For keystrokes, I want my macro to go to a fixed cell location, say cell
N18, then while holding the shift key down, then do an end-down, then move
the bottom up by two rows (same thing as two cells since it's a single
column), then release the shift key. In this way, I select a
variable-length block of cells that is the whole contiguous block except for
the bottom two cells which I always want to ignore.

I try recording these keystrokes in a macro with "use relative references"
set to either of the two possible ways, but either way, the macro records a
fixed set of cells, not the variable length block I need in general. Why
doesn't it work? And, if recording can't do this, please give me the code
that works - I get a little confused on the syntax.

Here are the two ways it comes out (for the particular none-empty cells I
have right now), neither of which is a variable length depending upon where
the bottom of the list happens to be:

Application.Goto Reference:="R18C14"
Range(Selection, Selection.End(xlDown)).Select
ActiveCell.Range("A1:A45").Select


or

Application.Goto Reference:="R18C14"
Range(Selection, Selection.End(xlDown)).Select
Range("N18:N62").Select

Thanks!
Dean