Greetings from 70 degree weather in Maine! I am about to tee off for the 13th day in a row, and I figured that it was appropriate that I get a touch of work done on my vacay…

So when I started this business, I was the self-proclaimed Excel Rain Man (or Diva as the case may be), because I could beat the snot out of any spreadsheet. And while I have “still got it”, the Excel Black Belts that we have on board these days not only regularly blow our customers away, but have really brought the art of spreadsheets to a new level.

Allyssa, aka Lisbeth Salander, may come across as a laid back spreadsheeter with 2 and 4 year olds wreaking havoc around her spreadsheet lair, but she is one of the nastiest VBA experts around. Alyssa is famous for the buttons she creates in Excel for our customers. Buttons that take 20 hours of painful regular reporting tasks and transforms them into 20 second breezes… all at the push of, well, a button! Allyssa is in charge of anything Visual Basic here at Excel Rain Man.

Sam, aka “The Wolf” (ala Pulp Fiction), who may seem a tad busy, as he pursues his dual JD MBA, never misses a Giants game (or a happy hour), somehow finds a way to fix your spreadsheet mess like it’s a dead body in the back of your car. Sam will get rid of the hypothetical body, clean the hypothetical car, and be gone before you know it. His customers cannot seem to get enough… as he keeps getting job offers along the way. In between Sam’s classes, internships, homework and spreadsheet help, he also heads up Excel Rain Man’s tutorials division.

Then there is Jaime, the femme fatale who may be seducing your excel spreadsheet, but behind your back is charming Access databases all over town. While sometimes I think she is cheating on me, and Excel, I can’t help but embrace Jaime’s amazing talents and she is now leading up Access Rain Man.

So what’s wrong with your spreadsheets?

No matter what it is, we got it on lock down. Nuff said.

So quit freaking out, Submit a Request and let us fix your Excel or Access ish.

Small Biz Spotlight
This summer, my husband and I have been fortunate enough to visit with friends outside of the city on several of the recent sweltering weekends… which is a nice way to avoid the steamy and pungent bouquet that can envelope Manhattan from what seems to be April through November.

Due to our freeloading, weekend-nomadic ways, we have developed a degree of expertise in the art of the bring along thank you gift. After all, until we can reciprocate with our own sweet pad outside of NYC (sigh…), we will just have to shower these amazing hosts with some serious presents.

My go-to gifts are usually food-related (selfish, as this usually results in being able to enjoy the fruits of my own generosity), and as such, Murray’s Cheese has become my one-stop shop for gifts of any occasion. Since 1940, Murray’s Cheese Shop has been slicing up farmstead, clothbound, stinky, runny, artisanal, handmade, local, organic, and, of course, perfectly ripe cheese. In addition, they also sell all kinds of other goodies aside from cheese, in case you are not gaga over Gouda, or if you are looking for some non-dairy noshes to accompany your fabulous Feta.

Regardless, Murray’s has a fabulous assortment of gift boxes that are perfect for the thank-you gift giving season.

I like to customize it and am lucky enough to be within walking distance of Murray’s on Bleecker Street in order to hand pick (and taste) my gifts before they are given.

In doing this, I usually head to the cheese & meat counter first and tell the friendly and knowledgeable folks about the occasion and how many people I am looking to buy for. My normal rule of thumb is one cheese per person (similar to my rule regarding boxes of wine at a tractor pull). So if we are visiting 2 peeps, 4 blocks of cheese… absurd yet amazing! The Dairy Doctors at Murray’s will walk you through the selection process providing delicious taste after taste of their recommendations along the way. Once the cheeses are chosen and wrapped, each one has a label that provides a detailed 411 on the selection, which is pretty cool and informative. You can also ask them to keep the prices off of the labels… Love it!

In addition to the cheese, you can toss in some of the specialty foods sold at Murray’s, such as various cooked and cured meats, dried fruits, nuts (marcona almonds are my faves), imported crackers, jams (the quince paste rocks), loaves of locally-baked breads, olives, roasted veggies, sweets (Liddabit Sweets is all the rage right now… My favorites are the Beer Salted Caramels), cookies and more!

Or perhaps opt for a pre-made gift basket such as the Ultimate Grilling Collection, “It’s the Ultimate for your first barbeque of the season! Grill up meaty, succulent Niman Ranch Bratwurst and melt some Tilsiter or Jalapeno Jack on top if you’re feeling brave. Scoop on some whole grain mustard and spicy relish and munch garlic dill pickles on the side.” Murray’s also offers a Cheese of the Month Club which rocks!

(I am now officially starving)

In addition to being a small business themselves, Murray’s also supports other small businesses by selling tons of awesome third party goods.

So check out Murray’s Cheese Shop in person (Bleecker Street or Grand Central Station locations) or online (www.murrayscheese.com) and get your dairy on!

Enjoy the rest of your week!

As always, if you want Excel Rain Man to simply do your work for you… Submit a Request and go listen to Scott Van Pelt or whatever else it is you do!

Don’t forget to become a fan of Excel Rain Man on facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Until next time,
Jen Portland

The Excel Rain Diva 🙂