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Search & Replace CRLF in Excel

Olaf — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 20:21:27 +0000

I’m writing this rather technical mumbo-jumbo here because I need it from time-to-time, and I always forget it.

There comes a time when I need to do some data manipulation within Excel and import the results into a database. Mostly, I don’t have data in Excel that is overly complex, and so doesn’t pose any particular challenge in doing what I want. Today I’m working on an Excel document in Office 2007 – not one I made, but rather someone else’s wretched representation of data. It has carriage returns within the fields themselves, and I need to clean those out before importing the data into the database. There are a variety of ways to do it outside of Excel, but not a straightforward method within Excel. Microsoft’s search & replace feature in Office 2007 does not appear to be any better than in the former products. Is a little regular expression handling too much to ask for?!? So here are the goods:

If you turn off “word-wrap” on the offending cell, you should see a small box in the field where a carriage return once hid itself. Excel 2007 doesn’t simply allow me to copy this character and use it to search the worksheet. Neither does it acknowledge any sort of ^p, \r\n, or vbCRLF. Instead, you need to key in the ANSI code for the character you wish to search (and replace) on. In this case, I searched for ALT+0010 (the linefeed) and replaced it with a space. You may need to search for ALT+0013 ALT+0010 (CRLF) if this doesn’t work for you, but in my case removing the LF seemed to have worked.

Internet, Spread your Wings and Fly

Olaf — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 17:48:44 +0000

I recently commented on Lorelle’s post about Help pages on blogs. My answer got me thinking about an excellent Internet analogy.

I maintained a “Help” page on my personal blog for a long while. It was a practice in earnest to fight the good fight. I tested browser compatibility and noted errors with specific browsers. It helped me…never my audience. I think I gave up after reading “Don’t Make Me Think.” Ultimately, that is really the mindset and the answer. If I have to provide a help page, perhaps I’m doing something wrong. Perhaps I’m not making that personal connection with people because I’m ostracizing them through some personal elitism. I remember when DHTML was really cool and working with the DOM in unique, arcane methods was more a resemblance to the occult than anything Web 2.0 represents today. We’ve all grown up on this stuff. Internet adolescence is over and it’s time to get a real job; move out of your parent’s basement (no offense to you 30-somethings living in your parent’s basement). So I don’t have a “Help” page anymore. I try to offer help in more constructive ways – ways that a “Help” page can only make excuses for. Besides – who actually takes the time to read a manual, let alone my blog manual?

In many ways, the Internet is like a beloved child which the world is rearing. Sometimes carefully, sometimes irresponsibly. This child of ours is also, at times, a bit unruly. I could dig that further into boredom, but I think you can continue the similes on your own. At any rate, it’s an apt comparison when speaking of the web development practices used on the Internet over time. I used to be one of those elitist programmers that sought out the most obscure uses of the DOM or unknown HTML tags. Hell, I used to only use VBScript, and throw out angry comparisons of my pure VBScript solution to a JavaScript one. I’ve also visited sites where you are completely stumped as to how to use it. You have to mouse over a bunch of slick graphics in order to find out where they go. So you can understand my conclusion that the Internet’s adolescence has come and gone. We all had fun, now it’s time to get serious about [Internet] life and create things that matter. Things that provide value. Things that don’t make other people feel stupid.

Fire Bubbles

Olaf — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 05:48:50 +0000

Children explore the world around them with such innocence and wonder. I am reminded of this daily by the fact that Balthazar brings every little minor detail to my attention. Most of the time it’s a plea for me to notice this most magnificent discovery of his. As parents – and even some of our friends – we find ourselves amending our vocabulary to include phrases from our children’s new fascination with the world, and their unquenched need to describe it for the first time. I don’t have to imagine how it was for Europeans to discover North America for first time. I don’t have to imagine what it’s like to see the curvature of our Earth for the first time. Look at an intensely curious child to see these things happening before our very eyes.

Balthazar and I built a righteous fire in the back yard this evening. The wind was kicking so hard that we had a very flat, and very hot, fire at times. As such, the fire was spitting off an intense display of sparks and what I used to call “fireflies” in my childhood. Balthazar’s first word for this amazing discovery was “fire bubbles.” Really excellent term I think I’ll be adding to my vocabulary.

Schlotzsky’s Has Internet, Disney Doesn’t Like Safari

Olaf — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 22:02:24 +0000

It’s so much fun to be able to sit at the free computers in Schlotzsky’s Deli, surf the Internet, eat some food – all with the boy. He’s good with engaging himself with games on the Internet while I sit with him and peruse things. I’m an awful parent for this I’m sure, but it means we both are peaceable and I feel that he’s learning *something* from the experience. His favorite thing to do is jump on PBSKids.org or Playhouse Disney to play the games they provide. At Schlotzsky’s – unlike the Gradin household – they have iMac-looking things that seem very alien to us. The mouse buttons are under the mouse for some reason, so I had to invert the mouse and click that way, all while simulating movement to the laser with my hand in an inverted X/Y axis scenario. I didn’t feel the Mac was very user friendly because of this.

More importantly, however, Disney’s Playhouse Disney site doesn’t actually support Safari browsers. I didn’t feel up to bringing Schlotzsky’s browsers to Firefox or IE (possibly from my mouse experience), so the boy had to go without Playhouse Disney. PBSKids, as I discovered, does support Safari. Or probably more likely doesn’t care what browser you’re on, just as long as it can rock-n-roll with Flash. Doesn’t Disney have a billion dollars or something? Why can’t they create a kid-friendly site with no ads, and simple system requirements? Oh well – back to my most excellent Texas Schlotzsky!

I’ve Joined the Brotherhood

Olaf — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 20:49:21 +0000

Brotherhood of the Bean has invited me to do some guest writing for them because of my shared love for coffee and (I’m sure) my refined palate. I’ve just written my first piece for them on a Bosnian selection, Minas Coffee (mmmmm!). Show some love and give the site a read. It’s an excellent source for some ecclectic knowledge on all things coffee. The proprietor(s) have an impressive amount of knowledge of some pretty technical attributes of the process. Anyway, I’m honored to be invited – hopefully I can provide them some substantive reviews for some time to come.

Dan Zanes

Olaf — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 15:20:28 +0000

Dan Zanes is my new favorite artist. His musical philosophy parallels my own and a CD can move through a bevy of instruments, styles, and nationalities. I have one of his later CD’s, “Catch that Train!” I’m actually not exactly sure if I truly own the CD because I purchased it (digitally) from AllofMP3.com and as Russian copyright legalities go, it remains to be seen whether or not I spent my $2.50 on anything at all. Having listened to this album over and over in my car, I can now say I would gladly buy the CD. In fact, I plan on attending the Zanes concert at Georgia Tech in December. Not only is the Zanes band musically excellent, it’s actually seemingly very caring about the audience it caters to. On DanZanes.com you’ll find lyrics and chord progressions for most, if not all, of his albums. I really enjoy Zanes’ encouragement to get together with friends and family to play music – your own or someone else’s. Much of his works are inspired, if not completely derived from popular folk pieces from the past. I don’t believe I had ever heard any Del Fuego in the late eighties, but it was one of Zanes’ successful earlier bands. I’ll have to make an effort to catch the last CD in print available by the group. Regardless of whether or not you have children, you’ll probably find enjoyment in Dan Zanes’ family-oriented discography. He’s a bit of a cross between Tom Petty and Norman Blake. Several of his scores are entirely spanish, or at least spenglish. On “Catch That Train,” there’s one piece from a Zulu traditional tune, “Pigogo.” His “friends & family” include such people as Sheryl Crowe, Bob Weir, and Suzanne Vega. Among the help they’ve provided him in his career, some albums incorporate their collaboration as well.

Stilt-Walking at Atlanta’s BrouHaha

Olaf — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 04:41:27 +0000

99x and Scion put on Atlanta’s BrouHaha this year. A festival of ghouls, musical entertainment, and miscellaneous performers of all types. Toyota’s Scion division sponsored the show this year and added the “Car-nival” exhibit including yours truly on stilts and a a whole host of customizes Scions from around the nation. Prizes were given for the best interiors, exteriors, best in show, people’s choice and others. I think best in show was a Floridian that put together a really nice Thundercats motiff on a white Scion. Attending the Car-nival with me were Atlanta’s greatest burlesque troup, Dames a’ Flame, a magician, and a really great foursome fire group. I don’t remember their name, so I’m hoping they seek me out and get in touch. The show was really nice including several types of entertainment. There were live graffitti artists working on large plywood pallets, XBOX 360° competitions, carni events, and some really good musical acts. I was especially impressed with D.J. Clever. He lives up to his name and spins some really awesome rhythms and melody. Despite the excellent job put on by 99x and Scion, there were far too few people that braved the outdoors tonight. I don’t know if it was the cold, the wind, or the fact that it rained solid *yesterday*. Maybe people thought tonight would be a repeat. It wasn’t incredibly cold unless you were a burlesque performer wearing very little. I had a sweater underneath my clown costume – I actually sweated quite a bit. So as of 9:00pm when I left, the show still ahd not seen its expected crowd. Such a loss. Hopefully they’ll work it out by next year and invite us back out again to do it again.

Web Sites for Artists at the Quinlan

Olaf — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 22:15:11 +0000

I’m putting together a class for the Quinlan Visual Arts Center in Gainesville towards the end of this month. I’ll be focusing on web site development by more traditional means. I think a critical step often forgotten by developers is wire framing and white boarding. Web sites are visual, so you should attack them visually first to work out any potential pit-falls and usability issues. Having read “Dont Make Me Think” a while back, I’m also going to be including insight on the topic of usability. The book was an excellent read, and a quick one at that. I’ve also poured through various CSS design guides like the CSS Zen Garden and Eric Meyer’s great discoveries. This and my personal experience in website development has led me to conclude that many people are still missing a crucial step to the development process. Brainstorming is easy if you take the time to do it. The CSS guys out there understand this, but it took them many years to figure it out. If you think you could benefit from a more traditional approach to layout design, I think you’ll enjoy the class. It’s going to be February 25th, March 2nd, and March 9th (Tuesday) from 7:00pm-8:00pm. No computers are needed for the class – pen and paper only. Contact the Quinlan for information and registration.

99x Sinner’s Ball 2006 at The Compound

Olaf — Sun, 26 Feb 2006 20:01:00 +0000

Atlanta’s biggest (and only?) Mardi Gras celebration is hosted by 99x at The Compound. I was hired to stilt-walk at the engagement and lived to tell the story. To appreciate my situation better, you have to know that the club scene isn’t exactly my cup of tea. In fact, I have no real experience with that lifestyle whatsover. That said, I did enjoy myself – it was an exciting place and I got lots of attention throughout the three hours of my attendance.

When I arrived, I was put up in the Bamboo Room. There, I shared the room with three women getting full-body spray painted. Of the three, it turns out I knew one from high school. There’s nothing stranger than meeting an old associate in the buff. Nicole was dressed, but she would be getting naked soon. I had to get into my stilts and walk quickly from the room. Before I did, I was engaged in simple conversation with one of the girls having just been painted. She was a professional, like me, but naked, unlike me. So that’s weird. Before you ask, I am a gentleman and found no trouble in keeping my composure. It was less of a sexy thing and more of just a thing. Incidentally, there was no place for me to adequately strap into my stilts there. I chose an experimental method of leaping up onto the stilts and strapping in while balanced. It’s tricky and requires a great deal of concentration and patience.

Once through this part, I was free to get out onto the floor and start trying out the terrain. It was some of the more difficult terrain to manage. The ground was varied and wet in many places. I only slipped once towards the end of the night. It was at this rather crucial moment in the night when a woman decided to take advantage of my stunned and stuped state. Two handfulls of buttocks were hers. She even gave me a shockingly painful *smack*. I considered at first that it was Jeff messing with me, but the two hands seemed a bit too friendly for Jeff. After shaking her from my prosthetic leg, I went into the dance floor and peeked around. The night just kind of continued that way. There were drunks-o-plenty and all variety of women willing to do unmentionable things to get some beads I was wearing. Despite this, I left the evening with the beads I arrived with. They’re not mine to barter, and I’m not keen on taking advantage of exhibitionists. Besides, I don’t assume my wife would appreciate the activities and I can certainly respect her wishes.

Being at the ball was a bit like being in a different country or something. The culture was completely foreign to me – I was just a tourist – in this case entertaining the locals. They seemed to enjoy our work (Jeff did walking magic and fire) and said they’d invite us back next year. If you are the clubbing type, The Compound in Atlanta seems like a pretty cool place. It’s expansive and well equipped for dancing, mingling, and drinking. If you’re into burlesque entertainment and the club scene, you’d probably do well to attend 99x’s Sinner’s Ball next year. If you’re the devout religious type with sentiment for mankind’s saving graces, you’ll want to avoid this whole damned scene.

*UPDATE 02/28/2006*
It turns out I missed the real action. Following Mix Master Mike’s excellent DJ performance, Kid Rock shows up and takes over the VIP lounge. The event coordinators couldn’t even get in because of the heightened security around him. I’m not a Kid Rock fan particularly – in fact, I might not have recognized him had he passed in front of me. However, it’s always cool to say you saw someone of this caliber in the common place…or in this case *almost* saw.

Ninja Training

Olaf — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 06:23:57 +0000

That’s it…I’m quitting my job and joining Team Ryouko for proper ninja training. These guys are out of control! I’ve rarely seen such a collection of martial artists as these. Just check out some of their demonstrational videos and discover for yourself who pwns whom – pirates or ninjas.

Google Videos: Ninja Training

Team Ryouko is dedicated to the pursuit of human excellence through the exploration of the body, mind, and spirit.