Tuesday, June 16, 2009

5/3

Maybe it’s because I live in California or because I don’t follow publicly traded financial institutions. Maybe it’s because I don’t watch enough minor league baseball or maybe I’m just sheltered. But when I linked over to Lisa-Project 365 from a comment she left me, I had to zoom in on the photo and do a double take. They didn’t really name a bank 5/3, did they? Really?

Now, Lisa‘s blog post had nothing to do with the name of this bank, apparently everyone in the Midwest knows of it. Afterall, Fifth Third Bank has been around for about 100 years before I was even born. But what’s up with the name 5/3?
Why not 1- 2/3 or 123?

Apparently Fifth Third's unusual name is the result of the merger of two banks, The Fifth National Bank and The Third National Bank. They say that because the merger took place during a period when prohibitionist ideas were gaining popularity, it was believed that "Fifth Third" was better than "Third Fifth," which could be construed as a reference to three "fifths" of alcohol. Thank you Wikipedia.

Personally, I’d rather have five-thirds of something than three-fifths, so the name’s cool with me. And hey, 5 + 3 = 8; and eight’s my favorite number.
Maybe I’ll open an on-line account, but not yet. I think I’ll wait till tomorrow, say eight seconds after 8:08.

Friday, June 12, 2009

888


The Chinese regard the number 8 as a very lucky number because it sounds like the Chinese word for wealth. You might recall that the start time of the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Beijing was 8 seconds and 8 minutes past 8 pm (local time) on August 8, 2008.

I like the number 8 because of its symmetry and because when you lay it on its side, it looks like the symbol for infinity ∞.

In the Bible, the number eight represents the number for new beginnings as it comes after seven - the number of days it took God to complete His creation. Four is the number of mercy. I like to think of 8 as my personal beginning with double mercy. Lord knows I need it! And since His mercies are new every morning (Lam 3:22-23), I think its okay to believe in double mercy.

As a Christian, I’m not superstitious of course, but do you think God notices that I wait for gas pump #8 at my local Arco Station?

To infinity and beyond!