Monday, April 7, 2008

Even Nurseries Need Spreadsheets

I went to Harlequin Gardens yesterday, to buy an American plum and a gooseberry. (I ended up getting a tastiberry instead.) I just found Harlequin on the web, looking for a local nursery that specializes in things that grow here in our dry climate.

We rushed to get there before it closed, at 5:00, and ran into Eve Reshetnik. I hadn't seen Eve for years, but I've known her for decades -- she's a fine concertina player and one of my favorite singers.

As it turns out, Eve and her husband own Harlequin Gardens.

Eve was locked in a struggle with her computer, trying to figure out how to freeze row and column headers in her spreadsheet, so they wouldn't disappear when she scrolled to see data that wasn't on the screen.

I said, "Kristina just showed me how to do that. Have her show you." They disappeared into Eve's office while I bought plants. A few minutes later, they emerged, Eve announcing, "She's a genius!"

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Exact same "trick" works on my MS Excel 2002 sheetspreader - finally got around to trying it. Chicken? Egg? Just non-obvious enough to me that I expect in couple of months I'll be thinking there's a way to do this, but "Window" won't come popping up. I don't think of them as "Senior Moments", but as "Microsoft Moments" - your mileage will vary.

Doogman said...

Hey Jeff! Thanks for the plug!!! -Doug Wray, their web geek

Eve Reshetnik Brawner said...

Thanks so much! Hope to see you again next spring.