So it’s been a while since I last wrote to you all, and while you may be appreciating a few less emails in your inbox… the miserable Summer television lineup means this Excel Rain Diva has a bit more time on her hands, and therefore… it is Newsletter time once again!

What better way to celebrate the re-airing of the second season of the new 90210 (guilty pleasure) than to spark up a little patriotic inter-office gambling!! That’s right, the World Cup starts this Friday, and is graciously providing another excuse to procrastinate at work by researching the various group brackets and betting on Team USA to take it all the way this year! (Disclaimer: Excel Rain Man accepts no responsibility for foolishly thinking that “this year the Stars and Stripes just might shock the world.” Trust me… They will not.)

For all you office Pool Managers out there, ExcelRainMan.com is providing a FREE Spreadsheet Solution for efficiently managing your 2010 World Cup pool!

The FREE Excel Rain Man 2010 World Cup Manager can be found in the Tips & Tricks section of www.ExcelRainMan.com. Get the 411 on the Excel Rain Man 2010 World Cup Manager in the section below.

Please forward this Excel Rain Knowledge to your friends and colleagues!

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

1. World Cup
Tell all your friends to download the World Cup 2010 Form for Round 1 from the Tips & Tricks section of ExcelRainMan.com. If your pool participants are even lazier than you (unlikely), feel free to download and email the WorldCup2010_EntryForm_Round1 around to friends, fraternity bros, fellow rec soccer weirdoes, Bob in Finance, whoever… Participants use simple drop-down menus in the Bracket to select their picks for each game. Make sure that they send you their picks before the first game this Friday, June 11th @ 10 am EST.

After completing and saving their forms for Round 1, participants will send their completed forms back to the Pool Manager, who can easily upload everyone’s World Cup 2010 Form for Round 1 into the 2010 World Cup Manager (simple instructions for uploading forms are also provided in the Tips & Tricks section of ExcelRainMan.com). The Pool Manager has full control over the point system used for each round (i.e. Round 1: 1 point per-win, 3 points if advancing to next round; Round 2: increased points for each win).

Generic Round 2 forms can be found in the Tips & Tricks section of ExcelRainMan.com as well. As soon as the 16 teams are known on June 25th, we will post the detailed Round 2 form… you know where J. It is then up to you to demand that Round 2 forms are completed and returned to the Pool Manager before the beginning of Round 2 on June 26th @ 10am EST.

With this Excel Rain Man World Cup solution, participants can just save their completed personal, print-ready forms to their desktop (forms must still be submitted to the Pool Manager of course).
As the World Cup progresses, the Pool Manager must simply select each game’s winner using the drop-down menus (in the “R1 – Winning” and “R2 – Winning” tabs), and our bad ass World Cup Manager will tally the standings.

Let the games begin!

PLEASE NOTE:

Due to the use of Macros, the 2010 World Cup Manager will not work properly on Mac Computers. However, individual forms can be filled out by Mac and PC users. Phew!

Download the WorldCup2010_EntryForm_Round1 & 2010 World Cup Manager free of charge from the Tips & Tricks section at ExcelRainMan.com.

Don’t forget to check out our other tips, tricks and goodies as well!

2. Small Biz Spotlight

Whether you live in NYC or Toledo, if you like wine, you will love Le Vigne (www.levignenyc.com)! This awesome Italian wine shop, located in the West Village @ 35 Greenwich Avenue (btw 10th and Charles), opened this past summer by wine savant Carlo Orrico, the former sommelier from Babbo.

Every time I walk into Le Vigne (which is more often than I care to admit), Carlo asks in a chill and non-pretentious manner what I am looking for. He knows that I like my vino white and sub-$20, and every time he hooks me up with great picks… offering pearls of knowledge on each bottle along the way. Love it! Who knows… one day I might actually have a clue as to what wine I am drinking!
BTW, Did I mention the ambiance of Le Vigne? On a limited budget, Carlo worked with a very cool architecture and design firm to create the vintage, funky layout. Using furniture scoured from Goodwill and the Salvation Army, they built a Map of Italy in the center of the store, containing secret wine compartments for storage and display … very cool.

So for all who live nearby, check out Le Vigne and pick up a bottle… or 12, as the case may be (pun fully intended). Free Wine Tastings take place every Thursday night.
Le Vigne also offers free delivery in NYC and can ship to your abode if you are looking to avoid a muggy trek to the West Village Location. Just give Carlo a call @ 212-255-0222.
Mention Excel Rain Man and you will get 10% off your purchase during the month of June. Holla!

Don’t hate on Excel anymore. Just Submit a Request to outsource your Excel work… so you can hit the links or take back a few ‘ritas!!!

Coming soon… online Video Tutorials that you can download at your cube… as always feel free to put it on your bosses tab 🙂
Spoil yourself with some funky Excel Rain Man templates that are getting a ton of Rain Buzz! Check them out in the Tips & Tricks section @ ExcelRainMan.com.

Until next time,
Jen Portland

The Excel Rain Diva 🙂