Hi KimC,
No, I'm afraid that projects all are tied to a start date. However, you can
change the display of the timescale to show Day 1, Day 2 etc. Go to Tools >
Options, View tab. Open the Date Format choices to see what options there
are as far as date format.
If you are creating a template for re-use in other projects, you simply
change the start date of the project through Project > Project Information.
I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.
Julie