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byundtFlag for United States of America

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Congratulations to our new Quadruple Genius—zorvek

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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Patrick Matthews
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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
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?)
Good work, Kevin

Saqib
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
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Member_2_933725

Many congratulations Kevin; as a very occasional contributor here I understand the achievement that answering one question represents. What I don't understand (yet) is how to answer 000's...maybe in my "retirement"!

Best wishes
Mike
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
Congratulations, Kevin!

4,000,000 points! WOW!! And you managed to get them despite Brad's best efforts :)

I don't suppose you'd share the Solutions Database (in an *attempt* to even the playing field :) ?

Well Done.

Wayne
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zorvek (Kevin Jones)
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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#17362613 "You guys saved my bacon on this project, THANKS!"
http:Q_21966131.html#17384329 "YEAH YES INDEED..........I'll never let my subscription to the site lapse again"
http:Q_21967539.html#17390782 "Me one happy bunny now....!"
http:Q_21987040.html#17507239 "I love you!...Not to be gay or anything... Haha"
http:Q_21994047.html#17547985 "Kevin, you are God!"
http:Q_22014688.html#17672545 "Absolute Perfection!!!"
http:Q_22012642.html#17675067 "BRILLIANT!!! It's wonderfully stable and faster, thanks a LOT!"
http:Q_22019709.html#17702035 "How the hell did you answer me so fast?!!!"
http:Q_22021426.html#17711837 "WoW Ho. You're the best. Thanks for the quick help!"
http:Q_22028172.html#17753291 "Ohhhhh YEAH!! That's exactly what I was talking about - Thank you so much.  You rock!"

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
"The perfect medicine after my wife has told me I'm a lazy good-for-nothing nerd."

Wot!?!  You can't handle the truth?

Well, she's wrong... you're good for another 1m points.

BFN,

fp.