“We know what we are but know not what we may be.”
William Shakespeare
Archives
This page contains resources that I have found useful in my personal and professional life. It contains everything from quotes and books that I like to podcasts and videos.
If you don’t want to scroll through the entire list, you can click on one of the links below to filter the resources by specific category.
I will update this list as I discover new resources. If you have a resource you think I should add, please email me.
Double Click the Excel Icon
You can close Excel down (with multiple files open) by double clicking the Excel icon – top left of screen.
This works for the other Office apps too.
If you haven’t saved a file Excel will ask if you want to.
To close a single file down use the X on the top right of screen.
A wonderful discussion about creativity and how we can all be creative.
Makes you think.
“Play is the highest form of research.”
Albert Einstein
Clear all formats
To clear all the formats for a cell or a range select the cell/range and press in sequence Alt H E F don’t hold the keys down.
All the formats will be removed.
If you need to see the underlying number for a date this is an easy way to find it.
You have to finish things — that’s what you learn from, you learn by finishing things.
Neil Gaiman – author
If you knew how much effort went into it you would not call it genius.
Michaelangelo
Webinar – Excel Loan Schedules
Price: AU$25
This session will examine 5 different loan schedules.
1. Standard Loan Schedule – using standard formulas – works in all versions.
2. Standard Loan Schedule – using dynamic array formulas – subscription version only.
3. Loan Drawdown Schedule – allows the drawing down of amounts with interest only and repayments begin once the final drawdown has been made. Subscription version only.
4. Interest Only Period Loan Schedule – allows setting an interest only period before the repayments begin. Macro based. Works in all versions except the browser version.
5. Extra Repayments Loan Schedule– models the effect of making extra repayments on the life and total cost of the loan. Works in all versions.
| Date: | 18/06/2024 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 1:00 PM AEST |
| Event: | Excel Loan Schedules |
| Topic: | Excel Loan Schedules |
| Public: | Public |
| Registration: | Click here to register. |
“Everything not saved will be lost.”
Nintendo “Quit Screen” message
It’s so hard to forget pain, but it’s even harder to remember sweetness. We have no scar to show for happiness. We learn so little from peace.
Chuck Palahniuk (Novelist)
Deeds will not be less valiant because they are unpraised.
Source: Aragon in The Return of the King
J.R.R. Tolkein
Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
T. S. Elliot
Webinar – Dynamic Arrays – Advanced Functions
Price: AU$25
This is the fourth in the series and the third to focus on dynamic array functions.
This session requires the subscription version of Excel.
We will examine some advanced functions that allow you to get around a few problems you may face with dynamic arrays. We will also cover some advanced techniques and learn about custom functions.
This session covers
- the SCAN, REDUCE and MAP functions
- using wildcards for totals
- an OR condition technique for SUMIFS
- using the # symbol on the end of functions
- custom functions with and without LAMBDA
As always, I will share a few other tips along the way.
| Date: | 24/04/2024 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 1:00 PM AEST |
| Event: | Dynamic Arrays - Advanced Functions |
| Topic: | Dynamic Arrays - Advanced Functions |
| Public: | Public |
| Registration: | Click here to register. |
Webinar – Dynamic Arrays – Intermediate Functions
Price: AU$25
This is the third in the series and the second to focus on dynamic array functions.
This session requires the subscription version of Excel.
This session covers.
- new dynamic array functions explained and demonstrated
- LET, LAMBDA, BYROW, BYCOL, TEXTSPLIT, TEXTBEFORE, TEXTAFTER, VSTACK and HSTACK
- see how to summarise a formatted table
- learn techniques to split and join text
- discover array syntax what it is and how it can be used
- see how to combine multiple ranges in a single formula
As always, I will share a few other tips along the way.
| Date: | 23/04/2024 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 1:00 PM AEST |
| Event: | Dynamic Arrays - Intermediate Functions |
| Topic: | Dynamic Arrays - Intermediate Functions |
| Public: | Public |
| Registration: | Click here to register. |
Webinar – Dynamic Arrays – Basic Functions
Price: AU$25
This is the second in the series and the first to focus on dynamic array functions.
This session requires the subscription version of Excel.
This session covers.
- new dynamic array functions explained and demonstrated
- SEQUENCE, CHOOSECOLS, CHOOSEROWS, TAKE and DROP
- flexible loan schedule and flexible budget example
- Formatted tables and dynamic arrays
- Old functions that work well with spill ranges
- TRANSPOSE and INDEX
As always, I will share a few other tips along the way.
| Date: | 18/04/2024 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 1:00 PM AEST |
| Event: | Dynamic Arrays - Basic Functions |
| Topic: | Dynamic Arrays - Basic Functions |
| Public: | Public |
| Registration: | Click here to register. |
What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it.
Writer and Nobel Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez
I have long understood that climate change is not only an environmental issue – it is a humanitarian, economic, health, and justice issue as well.
Environmental activist, Frances Beinecke
Be prepared to appreciate what you meet.
A Fremen proverb from Dune by Frank Herbert.
Webinar – Introducing Excel’s Form Controls
Price: Free
Duration: 1 hour
Check boxes, option buttons (aka radio buttons), scroll bar (slider) and combo boxes (drop down list) are all easy to use interfaces. You can incorporate them into your spreadsheets to make the user experience as easy and intuitive as possible.
This session will cover.
- creating and using check boxes
- creating and using option buttons (aka radio buttons)
- creating and using a scroll bar (slider)
- creating and using a combo box (drop down list)
- using range names with controls
- building a loan calculator with all four controls
There will also be a few tips and keyboards shortcuts along the way.
| Date: | 13/12/2023 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 1:00 PM AEDST |
| Event: | FREE - Introducing Excel's Form Controls |
| Topic: | Excel Form Controls |
| Public: | Public |
| Registration: | Click here to register. |
In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.
Eric Hoffer
There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
William Shakespeare, 1564-1616
The difficulties of life are meant to make us better, not bitter.
Anonymous
The greatest value of a picture is when it forces us to notice what we never expected to see.
John W Tukey, Exploratory Data Analysis
Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.
Robert Frost
A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the hand bleed that uses it.
Rabindranath Tagore
Four Thousand Weeks (2020)
An alternative view of being productive and striving to do the most you can, in the time you have.
Being efficient and effective is messy and a one size fits all rule based system usually won’t last or work.
Has some good ideas on what to focus on and what not to focus on.
Jean-Georges Vongerichten showed me the value in taking away, taking things off of a plate. … The more you put on the plate, the easier it is to hide. The more you take away, there’s nowhere to hide—it has to be good.
Chef Wylie Dufresne
A Conversation with Wylie Dufresne
Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.
Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
The Old Man and the Sea
Drop Down Selection update
Woohoo!
It has taken a decade or so but Excel finally has an in-cell drop down that you can type a letter and reduce the entries listed – see screen shot below.
Education isn’t something you can finish
Isaac Asimov (1920-1992)