As part of a recent article on LEGO in Newsweek, I was asked to build a "fun" cash register all out of brick.

I created a yellow old fashioned cash register reminiscient of a toy cash register I had when I was a kid.

I remember playing with the toy cash register, pretending I was a store clerk and ringing up imaginary customers. They never had the right amount of cash and I always found myself giving them imaginary change.

Then one day my imaginary manager told me my cash drawer came up eighteen imaginary dollars short. He said I needed to reimburse him for the missing imaginary $18 or he'd have to let me go. I handed him an imaginary twenty, but he said that there was nothing in my hand and I should stop wasting his time. I told him that I didn't have any other imaginary money, and I didn't want his imaginary attitude anymore. That was the last time I played with that toy cash register.