In Praise of "The Count" of Sesame Street; On why counting is important; Or, the budget season of ah-counting begins

Years ago when my two oldest were in pre-school, I was working a second shift. In the morning, they would assemble in front of the TV set to watch Sesame Street. To this day I vividly remember them shreeking "Yippie, Yippie, It's the Count, Yippie. "

You may remember "The Count" as the short vampire with the rumpled white shirt, the rumpled black vest and the purple cape, who spoke in a thick Transelvanian accent. For some reason, this guy was very exciting to pre-schoolers. I never have exactly figured out why. Maybe it was the accent. Anyway....

There was a time in college I figured that accounting was pretty boring. However, I did get a chance to work in an accounting firm that specialized in start up companies, and learned that board meetings that dealt with accounting matters were some of the most emotional and exciting experiences around. In fact, sometimes too exciting.

So, " Counting " has been real important for me. When I am occasionally running in a short race, and start to get carried away with the spirit of the moment, I think to myself, " Gosh, I'm running faster and better than ever." Then, I check my stopwatch. And....No, I am not running better. NOTHING has changed at all.

Counting keeps us sane. That's the big benefit of counting.

The budget meetings on the Evansville City budget begin tonight at 6PM. If you read the earlier post by Mr. Conners, you know that budgets are complicated. Lots of detail. But behind each number is a vision of next year, an imaginary figment of the future. If the imagination is good, and the numbers match, bravo. If not, boo. It all begins with the imagination. So....

If you have some time tonight, stop in at the City Budget meetings.

If not, look for me on Halloween. I'll be dressed up as "The Count." I just don't know how many purple capes they have nowdays. It's just not a Kmart stock item anymore.