Today, we congratulate a formidable talent in Excel. Most people slow down once they earn their Genius certificate—but not our man Kevin. He has been involved with Excel even before its commercial release in 1985. And his efforts to help people solve their Excel problems are as strong today as they were when he earned his first million points.
Along with the brilliance you expect from an Excel Genius, Kevin exhibits the dogged persistence needed to solve a problem. Take, for example, the person who wanted to eliminate the dropdown arrows on a PivotTable: http:/Q_22028172.html I remember looking at that question and realizing that the only way to solve it would be to methodically test the properties and methods of the PivotTable object until you either proved it couldn't be done or else succeeded. And that's exactly what Kevin did.
And the quality of his answers even to easy problems has improved with age. The Excel TA is somewhat repetitive, so Kevin's response to this situation was to develop a database of solutions to recurring problems. He labors over the wording in these generic discussions to make sure that his message is communicated clearly. And before posting, he often adds specifics related to the question to make the discussion relevant. He does such a good job at this—I've cribbed the text from four of these, and have used bits and pieces of at least a dozen others.
Woohoo Kevin!
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Congratulations, Kevin!
Wow, 4M! Un-frigging-believable! And most of these (3.4M +) were in just the last two years! Lucky for us there's a lot of great stuff in those answers so please keep them coming.
Great job, Kevin and thanks for being here!
Jim
(BTW, is there a special HOF picture link on your website for just the 4M+ club?)
Wow.. though the year isn't through yet I didnt think you'd have such a lead:
Top 15 Yearly
Microsoft Excel
zorvek 1837404
byundt 1663099
(followed by Jim and Rory with a still impressive 800k points!)
So, another 4 or 5 years before you have the overall top spot?
Kevin got me to sign up for MSN messenger... of course since my IM program stopped working with MSN and my firewall doesnt like the actual MSN client, I'm never on. But he did get me to use it, even if only for a little bit!
Someday I'll be in your neighborhood again and actually stop by (instead of just waving in your direction from the traffic-clogged highway). At this rate you'll probably have the most points in the TA before I make it out there though.
Congrats!
Matt,
> Someday I'll be in your neighborhood again and actually stop by (instead of just
> waving in your direction from the traffic-clogged highway). At this rate you'll
> probably have the most points in the TA before I make it out there though.
Assuming Brad and Kevin maintain their daily rates for 2006 indefinitely, you have a bit of time to get there--
I do not see Kevin passing Brad until 25 Sep 2011 :)
Regards,
Patrick
Congratulations, Kevin! 4m is a hell of an achievement, especially in this TA I would say. I'm intrigued by this database of yours and your high point rate - might have to do a Turing test on you just to check you're not a robot... ;-)
Keep up the good work! (but slow down a bit and let the rest of us play sometimes, too!)
Rory
Thanks guys! The attention is great but, as I hinted in Brad's last congrats thread, the points are really not all that amusing any more. On the other hand, it still annoys me when I miss out on a question because of stupid mistakes and I do still look at the delta between me and the sheriff. So, while 4M is noteworthy, the big party will be when I catch the expert's expert ;-)
But back to the attention because, as my wife and daughter know, I love attention. Positive attention...not the kind of attention I get after spending a few hours in the evening answering questions for points or forget to pick up the doggy droppings.
>Brad: And that's exactly what Kevin did.
Yup. And no sex that night either.
>Brad: I've cribbed the text from four of these, and have used bits and pieces of at least a dozen others.
I'm not shy, I've stolen a whole mess of stuff from all of you. Most of it looks like crap though so I have to clean it up. Add indents to Matt's code, take out the 1), 2), 3), 4), ...642), 643) from brad's instructions, remove the insults and exclamation marks from Patrick's (Mr. AB) comments, take out the comments, references, and English language options from Nigel's posts, and interpret Harish's gobbledygook after finding the post that actually works.
>Patrick: Every once in a blue moon you take notice of something I've done...I may have contributed maybe 0.00000175% of them.
Not true. You are one of my more frequent sources of coding ideas. The last one was the concatenation routine. Had to fix a few bugs and add some features but it was a great start.
>Patrick: You have strived to keep up comaraderie among the regulars here.
I do like it when people in the room are getting along. Helps my digestion.
>Jim: Thanks for being here!
Thank YOU for allowing me to stay, learn, and have fun!
>Jim: Is there a special HOF picture link on your website for just the 4M+ club?
Well...maybe...where's Harish?
>Saqib: Good work.
You two ;-)
>Matt: Kevin got me to sign up for MSN messenger.
Got a bunch of you on Messenger and it has been a blast getting to know you better than through off-topic posts...Nigel! Brad is my most significant accomplishment. Took me a few attempts and a few months to convince him to try it. Now he is on most of his waking hours and we use it regularly to report issues, bounce ideas, and chat about "Dilbert" employees/bosses.
>Matt: Someday I'll be in your neighborhood again and actually stop by.
Bring the kitties! Can you fit tubby in your car?
>Patrick: I do not see Kevin passing Brad until 25 Sep 2011.
The really amazing thing is that I am actually gaining ground AND I am still employed AND I am sleeping in the same bed as my wife!
>Mike: What I don't understand (yet) is how to answer 000's...maybe in my "retirement"!
Take lot's of notes, put the notes in something that can be queried, and then post FAST! To practice, wait until both Brad and Harish are posting: Harish will bombard the thread with five posts for each of your posts and Brad will actually read the question and post correct answers. Quite a challenge to get an answer under those conditions.
>Rory: I'm intrigued by this database of yours and your high point rate - might have to do a Turing test on you just to check you're not a robot.
The possibility had been discussed before. It is not true. Kevin, er, I mean I always post with my ten little fingers.
>Wayne: I don't suppose you'd share the Solutions Database (in an *attempt* to even the playing field :) ?
Stupid thing started as a joke. Then I realized it was a good idea and, after loosing a number of questions while I fumbled with my Word outline of notes, decided to build the real deal. It's a VB application with an Access database. At this point I am close to 1K entries. My goal has shifted from being an EE smarty pants to pushing it out to a web site. I'm working with a web developer but both of us are so busy it will be a while before anything happens. I may post the application someday after I add some more features. Do I sound like a politician?
Kevin
Hey, congrads Kevin. I haven't been around too long, but it's a good opportunity for me to thank you for some of the huge problems you've helped me with. It shows that you're more gratified by giving a truely complete answer that makes another person kiss your toes than you are by taking a shot at snagging the points before everyone else. You're invaluable to this TA.
Alain
Toe kissers, how yummy...
I'm not sure I would put the points that low on the scale as they do turn the work into more of a game or contest - and any man with any testosterone will tell you a good competitive game is the cat's pajamas. And, while most of us maintain a high degree of civility, there is definitely heated competition and a little adrenaline on a regular basis when two or more smarty pants are vying for the asker's attention.
But you are absolutely correct in that the recognition for doing a good job, not the points, is the real score. To that end I stopped looking at the points as much as watching for cool expressions of gratitude. Here are the past few months worth:
http:Q_21962391.html#17362
http:Q_21966131.html#17384
http:Q_21967539.html#17390
http:Q_21987040.html#17507
http:Q_21994047.html#17547
http:Q_22014688.html#17672
http:Q_22012642.html#17675
http:Q_22019709.html#17702
http:Q_22021426.html#17711
http:Q_22028172.html#17753
While getting a few answers is satisfying, reading the thank yous makes me all warm inside. The perfect medicine after my wife has told me I'm a lazy good-for-nothing nerd.
Kevin
Business Accounts
Answer for Membership
by: matthewspatrickPosted on 2006-10-24 at 12:35:21ID: 17798708
Hi Kevin,
Well, you've done it! Congratulations!
I've lost count of the things I've learned from you; if I hadn't lost count, surely I'd need a larger data type :)
Every once in a blue moon you take notice of something I've done, mark it as clever, and say you'll stash
it in your Database o' Clever Solutions; I figure I may have contributed maybe 0.00000175% of them :)
And on top of that, I value your wit and friendliness highly; even though we compete, you have always
been friendly and warm. You have strived to keep up comaraderie among the regulars here, even with
little things like your "campaign" to get everyone signed up with an IM service. I know that you always
hold up Brad as a model of what we all could be in EE, but you are an excellent role model all on your own.
So keep those mind-bending answers coming! Huzzah!
Regards,
Patrick