2015-2016 NFL Pick 'Em Pool

At long last, I've completed this season's NFL Pick 'Em pool. Some of you have diligently been pestering me for weeks now. I am truly sorry to make you wait up to the night before opening game. Truly. That said, I had an ambitious list of new features -- several that have been requested for a few years now -- to integrate into the old spreadsheet.

For example, many, many of you wanted the ability to not just pick winners and losers, but to pick against the spread. Done. This is now an option on the all new Settings tab. Selecting this option will un-grey-out a new row where you input each game's favorite and point spread, which is then taken in to account when determining correct picks.

Similarly, lots of you have requested support for a Confidence Points system -- so not all games counted for the same amount of points if picked correctly. Not only this, but some of you wanted a traditional "1-X" system where you assigned 1 point to a game, 2 points to another, 3 to another, all the way up to 16 or however many games there are to pick that week. Others wanted a "Pool of Points" system wherein you start with a defined pool of points that you must spread across all of that weeks games as you see fit. I've added support for both. Enabling Confidence points of either type will un-grey-out new columns next to each participants picks in which to input their confidence points, which are then taken into account when calculating overall weekly points.

Also, lots of you wanted more capacity for participants. 100 wasn't enough. I've upped it to 300. I could keep adding more capacity, but it comes at a file size trade-off. I'm already up to over 3 MB now!

I did a few other things, too, like cleaning up and exposing the Schedule tab. Many of you have expressed interest in a college football pick 'em. Well, just un-protect (it's not password protected) and change that Schedule tab to whichever games you like. I also fixed the often reported bug with the sorting buttons. Those should work now. Finally, one this I didn't do this year is create the companion "picks" version of the sheet. No one ever really said it was that helpful, and it was just something else to maintain. If you need a way to have your participants easily send you their picks, they can just use the same file -- sorry again, about that 3 MB file size.

Without further ado, here's the file: 2015-16_NFL_Weekly_Football_Pool.xlsm

More than a handful of folks, as they were pinging, pestering, checking-in with me offered to pay me or donate to me for the sheet. This, like the college bowl pool sheet I do, I do for free. That said, if you are so compelled to contribute to my son's college saving plan, feel free to PayPal me whatever you like. PayPal just recently launched this great new feature called PayPal.me that makes it really easy to request any amount:

$5.00

$10.00

$25.00

$50.00

Really you just have to change that dollar amount in the URL -- https://paypal.me/excelgeek/50.

Anyways...please enjoy this year's NFL Pick 'Em. If you encounter a bug or need help with using the sheet, let me know.

Later,

Excel_Geek

2012 March Madness Bracket is coming...

We're under two days until Selection Sunday! You know what that means, right? That's right. It's almost time for another version of the ExcelGeek.com March Madness Bracket pool manager spreadsheet (and associated participant version).

I've got something new to show you all this year. OOOOooooooo..., right? Well, actually the pool master spreadsheet and associated participant picks sheet both will look and feel and work pretty much like they did last year. The big difference this is that you won't have to email me the "Lock Code" you get when you first open the (locked down and protected) "master" file. Instead, I'll give you a place to enter that code so that it is submitted when you pay the $2.00 via PayPal. Then, when the payment is processed, you'll be taken to a page that automatically generates the associated "Key Code" you'll need to put in the spreadsheet to make it work.

How about that? No more waiting on me. Instant gratification! (And, I don't have to struggle to keep up with emailing people codes.) You didn't know I was also a budding web developer did you? In all seriousness, I have a good friend, Craig, to thank for being patient enough to "teach" me a bit of .php. Thanks, Craiggers!

As soon as all of the picks are announced on Sunday, I'll get the files posted.

Talk to you all again in 48 hours or so.

Excel_Geek

2011 March Madness Bracket is Here!

Looking for 2014 brackets? Check here.

Ok, people. Here they are -- this year's March Madness Bracket spreadsheets. Again, there's a Master sheet for the organizers of pools, as well as a Participant version, just for people to make their picks and send them to the organizer.

Master File

Participant File

Once you've downloaded the Master file and open it (make sure you've got Macros enabled), it'll prompt you to send me a "Lock Code". When you do, I'll send you back a "Key Code" to unlock the file for use. Before I send you this code, however, you'll need to pay the $2.00 price tag.

Incidentally, it took me a bit longer that I'd planned to get these out because I was caught a bit off-guard by the NCAA's use of the four play-in games. I'd ASSUMED (yes, I know what ASSUMING can do.) that each of the four play-in winners would be the 16 seed for each of the respective quarter brackets -- EAST, WEST, SOUTHWEST, and SOUTHEAST. This was not the case, though. Two of the play-in game winners will effectively be 16 seeds (EAST & SOUTHEAST), one an 11 seed (SOUTHWEST), and one a 12 seed (EAST). If you didn't catch that, yes the EAST quarter bracket has two play-ins, meaning that the WEST has none. Very odd, I thought.

As always, let me know if you've got questions.

Insiders, if you need a Key Code, let me know. It's part of your subscription.

Happy March Madness, everyone!

Later,

Excel_Geek

Wait until this evening to download this year's March Madness spreadsheet

In an effort to try to stem the many emails, instant messages, etc., that I'll get today as people are looking for this year's version of the ExcelGeek.com March Madness Spreadsheet, let me just say this:

After all of the tournament selections have been made, and the bracket has been laid out by the Selection Committee, I'll post the two spreadsheets -- one for individual participants and the other for pool organizers. That will be late this evening.

For those of you who've decided to pay the $2.00 in advance, you'll still have to wait for the files to be posted. I plan to email you, if you've paid in advance, when the files are available. Then, when you open the "master" spreadsheet (supposing you've got your macros properly enabled), you be given a "lock code". Send this to me via email (address you may already know, but if not, it's provided in the file), and I'll send you back the associated "key code" to give you access to the content of the file.

Now...back to updating those files...

2011 March Madness Bracket is coming soon

Mark your calendars, folks. March 13th is Selection Sunday. In what has now become a five year tradition, I'll be releasing the ExcelGeek.com March Madness Bracket spreadsheet late that evening, once the picks are known.

In years past I've charged $3 for the "Master" version of the sheet -- the one for the organizer of your office pools, etc. I used the opportunity to showcase (read: show off) a system I've developed for locking down and protecting, then individually licensing access to my spreadsheets. I plan to keep it locked down (damn, right?), but I'm dropping the price for the Master Spreadsheet to $2. Once you pay via PayPal and send me the "Lock Code" given to you by the spreadsheet once you open it (and have your Macros enabled properly), I'll send you the "Key Code" to gain access.

Can't wait...

Excel_Geek

Micropayments Review #1

We're two weeks into the PublicWishingWell.com experiment, so I thought I'd pass along some of our findings thus far with respect to PayPal's micropayment services:

First, let me just say that frustration would be understating our initial feelings. Understand that PayPal released its first press release regarding micropayments on August 31st of this year, so we figured the service was up and running in full, complete with documentation, well-trained support (as we've experienced with PayPal's traditional merchant services). We were, however, dead wrong.

When seeking information on the topic of signing up for a micropayments account, the only means publicly available was the email alias micropayments@paypal.com, which was very slow to respond. In fact, I used other means to actually sign up for the account before ever hearing back from that email alias. Because I had personally been in contact with a business development agent (Jennifer, out of Omaha) for other merchant services needs, I simply called her back and she sent me a promotional email with a link to sign up for a micropayments, enabled account.

The URL was a redirect that landed me back on what seemed to be the standard "create an account" first page, but I was assured it would create a mircopayments enabled account. Even after creating and using the account, however, which did charge the appropriate $0.05 + 5% fees, without actually looking at the fees charged on actual receipts, you'd never know it was a micropayments account. It's not stated anywhere, there's no special micropayments-specific instructions or documentation, and, in fact, when you click on the "transaction fees" link while logged in, you'll actually be told that the account is enable for "standard fees". Confusing.

Oh, forgot to mention, instead of simply having micropayments added to your existing business or premier account you have to get another one for micropayments, which, many of you may know, flies in the face of PayPal's own stated policy of "one personal, one business/premier account per person." When I called customer service about both the issues of not being sure whether or not my new account was, in fact, a micropayments account, and if I was violating their own terms by having more than one business/premier account, despite needing a new one to have micropayments, half of the support people I talked to tried to convince me that PayPal did not, in fact, have any such thing as micropayments, and the other half had heard of it, but had no idea.

Long story short, Jennifer, my angel, was sick for a few days, so I couldn't get in touch with her, and I grew increasingly frustrated, eventually blasting off a steaming email to Peter Ashley, the stated manager of digital content and micropayments for PayPal. Jennifer got back, returned my messages, reassured me that I was set up right, and I was on my way, albeit with no documentation. I'm complaining a bit about documentation, but in the vast majority of aspects, micropayment deployment is identical to standard PayPal services. Don't be afraid.

A great bright spot (to me), is that Mr. Peter Ashley called me back after receiving my email. I happened to be on the phone at the time, so he left a voicemail for me. We're still trying to get hooked up on a call to hash through some of this, but the basics of his message were this: He understands and agrees with the issues I've brought up (lack of documenation, trained support personnel, and apparent need to violate PayPal's own terms to use micropayments if you already have a business/premier account), and he'd like to have the chance to explain why this is. He breifly stated in his message that the micropayments "initiative" was a "soft launch" (like alpha or beta in my estimation) whereby PayPal would be set up to handle inquiries from companies like ours who have a need. They'd learn from early users what exactly is needed, how micropayments will be used, etc., then do some additional development on the services and "get ready for a prime time launch." I'll post my findings, if interesting, I guess, after actually speaking with Mr. Ashley.

Review #1 Conclusion: I was intensely frustrated by PayPal's "soft launch" approach, but now understand it. PayPal's micropayments (when you're assured you've actually got it) is every bit as easy as their standard services, and at $.05 + 5%, you can feasibly sell digital goods/services as cheap as $0.10 and still not lose money (you'd actually keep 40% or $0.04).

An experiment in micropayments - PublicWishingWell.com

Hey all,

Thought I'd share the news of the recent launch of a little experiment I'm involved with: PublicWishingWell.com.

It's an experiment on two fronts:

1. Socio-Economic: People are willing to toss a quarter into a physical wishing well all the time -- check any mall, etc. Are they just as willing to "drop a quarter" into a virtual wishing well? What if everyone who visited the wishing well could see the wishes of others? Would that affect what people wish for?


2. Technological: Micropayments are supposed to be the new currency -- on and off the Internet, enabling the sale of digital music, video games, sodas, and candybars. We've implemented PayPal®'s new micropayments service to see if it's all it's cracked up to be.

If you've got a chance, stop by the well, take a look around, drop in a quarter, and wish well™.

Update on Email List Projects - PayPal® User Agreement

Everyone,

Remember those targeted email list projects that people have requested? Well, I recently learned that under the PayPal® User Agreement, I may not use PayPal's services to sell such services.

What does this mean? From this point on whenever anyone requests a targeted email list from me, as a $50 Project or otherwise, I'll be requiring payment in the form of a check, cashier's check, or money order. Note: I'll still be requiring people making such requests to attest to me that they'll not be using the list in violation of the CAN SPAM Act of 2003 or any other laws in their jurisdiction.

If you're interested, you can contact me for more details.

Later,

Excel_Geek

Adding a PayPal "Pay the Geek" button

For those of you who've asked for a quick, easy way to pay me for these $50 projects, I've added a PayPal "Pay the Geek" button.



I also strive to send PayPal invoices once you've told me that you're happy with what I produced for you, but this gives another means to pay, which is fine by me.