Help make history

Whether you are reading this blog using IE, Opera, or even Firefox (v2), go download & install the latest version of Firefox (v3)! Oh, you can't install your own program on your work machine? No problem! Check out this portable version. I have been using beta versions for the past 6 months and Firefox3 is the best browser that I've used: Fast, saves memory, with more features than ever!

Help get Firefox3 into the Guinness' Book of World Records for the most download in one day!

Exploiting Excel

There are a few side projects I do just to keep my card-carrying credential as a nerd. Two Excel functions I discovered that has changed the way I use Excel. This is all about managing data under specific conditions.

Most people probably know how to SUM() a block of cells, but what if I only want to SUM certain cells within that block when those cells meet a certain condition, go check out SUMIF() function.

Along the line of conditional sum, what if we want to change the location and size of the block of cells without going back to modify our existing SUM function? For example, there's a list of charges to my bank account, normally, my monthly statement lists all transactions and total sum of what happened within that period. What if I want to sum transactions across an arbitrary set of dates, for example, only the 2nd week of the month? This is where OFFSET can be used in conjunction with SUMIF. OFFSET function allows me to determine the origin of the offset, how much to offset to (i.e. where to start) and the size of the offset (i.e. where to stop). So instead of setting a fix block / range of cells within SUM, use the OFFSET within the SUM function.

SUMIF and OFFSET provide the freedom beyond the normal SUM function or any function that takes in a block or range of cells. SUMIF allows for conditional sum, and OFFSET gives me the flexibility of the location and size of the block of cells for manipulation within Excel.

Productivity

Laziness is a great virtue and I try my best to work as little as possible. Take the mouse for example, I think it's one of many productivity killers, and touchpad isn't far behind. Why? Because for a touch typist like myself, I have to lift my hand, grasp around for the mouse, move the pointer to the desired location, and then move back to my keyboard. The more efficient way is to keep my dominant/mouse hand on the keyboard and trackpoint is the most efficient way of moving the pointer around. My recent compromise on desktop computers is to use my trackball, then I know exactly where my pointer moving widget is without looking for it; the additional benefit is that a trackball doesn't take up the same amount of space as a mouse with its mousepad.

Along the same line, I use gmail and greasemonkey together, and I found gmail macros; it lets me navigate and perform various tasks inside gmail without using my mouse. I was just complaining to a friend of mine today after gmail upgraded to the new version.

It's just sooooo hard, you know, I want to quit my "miserable" job and do my 4-hour work week, be a dating coach every other weekend. Can someone make me dinner? Don't forget to pick up my dry cleaning too! While you are at it, bring a few girls home... so, you know, I don't have to go out and talk to girls. Living is so difficult! HA!

Yes, I don't have to do the heavy lifting

I was just discussing this idea of mine of bringing all those (social & professional) networking sites together last week... Then this rumor appears. Just as there were many IM protocols back in the 90's. Now, we will probably have a networking site that will bring myspace, facebook, linkedin, whatever else together. I bet there will be one site for blogs too.