the thrilling side of accounting

Bob Sinnott went to work for a Big Four accounting firm right out of college. It was a grueling, competitive work environment, where young associates clawed their way up the ranks. Those days of working 60hour weeks and partying at night were the inspiration for Sinnott’s novel, “The Ex And The Why.” “It’s a novel about young professional 20-somethings working for big firms, and the shenanigans that go with that,” he says. “Everyone’s jockeying for their place in the chain. It’s a satire on that whole environment.” The 47-year-old neighborhood resident says he always has been mathematically inclined as well as creative. Over the years, he has written nine screenplays, four of which have received option contracts from studios, although none have been produced. In 2010, the accounting firm he worked for was acquired by another firm, and he accepted a severance package. He’d been toying with the novel for several years, so he took the opportunity to write it “for real,” he says. He treated writing the novel like a regular job. Monday through Friday, he drove to Starbucks and started writing around 9 a.m., and he would call it a day around 4 p.m. The story of the novel “is really a love triangle,” he says. “The main character wants to upgrade to his ex’s best friend, and the ex is stalking him,” Sinnott says. “But he feels this is really the woman he’s supposed to be with.” He drew from the many notebooks he’s kept over the years, containing journal entries, character sketches and details from his early days in the accounting jungle. Once the novel was finished, Sinnott entered it into a contest for new writers through selfpublisher Create Space, and he won. The prize was artwork, editing, publishing and distribution through Amazon.com. So far, the book has sold about 1,100 copies. Sinnott is back to a day job as CFO of a Dallas company. His sons with wife Kimberly are 7 and 4. But even though he’s back on the numbers grind, that doesn’t mean he’s neglecting the right brain. Sinnott paints in his free time, and he’s busy writing his next screenplay. —Rachel Stone

We would like to welcome you to our Walnut Hill OB/Gyn family. Please call our office or go online to schedule an appointment.

When the summer heat threatens to fry your soles, there’s nothing better than slipping on an airy pair of flip-flops. The flip-flop speaks: Hey, I dig my life, don’t sweat the little things, and I’m ready if a pool party breaks out. But flip-flops can be horrible, too, when the plastic thong cuts through toes or the flips flop too loudly, drawing attention to the fact that you are donning the world’s most casual shoe at the office. Not good. A Lakewood couple recently launched Hari Mari, a footwear company offering uber-comfy (and quiet) flip-flops. Lila and Jeremy Stewart were both hardworking professionals, she in the music business and he in politics, who were ready to shift gears and stay put in our neighborhood. Fashioning, producing and marketing their own piece of clothing, they agreed, would be fun, Lila says. They were both interested in footwear, specifically casual wear, because Jeremy had spent his working life in a suit, tie and dress shoes, Lila says. They made a few Hari Mari prototypes and hired an agency to get feedback from focus groups. “We wanted people to tell us the truth about the product, not just our family and friends trying to be nice to us and saying they liked it,” Lila says. The result was a simple design featuring a variety of tropical colors — oranges, blues and greens — a memory foam-lined toe support; firm, mid-sole arches; a durable hemp foot bed; and dense, rubber-tread soles. At press time, it’s been 10 weeks since the Stewarts, along with Lila’s brother Garrett Horton, launched their Parks line of Hari Mari footwear, and their jaunty product already is selling in 20 stores in Tennessee, Oklahoma, Kentucky and at Luke’s Locker and Original Octane (near KnoxHenderson) here in Dallas. The shoes are $60 a set, and $5 from each sale go to Cook Children’s hospital to fund treatment of pediatric cancer. Lila and Jeremy, relatively new parents, say they wanted to build philanthropy into the business model, and they had friends with a child who recently needed treatment at Cook. Their friends had a great experience there, so that became the charity, Lila says. The Stewarts hope to release a second line in fall 2013 and, eventually, a children’s line.

—Christina Hughes Babb