MousePotatoPower

I’m a numbers person.  I like Excel.  With a decent set of data, I can amuse myself for hours making lists, charts and pivot tables.  Anything past algebra is beyond my comprehension, but I can easily calculate a 15% tip when I eat out.
Some of the people that I know aren’t as mathematically-inclined when it comes to percentages and fractions, but after a recent conversation with a few friends, we came up with a 2 easy ways to calculate an appropriate tip.

#1) Let’s assume that you are going to tip 15%.  Figure out what 10% of the bill is (move the decimal point one digit to the left.  Figure out what half of 10% is and add those 2 numbers together.

#1a) If you had bad service, stick with a 10% tip.   Just do the decimal point trick from method #1.

#1b) If service was excellent, leave a 20% tip.  Start with the decimal point trick from method #1 and double that.

#2) This method will vary depending on what the tax rate is in your state.  In Hawaii, it is currently 4.712%.  Find the tax amount on your restaurant receipt and multiply that by 4.

If all else fails, pull out your cellphone.  It’s got a calculator, doesn’t it?  Do the math with your phone.

Recently, I needed a list of files in a specific directory on my computer. The list has to be editable so that I can sort it and search through it. There are tons of small utilities available online that claim to print a list of files from a folder/directory in Vista, many of them will create a text file (which is what I want). Some are free, some cost money, all of them can be downloaded from websites that I don’t trust.

Microsoft’s own Knowledgebase article doesn’t work with Vista, so I spent part of my evening searching for a free way to print a directory listing in Vista.

1. Navigate to the folder you want, but do NOT enter the folder
2. hold the shift key down and right-click on your desired folder
3. select Open Command Window Here (vista) or Command Prompt (XP)
4. in the Command Window type: dir /b > someFilename.txt
5. hit Enter to make your file listing
6. type exit to close the Command Window

Look in your desired folder, a new file called someFilename.txt will be there. It will contain a list of all the files in the same folder.

Let’s explain.

dir is an old-school DOS command called directory. It generates a list of files and directories and displays it on the screen.

/b is an optional switch that tells dir to use a bare format with minimal information. Switches customize the output of dir. Here’s a few other switches to use with our dir command:

• dir > filename.txt - this is the default format that dir gives
• dir /on > filename.txt -”/o” specifies a sort order, “n” makes it sort alphabetically

If you feel like you need to experiment more, techrepublic.com.com (no, that’s not a typo) has a pretty good article on Dir command options.

The greater than sign “>” redirects the results of dir to somewhere else. In this case, into a file called someFilename.txt

At work, I deal with a lot of e-mail issues.  Today, somebody had trouble sending an e-mail:

• The e-mail was an 8-page newsletter made in MS Word
• the newsletter was 15 MB
• There were only about 8 graphics in it, mostly digital pictures
• The last page was a 1-page scan of a letter from the president
• The e-mail was being sent to 144 employees within the company
• It was also being sent to approximately 100 non-employees outside the company

244 recipients x 15 MB = a whole lot of e-mail

In an effort to reduce the load on our servers, I found this great tutorial on compressing graphics in Word.  It also applies to Powerpoint.  About 6 mouse clicks and Word compressed the 15 MB attachment down to 4.5 MB.  Taking out the 1-page scan dropped the newsletter down to an amazing 450 KB.

In Powerpoint 2007, you’ll need to click on a graphic, select Picture Tools, then find the Compress Pictures button on the new Ribbon interface.