML export
that this all goes wrong.

Thanks

Bill