The winning hand in black jack.  The age at which you can first legally consume a beer or other alcoholic beverage.  The product of 7 and 3, two prime numbers.  Add this number to the word Century and you can sell Real Estate in a gold jacket. 

It's a great age.  It's hard to remember what it was like to be that young, facing graduation from college and a whole new world of opportunity.  I would not have imagined that 5 years later I would give birth to a son who would someday be that age.  But here it is.  I  now find myself the mother of an amazingly talented 21 year old son majoring in Art at Indiana University. 

How is it possible that the adorable child who loved to watch Jane Fonda exercise videos could now be old enough to live his own life?  And how is a parent supposed to make that transition from being closely involved in all aspects of his life to being available only when called upon?  How do you shift gears from telling them what to do to supporting them in their own decisions. 

It may take me 21 more years to figure that one out.

Two numbers that now carry special significance.  What a day to be flying from New York to San Francisco.  The airport was fairly slow with many people opting to observe their own somber memorial. 

The people of New York are absolutely wonderful - full of life and busily going about their jobs.  It is hard to imagine what it must have been like that day.

Years on this planet.  Poor Barbie.  She's gotta be feeling old by now.  But lucky for her, the year of her birth, 1959, is the same year that Allen Gant invented pantyhose.  She's been able to keep everything properly covered her whole life.

If Barbie had travel plans, she would most certainly want to visit Hawaii for her birthday bash.  It was admitted as the 50th US state in August of 1959.  Alaska was admitted earlier that same year, but Barbie isn't allowed to wear real fur and it's just too cold there.

Barbie might also be happy to learn that she was born the same year as Sarah Ferguson (Fergie, Duchess of York) and "Weird Al" Yankovic.  I'm sure Barbie would be happy to have them meet entertainers Ryan Stiles and Sheena Easton who are also 48.

If Barbie is a fan of canned meats (isn't everyone??) she will be happy to know that the pull tab was also invented in the year of her birth.  Some of the meat in those cans has probably been around at least 48 years.

So Barbie, here's hoping for another 48 years of plastic perfection!

How do you determine what to charge for something that you produce?  Whether you are an artist or a business consultant, the process is the same.  

Companies that produce tangible products have it easy. They can take costs, add some markup to cover overheads, and set a minimum price. Of course they still have to finesse market demand and price points but at least they have a starting point.

My sister is a wonderfully talented artist .  I can remember how difficult it was for her to promote her own works.  In the early days, she and I would go into small retail shops to try to get them to carry her watercolor prints.  It was much easier for me to describe the wonders of her talent than it was for her.  From her perspective it just came naturally. She took a little paint, some paper and out came a masterpiece. 

That is NOT to say that she doesn't work at her craft constantly.  She works harder than I ever thought an artist would.  She takes courses as often as possible, manages all of her business affairs with skill that would make most accountants jealous, and she donates time and her artwork to charitable events on a regular basis.  She has also learned how to create her own frames and mats (which is part of the beauty of her finished originals.)

So how should she price a work of art?  Cost plus some percentage?  Or does she just have to get a feel for what the market will bear for something that is an emotional buy.  People look at her works and are immediately transported to another place, a different feeling, a different time.  How do you put a price on that? 

As you might be able to tell, I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to be anywhere near as cool and talented as my artistic sister. 

Turns out that every artist needs appreciators and occassionally someone to help them collect the money from their adoring fans.  Both roles suit me just fine.

It also turns out that pricing consulting services is a lot more like art than a science. 

Even the digit is beautiful.  It's shape represents infinity.  It holds the secret to winning a game of pool.  It can be crazy at cards. It is an ice skater's mark on a frozen pond.  It's the number of legs on an octopus.  We see this many sides every time we stop at a stop sign. And it is a great replacement in a bunch of words that get represented on license plates and instant messages. In magic ball form, it has an incredible ability to answer questions. 

Time to go.  I'm L8 for dinner.

Millimeters, that is.  Yep, we're only talking about a difference of .2 millimeters.  But if you're an accountant and you're talking about .5MM lead versus .7MM lead, the difference is huge. 

If you're a .5MM Pentel lead aficionado, it has to be .5, it has to be from Pentel, and it has to be used in a Pentel black pencil.  You would not be caught dead in the middle of tax season filling out a 1040 with a .7MM  lead pencil, even if it is provided free by your friendly Paychex vendor along with donuts.  Although you will eat donuts of any size - with no concern for either internal or external  circumference.  We're not picky about that. 

There are a few rogue accountants like me, who have to find a way to break the mold. That's why I put my .5MM lead in the Pentel "Sharp Kerry" model which comes in cool feminine colors and features a cap.  I have had two of these in the past, one blue and one green.  I can't seem to find either of them and am tempted to order a pink version immediately.  I hope no one thinks I am the accountant for Mary Kay. 

This is how you spend your time when you are an accountant. Let's see do I want it to be HB, H, or B hardness?  I might need to create a spreadsheet to decide.

I think the negative publicity around this number started when an Egyptian first hit this age and discovered puberty.  What could be worse luck than suddenly becoming interested in members of the opposite sex and having your first pimple both at the same time?

Here's something to ponder.  There are approximately 600,000 elevators in the US.  Due to superstitions surrounding the number 13, most of them have opted to skip the 13th floor. Now I ask you, by simply failing to display that number on the elevator panel, have we somehow eliminated the number from existence?  Isn't the floor labeled 14 really the 13 th floor?  Does that fool anyone?  

Ten is such a nice even number. It equals the number of fingers on both hands. Modern man looked for a way to keep track and that was the first thing he saw.  What could be more obvious than building a counting scheme around 10?  It's amazing how pervasive the number is and how much impact it has on our daily lives.

Everything we do is impacted by our base 10 system of numbering.  The decimal system with all of it's inherent logic results from our system of 10s.  The metric system of measures uses it to great effect.  Our monetary system relies on this concept. We even use the number "10"  to score the perfect result - whether we're talking about figure skating or the ideal physique. 

What if we used a system based on the number of fingers that a Tyrannosaurus has?  That would be 2 fingers on each hand for a total of 4.  So your $5 bill would be "11" in a base 4 system.  I don't even want to think about the number of slots you would need in the cash register drawer to handle the change.

What an age.  It seems so old when you have been alive 17 years, but to the rest of the world it is so young.  It is a gateway age.  It's the last year to be considered a minor for legal purposes. But it is a very long year when you are trying to hurry through your childhood. 

It is a tough year to be in an automobile accident.  To instantly lose your ability to drive.  To be thrust back into the arms of your parents, fearful that your injuries might not heal, and fearful that you will somehow be a different person as a result of the accident. To watch as others are free to resume their carefree lives, while you have to deal with permanent changes to your physical and emotional self, and struggle to perform mundane tasks. 

But being 17, your body is able to rapidly repair itself.  And soon, as you move beyond this and into your final year of high school, the memories and many of the scars will have faded.  Only your appreciation of what really matters will remain.

Your parents are left with 17 new wrinkles and 17 more grey hairs and 17,000 thank yous that you will be alive to see your 18th year.    

No matter what you call it, Zero is a magical number. First of all, how many words do you know of that start with the letter "Z"? Three of them refer to a quantity of nothing. 

For an accountant, a zero sum is proof that our work is done properly.  Try explaining that to a client.  "Yes sir, I have completed the work, and as a result of my valient efforts over the course of three weeks, your Trial Balance now equals zero."  Part of the beauty of accounting is that you are always able to see if you are in balance by looking for that zero.  Imagine if we could apply a similar test to all aspects of our life.