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What do Psychics, Family, and Microsoft have in common? (VOL023)

Saturday, July 11th, 2009

Welcome back to the Podcast!

This week’s edition…

“What do Psychics, Family, and Microsoft have in common?”

Well…

They all seem to know me pretty well, or at least they think they know me well enough to correct me as I speak or write, or try to finish my sentences.

Let’s use my son as an example. He has discovered that when he asks a question like, “Daddy, can I stay up and [insert fun activity here]?”, my typical response tends to be: “Well, once you have finished [chore assigned by me], we can talk about it, but it might be too far past your bed time.” He knows that this response can be substituted with: “Probably not, it is way past your bed time and you haven’t even showered yet.”

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Posted in Business Communication, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Word 2007, Podcast, Uncategorized | Comments Off

"tmot shortcuts r gr8t" Or "Trust Me On This – Shortcuts Are Great!" (VOL021)

Saturday, June 27th, 2009

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Probably one of the most baffling things I see today has to be messages sent via Twitter, SMS, or IM. Thanks to people even lazier than myself, there is now an entire generation of people who can confuse even the most skilled Native American code talkers of World War II.

It’s absolutely amazing how being limited to 140 or 160 characters can really change our spelling and sentence structure. For instance, if I wanted to invite my friend out for drinks at the House of Blues in Cleveland, Ohio, I might send a text message like, “U Wan2 meet up @ HOB L8R?” WOW! This reminds me of a game I used to play as a kid on road trips where I would try to figure out what someone’s license plate might mean if it were a sentence or phrase. (more…)

Posted in Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Publisher, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Word, Podcast, Productivity Tools, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Ancient wisdom of the gods revealed! – Which Chart to Use? (VOL020)

Saturday, June 20th, 2009

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Charts are everywhere in daily life; from news commentary, to stocks, to web polls, right down to entertaining sites like www.graphjam.com.

Who really knows which one to use? We all understand the old phrase, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” but which picture (or, in this case, which chart) gets me closer to that thousand instead of 3?

Today we are going to cover some basic chart types and what picture they draw. So, like Prometheus giving fire back to man, I now give the knowledge of Redmond back to the masses.

The four most commonly used chart types are Column, Bar, Line, and Pie. These are not the only chart types, but they cover what most mere mortals like you and I can probably get the most out of. (more…)

Posted in Data Analysis, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, Office 2007, Podcast, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Your business has an image to keep. Are you blurring the line? (VOL015)

Friday, May 15th, 2009

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Whether you’re in Hollywood, Politics, or Business your image in the public arena is critical to your success. So why wouldn’t the images in your documents need to have the same impact? (more…)

Posted in Business Communication, Microsoft Publisher, Microsoft Word, Podcast, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Stop That Train I Wanna Get Off! (VOL011)

Friday, April 17th, 2009

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Often my wife, co-workers, and friends say that I have a really strange way of thinking and it is extremely difficult to follow the logic on the train wreck of thoughts running through my head. In fact, the most common expression I hear from people tends to be, “How did you get that when we started out with this?” To which I reply, “Do you really want to know how I started at A, then went to Z, then back to Y, on to 3 through 12, and finish on B and C?” Inevitably, after they ask the first time, they usually don’t ask again.

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Posted in Business Communication, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, Office 2007, Podcast, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Vertical Stripes Can Be Slimming (VOL008)

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009

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I was told by a good friend one time that I looked better in a bowling shirt than I did in my rugby style polo shirt. She said that the vertically lined bowling shirt made me look like a taller and slimmer person, whereas the polo shirt made me look like a walking version of the flight of the bumble bee gone wild.

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Posted in Business Communication, Microsoft Publisher, Microsoft Word, Podcast, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Parallel Columns in Your Document

Monday, April 6th, 2009

Parallel columns are usually shorter than newspaper columns, and are visually more horizontal. Parallel columns require column breaks and more section breaks than Newspaper columns. They are harder to maintain, but can be very effective in some documents. We will explain how to set them up in this tip:

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Scraping the Ice Off Windows (VOL006)

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

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Every winter, I tell myself I am going to buy one of those remote car starters — you know, those things where I can stay toasty warm in the confines of my own home while de-icing my car. But then summer comes, there is no more need, and I forget.

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Posted in BlackBerry, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Visio, Microsoft Word, Mobile Devices, Office 2007, Podcast, Productivity Tools, Uncategorized, Windows Mobile | No Comments »