See inline...

Yes, your last posting is very interesting indeed, and makes perfect sense
to me. It seems my own thinking is forming a similar pattern after
studying many of your postings.

There are some (many?) who would question whether that is a good thing or
not.<g


I think that's a good thing overall, but there's times when it's a
challenge
to get things where they fall into place as well as you seem to put them.

Hey, don't think for a moment the solutions I post come to me fully formed.
The way my mind works is I see an "outline" (but no details) of the approach
I think will work... I have to fight to get everything to work together
correctly also. That part, to me, is the fun part of programming.


I'm determined to get there, though!

Desire is the first and most important step in accomplishing, well, pretty
much anything. Since you have it, then I am sure you will succeed.


Thanks for the 'heads up'! I completely understand where you're
coming from. I suppose I should consider doing the same but it's
hard to do most things anymore since I'm forced to spend most
my waking hours in a wheelchair. (I have ALS ..$%^!)

I am really very sorry to hear this. I hope the progress of this terrible
disease goes as well as possible for you.


Anyway, between here and the VB forum I've learned so much
from all you MVPs

I used to be an MVP for the compiled version of the classic version of VB
(from VB3 to VB6) before moving over to the Excel world. Perhaps you came
across some of my earlier VB postings in your Google searches.


... and so I feel I owe it to the community to give something back.

Your participation is most welcome.


I'm a machinist/toolmaker by profession but since I can't work at that
anymore I decided to teach myself programming (other than CNC
programming) so I could turn some of my Excel solutions into
something anyone could use. My formal ed during high school and
college was business, majoring in accounting and bus. management.

I was a math major in college.

I worked as a cost accountant and forensic auditor for a fortune500
company after college, but decided I could put my formal ed to better
use working for myself. (that was back in the late 60's!)

I worked for 32-1/2 years with the New Jersey Department of Transportation
here in the US before retiring. The first half of that time was spent
designing roads (I'm a Licensed Professional <Civil Engineer) and the
latter half in the department's CADD Development group (providing
programming supporting for the engineers and draftsmen in their use of the
system).


Thus, I made a business of working at my hobby. I started using Excel in
v4 while I was teaching at community college. (They were switching to M$O
from Corel Suite) I wish I had put more time into it back then but I had a
business to look after when I wasn't teaching.

I moved to Excel solely to be able to continue offering VB help in the
newsgroups. The classic VB newsgroups started to become very slow about five
years ago or so, mainly because of the introduction of VB.NET five years
before that and Microsoft's de-emphasizing of the classic version of VB as a
result. I figured I could apply what I knew about VB programming to the very
active Excel macro world, so I started posting in both worlds for awhile
(using the time to learn parts of the Excel object model) and eventually
changed my MVP discipline from VB to Excel.


I started using VBA on Thanksgiving weekend of 2003, when I picked
up my first book by JWalk.

You remember the exact date? Good memory! I have no idea what the date was
when I started in on Excel.


In June 2004 I met Rob Bovey via email and have been a devotee
of the Bovey, Bullen, Green movement ever since. I can't thank Rob enough
for all the help and support he's given to my learning process. This also
extends to all the 'vets' in the NGs

Yes, there are some very talented individuals involved in the Excel
community and the Internet offers remarkable access to all of them.


Man.., I wish I had done that long, long ago! -website UI sucks
compared to this! I've read 10s of thousands of postings and
only this year did I start using a newsreader.

Yes, I like the newsreader access much better than the website access as
well.


I've been worried that this NG shutdown fiasco might mean losing contact
with the pros I've grown to respect over these past few years.

I am **not** looking forward to the newsgroup shutdowns either... I find the
newsreader approach far more comfortable to use, but I guess I will have to
get used to the forum approach as that is where Microsoft has decided to
take us all. I wouldn't worry about the losing contact with the "pros" as I
expect they will move their volunteering efforts over to the forums when the
newsgroups close down.


I'm saddened by your heads up, frankly. Your contributions will be truly
missed! I certainly will appreciate the remaining time you stick with it
all that much more.

There is always the chance I won't be leaving. Microsoft might renew my MVP
status in October... if they do, I expect I would continue in the Excel
forums. I only gave the heads up because I don't think the volume of my
posting this year will be enough to re-qualify... I had to take nearly a
month off to attend to a problem that needed fixing in my house and then
there is an upcoming family wedding stealing some of my time as well. Maybe
the volume of my postings from now to October will make up for the earlier
deficit, but I kind of doubt it. Anyway, we will see what will be.


However, I do sincerely wish you best of best wishes for your
future plans. I promise I will be your fan for life, and I'll work
diligently to prove myself worthy of this honor.

Thank you for the kind words and sentiments... they are much appreciated.


--
Rick (MVP - Excel)