Excel Tip: Create a Hidden Workbook to Save All Your Macros, Scripts, and Formulas

Jul 20

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If you’re like me, you use MS Excel quite a bit.  I love Excel.  I personally think that it is the greatest piece of software ever created.  In my position with my company I get a chance to use it quite a bit, and often find myself reusing the same bit of VBA script or the same formula for many different projects.  I get really tired of rewriting the same script, recording the same macro, or trying to remember exactly how I built that last formula before I can use it again.  If this ever happens to you, you will understand the frustration.

Well, a couple of years ago I stumbled upon a great tip that has saved me considerable time and frustration, and has even made me look like a hero several times.  The magic lies in a small, somewhat hidden folder within the Microsoft Office installation folder called “XLStart”. 

“What’s so magical about this folder,” you may ask.

Well, that’s what I am about to show you.

First, let’s focus on those often used macros, scripts, and formulas that you have saved in many other Excel workbooks, text files, Post-It Notes, and other divers sources.  Round all of the little nuggets up and save them to one work book.  Make sure that your macros and scripts do not make references to specifically named sheets in the original source.  If they do, I have found that it is best to either change them to the generic “Sheet#” naming that Excel uses by default.  You can also have the script prompt you for the desired sheet name if you like.

Second, try to find a way to organize all of the formulas and macros in a way that you will be able to easily find them.  I find it very useful to put the name of the formula and/or a small explanation of it just above the cell you are saving the formula in.  You should also have some sample data for the formula to use, just so you can remember exactly what it does, just in case you don’t use it for a long time.

Next, save the workbook you have just populated to the “XLStart” folder.  If you used the default installation, the folder should be located using the following path:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\XLSTART
Just remember to name this something beside Book1.  I named mine “MacroBook”, just to make things obvious for me.

The last and my favorite part of this is to hide the workbook so that it doesn’t get in your way every time you open Excel. To do this, just go to the menu bar and click “Window” and the “Hide” and select the workbook you saved.  Now, close Excel.  It will ask if you want to save the changes you made to your workbook.  Click “Yes”. 

Now, every time you open Excel, this new workbook with your great macros and formulas will be opened in the background and ready for use.  To use a macro, simple click on the macro button like you would to run a macro as if you just made it in your current workbook.  The macro selection box will pop up and you will see all of the macros listed for all open workbooks.  They will show up in the format WorkbookName.xls!Macroname.  Simply select it an run it.  To use your formulas, simply go to the toolbar, click “Window” and then “Unhide”, select your hidden workbook and it will appear.  Then, simply copy and paste the formula you would like to use into the workbook you are working on.  When done, simply re-hide the book you had hidden.

This may seem like a long way to go save some simple formulas, but trust me, if you have any complicated formulas or macros that you find yourself re-creating very often, you will quickly come to love this little tip.  So, give it a try and let me know how you like it.

Posted in geek, how to, lifehack, pc, productivity, tech

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My Picks for Top 10 Geek Books

Jan 3

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As a geek, I’m sure you’ve read books that you found really spoke to you and your interests as a geek.  I’ve run across several and I’m listing my favorite below, in no particular order.

  1. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
  2. Cryptonomicon – Neil Stephenson
  3. A Brief History of Time – Stephen Hawking
  4. Dune – Frank Herbert
  5. Lord of the Rings – Tolkien
  6. Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman – Richard Feynman
  7. Fermat’s Enigma – Simon Singh
  8. Cosmos – Carl Sagan
  9. Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card
  10. Ready Player One – Earnest Cline

So, was your favorite on this list?  Was there something on the list that should not have been?  Let me know where I messed up in the comments.

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Your Next Computer Could Cost Just $35

Jan 1

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Raspberry PiIf the folks at Raspberry Pi have their way, the future of educational and personal computing could soon look a lot different. Their version of the next great educational computer (seen in the picture here) is a miracle of modern technology that combines all of the basics of the modern computer on a silicone board the size of a credit card.

Before talking about why this could be the future of educational computing, let’s talk about what you get.

There are two models of the RasPi (as fans have come to call the Raspberry Pi device); the A model and the B model. The things that both have in common is the core processor which is a 700MHz Arm processor, HDMI out, one USB 2.0, one SD card slot, one analog audio out, and one analog video out. Both models will require the use of the SD card slot to boot into one of three varieties of officially supported linux: Debian, Fedora, and ARCHLinux.

Where the models differ is in the amout of RAM and the presence/absense of a network connection. The A model does not have a network connection and has 128MB of RAM. The B model comes with an ethernet connection and has 256MB of RAM.

So, after seeing the setup of the small device you might be wondering what makes this so important. Well, simply put, it’s the price. For the A model the price will be $25, and for the B model the price will be $35. Which, once the value of the components and the flexibility of the device is considere, is quite a bargain. Especially considering the orginial target for this device is as use as an educational device. Picture a school that needs one hundred new computers to begin teaching programming to their students. The school could try to find a several thousand dollars to by a cheap PC, or they could spend a $3500 dollars on 100 RasPi devices. This is where the real importance of this device comes through.

Another great feature of the RasPi is not just the device, but the community that comes with it. There are alreay hundreds of people actively participating in the forums on the RasPi web site. Everything from what programming language is the best to learn to how to create a home theater device using the RasPi is being discussed. This for a device that people haven’t had a chance to use yet. Once these devices are in the hands of the smart and creative people that await them there is no telling how the community will take off.

So, if your interested in what could be the new future of educational and personal computing, head over to RaspberryPi.com and check it out. The device is not available for purchase yet, but if you sign up for their newsletter you will be alerted as to when it is available. At last word, that appears to be at the very beginnig of 2012.

Posted in fun, geek, make, pc, tech

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Why I hate Klout and Still Love it, Too

Nov 30

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Klout: The Standard for Influence

If you know what Klout is you’ve probably read some.of the articles that have been written about it.  Some people like it and some people really dislike it.  The most common reason that people dislike it is due to the fact that, until recently, the method used by Klout to calculate your score has been completely obscured by the company.  There was no hint as to how it was calculated.

Another reason sited by those who dislike the service is that the only way you can get a high score is to be one of the popular people on the net with a huge following on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking services.  It’s kinda like the popularity contests that we all hated in high school.  Either you were popular or you weren’t, and if you weren’t there really weren’t many ways to become popular.  You either had to work really, really hard at it, or have something really big happen to get you noticed.  Klout is pretty much the same way.  

This makes it hard for the average user to creep our way up the ranks.  Combining that with the fact with no one is entirely sure how the score is calculated is enough for some to say they don’t care about Klout and that it is worthless.  Well, I agree with them.  I don’t need a number that some algorithm formulates to tell me that I’m not an internet rock star.  Who cares?  I’m blogging and trying to get people to read my stuff, and maybe, eventually, I will have some folks who follow me and appreciate what I’m doing.

On the other hand, I really appreciate what Klout does for me.  I am able to use it as a form of motivation.  When I post or tweet something and i get some activity on it and my Klout score goes up even a point I’m excited and it gets me to want to do it again.  That motivates me to find something new to post or tweet about and see if I get any response, and thus more Klout.  I can then use this to see what my audience is engaging with and what they aren’t, which helps me to put out more of what my audience wants and less of what it doesn’t, and that should be the goal of anyone that is producing content on the web.

So, does Klout matter and should you worry about it?  In the end, I don’t think so.  However, if viewed through the correct prism it can be a great source of motivation and scorekeeping to see how you are doing with what you are posting on the web.  So keep checking your Klout score, keep posting, and don’t let it make you too happy or too angry when your score moves.

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The Truth About the Kindle Fire

Sep 30

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Kindle Fire

With the introduction of the new Kindle Fire, Amazon appears to have a hit on their hands. You can find all of the usual sites raving about the device in their reviews. Some are even calling it the newest and best iPad competitor. But is it? Is it worth all of the hype and, most importantly, is it worth your money?

To get to the truth, let’s take a look at the hits and misses for the Fire.

Hits

Interface
If you have spent anytime playing with any other Android-based device you will undoubtedly feel like many others that the interface is often clunky and can be frustrating. The Kindle Fire, however, does not suffer from this problem. In fact, the interface is down-right smooth and simple. This is due to the fact that the developers at Amazon actually took the time to move the interface forward to a point that a non-geek would be willing, able, and happy to interact with the Android OS.

Size
The size of the Kindle Fire is a big hit as well. Unlike the iPad and other larger tablets, the Kindle fire is easily held in one hand, and weighs only 14.6 ounces, which is considerably less than its competitors. The screen is still large enough to be able to watch a movie or other video comfortably. If you are going to be using this as a reading device very often, you will be comfortable with the page size as it approximates a paperback book.

Display
Displaying 16 million colors on 169 pixels per inch gives the Kindle Fire a great looking display that is worthy of high definition content. Reading books on this may not be quite the experience that the Kindle is with its superior eInk display, but it is still comfortable to read from.

Apps in the Cloud
The internal storage of the Kindle Fire is only 8GB, but with the availability of being able to run apps from the cloud when connected to wifi, thus not having to save them to the device, makes it possible to save space on the device for just what you want to have available when you are away from wifi. This makes it possible to save many more apps than the device could actually hold with the amount of memory it has.

Amazon Markets
Just like Apple has developed an ecosystem of movies, TV shows, and music for purchasing from their device, Amazon has developed an infrastructure to make sure you aren’t missing your iTunes and App Store. With over 17 million songs, thousands of movies, and hundreds of TV shows available you will have plenty of media available to devour on the Kindle Fire. Of course there are still the hundreds of thousands of books, the Amazon Android app market and the rest of the shopping options on Amazon. The Amazon Kindle will give you plenty of options for all of your shopping and media needs.

Whisper Sync for Movies
One of the cool features of the Kindle reading devices was the fact that if you were reading a book on your Kindle and then later picked up your iPhone, iPad, or other device with the Kindle app on it, you could start from the page you stopped on the last time. This same feature has been introduced for movies. If you start a movie on the Kindle Fire and have to stop it, you can pick up where you left off on any device that will stream Amazon content.

Price
One of the best selling points for the Kindle Fire is the price. At $199 it is amazingly priced hundreds of dollars lower than any of it’s real competitors. You could buy two Kindle Fires for the price of one iPad and have money left over for apps, music, and an Amazon Prime membership. This may be the most bang-for-the-buck device released in a long time!!

OK, so after all of the good, you may be thinking that this is a no-brainer and that this device is perfect. Well, lets get the to the areas where the Kindle Fire may have missed the mark.

Misses

Camera
The Kindle Fire has no camera. None. Not even a bad one. Many will think that this is not a big deal, and if you are in that group, then this will not be a big deal for you. For me, however, this is a big miss. I carry my iPhone everywhere and I am always snapping pictures with it. I have more photography apps on my iPhone than any other two types of apps compared. Keeping the price low on the device was probably the reason for the missing camera, but for me this is major.

Expandable Memory
As mentioned earlier, there is only 8GB of memory on the Kindle Fire. Even with the Apps in the Cloud feature mentioned above, it would be nice to have the ability to insert an SD Card with all of my favorite images, ripped DVD’s, etc.

Sound Input
One of my favorite apps is Skype. Being able to be out and pull this up and make calls to others without having to dig out my phone is a great thing. With the Kindle Fire this will not be a possibility. There is no built-in microphone and the jack for the headset does not work with the headsets with a microphone. There is no way to use a microphone. Again, a big miss for me.

Bluetooth
As far as I can tell there is no Bluetooth available on the Kindle Fire. With the absence of any kind of connection for external devices like a keyboard Bluetooth would be a way to use these types of device. True, this device may not be intended for heavy use for things like blogging, but what if I’m at the coffee shop and I need to check my email or share a long thought on Facebook? I’m not going to want to do all of that typing on the screen.

There you have it, the big hits and misses for the Kindle Fire. If you take a look at this and the positives outweigh the negatives, then I’m sure you will be happy with the Kindle Fire, however, if you are still on the fence, like I am, waiting might be a good idea. I will be waiting for the second generation that I suspect will be coming sooner rather than later. I have a feeling that this will just be a stop-gap measure for Amazon until they can put out an actual iPad competitor with the missing features listed above. Getting a great new tablet to market before Christmas is a great idea. The Kindle Fire will be a big hit, and it deserves to be, but it’s just not quite there for me yet.

Amazon, if you happen to be reading this, I’ll gladly give you the originally rumored price of $250 for an improved Kindle Fire with the missing features listed above.

Posted in geek, pc, tech

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Video: A Look At The Fastest Chronograph Watch Ever Made

Sep 28

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This is one of the coolest watches I have ever seen.  Just watch how fast this thing moves!!!

Too bad its just a concept piece right now.

via TechCrunch

via Video: A Look At The Fastest Chronograph Watch Ever Made.

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The Mopha Tool Roll by ehworks on Etsy

Sep 28

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Mopha Tool Roll

Do you ride your bike a lot?  Have you been looking for a good way to carry your tools that is handy but also kinda stylish?  Well, if so, the Mopha Tool Roll is for you.

Designed my ehworks in Seattle, the Mopha Tool Roll is a cool and convenient way to carry your bike tools, some extra cash, and other small essentials on your bike.  And at a price of just $6 it’s a pretty good value.

The Mopha Tool Roll by ehworks on Etsy.

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Easy Method for Custom T-Shirts

Sep 27

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Have you ever wanted to make your  own t-shirt but didn’t want to pay for the minimum number the printer wanted or have the skills and supplies to make your own?  Well, now is your chance to learn how to make your own custom one-of-a-kind t-shirts at home using stuff you probably already have.

Easy Method for Custom T-Shirts.

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If You Like Motorcycles BikeEXIF.com is the Place for You[Cool Sites]


Do you like photography? Style? Motorcycles? If you said yes to any of these you need to check out BikeEXIF.com

BikeEXIF is a unique site in that it not only features very cool custom motorcycles, classic motorcycles, and cafe racers, it does it with an eye to design of the bikes being shown and backs it up with wonderful photographs of these same bikes. It’s not often that a motorhead, a shutterbug, and a design enthusiast can look at a blog post and all agree that it is amazing.

Looking at this post through the eyes of someone who appreciates the beauty of a classic motorcycle, I appreciate the passion that this site treats the classic motorcycles it profiles. As a shutterbug I appreciate the unique and beautiful pictures that are used to illustrate these same motorcycles.

So, for a great view of some classic motorcycles that is just a little more artsy, but still manly, check out BikeEXIF.com. You won’t be disappointed.

What is Money Laundering, and How do You do It?[Knowledge]

Aug 3

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OK, so like any good geek you’ve watched every heist, robbery, and white collar espionage movie out there and watched the villain get busted for money laundering, but you’ve never really know what that is, how it’s done, or if you can do it yourself. Well, in this post I’ll answer each of those questions for you.

What is Money Laundering?
Money laundering is defined as “concealing the source of illegally gotten money”[1]. What that basically means is that someone who comes into a large amount of money by illegal means, has to find a way to get that money, via various illegal means, into an account that makes the money look legitimate. Otherwise, the “dirty money” (money that has not been laundered, which becomes “clean money”) could connect the person to the original crime. This is most commonly a problem for drug dealers, thieves that sell stolen goods, terrorists, corrupt politicians, and con artists.

How Does Money Laundering “Clean” Money?
In a nutshell, money laundering takes money that is “dirty” (gotten by illegal or nefarious means) and makes it “clean” (appears to be legitimate) by moving it from the original source to a new one that looks legitimate.  For instance, if a thief were to steal and sell a very valuable piece of art it may be possible to track the money gotten from the sell if the money is just deposited in the bank.  Instead, the thief will clean the money so that when it appears in the new account it appears to have come from a legitimate source.

What Are Some Methods for Cleaning Money
The real secret to money laundering is that there are a plethora of methods to do it. Many of which are very simple and can be done by just about anyone. Other methods are more complicated and take a degree in international finance and financial contacts that the average person does not have.

One simple method for laundering small amounts of money (just a few hundred to a few thousand dollars) involves simply using the ill-gotten gains for fun or pleasure. For example, let’s say you stole a car and sold it for $15,000. When you deposit that sum of money without any easy means of explaining it that does not have a paper trail questions will get asked and you could get busted. However, if you take that same money, either all at once or in a few installments, to a casino all you have to do is move about the casino and slowly turn the cash into chips and spend some time playing. After spending several hours playing and enjoying the free drinks you simply go to the window and cash out. The casino may or may not take your information for tax purposes for large sums. If they do, that’s even better because now there is a paper trail of where the money came from. If they don’t, that’s OK, too because you have been on camera for hours in the casino and can explain all of your new money as winnings.

For larger amounts of money, there are more complex methods for laundering money. One of the simpler is called “structuring deposits” or “smurfing”. This method money laundering involves taking large amounts of money and breaking it up into smaller deposits over several days. Let’s say for instance that you have a successful drug deal that brings you $30,000. If you simply deposit that amount of money at your bank all at once then there are bells and whistles that go off in the system that alert authorities. In the US, all deposits of $10,000 are noted and reported by the institution taking the deposit. The way around this is to break the larger amount into several small deposits below $10,000. This is done until the full amount has been deposited.

There are other, more complicated means of laundering money that would take longer to explain and discuss. Suffice it to say that these are complicated and necessarily so and best left to the “professionals”. As simple search for these other methods will give you a great primer on this, along with who has gotten busted doing these sorts of things.

So, Which Method Is Best for Me?
I can’t say this strongly enough; NONE of them. Unless you are a drug dealer, thief, mobster, or other unsavory character, you have no need for these methods. Moreover, the methods themselves are often illegal and can land you in prison. So, for your own good, use this information for just entertainment and trivia purposes. Hopefully the next time you watch a movie that involves money laundering you will be able to explain what that is to your friends and gain a little mystery credit.

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How to Get Your Google+ Invite

Jul 11

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So, you’ve been reading all of the web celebrities go on and on about their experience with Google+, and with every post you get more annoyed that they are having all of the fun and you are not. Well, I have a way you can fix that, and it is a three step process:
1. Have someone you know that has a Google+ account add you to a Circle and then share a post with you via email. If you don’t know someone who has an account, just retweet, like, Digg, or otherwise share this post and I will add you to one of my circles.
2. Log in to your email and click on the link to “View or Comment on” the post that was just created.
3. Once you follow the link you will be lead through the process of creating your Google+ account.

One kink in this plan is that I had check my email from my iPhone for it to work. You may be able to do it from your regular email app or via web mail.

Good luck.

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