Wednesday, November 25, 2009

You can organise a meeting in Microsoft Outlook using the following methods:

Method 1
  1. Go to your Calendar, display the date when you would like to hold the meeting, and click on your preferred time slot. (You could just double click the time for your meeting on the Calendar)

  2. Click the Plan a Meeting icon , (on the Advanced toolbar, if the toolbar is not on display, right click on any empty space around or below the menu bar, and click advance ), or Actions > Plan a Meeting.

  3. Click on Add Others to add email addresses and names of participants from your address book.

  4. Click on Make Meeting (this action displays a new window containing subject, location, and text area for more information)

  5. Type the subject of the meeting and the details including location.

  6. Click on Send
With this option, you don't need to select the date of the meeting.

Method 2
  1. From your Inbox, select the drop down beside the ‘New’ option on the standard toolbar, select Meeting Request or File > New > Meeting Request. This action opens a new meeting window.

  2. Click on the ‘To’ field to add your invitees. When you are done selecting contacts, click on OK (note that the addresses selected are added to the text area beside the ‘To’ field.

  3. Type your subject, location, choose a date and the start and end time for your meeting.

  4. Type further meeting details in the box provided.

  5. Click on Send

Responding to a Meeting request
When you receive a request to attend a meeting, you will see it in your Inbox with a different icon - meeting request icon.


To send the organizer a response if you will be attending is pretty easy.

  1. Open the request, and select one of the meeting responses:

  2. When you select any of these you then have the option to:

    1. Edit the response before sending – e.g. if the date is not convenient you could suggest an alternative.

    2. Send the response now – the person arranging the meeting will be notified of your response.

    3. Don’t send a response
If the organizer cancels the meeting, Outlook would automatically send a mail to all recipients with a subject indicating meeting cancellation. Outlook would also delete the entry from your calendar.

One thing we all need to be aware of is that, we won't optimize the tools in Outlook if it is not used as a desktop organizer.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

There are various ways to save the world, you can name them. In this short piece, I discuss the consequences of the appalling silence of good men.

Each and every time we do not rebuff an evil act, we have made a choice to promote such evil act. We are therefore guilty. Guilty of helping evil succeed.

When we do nothing, we are accomplices to gross evil. In fact the Lord despises those who are lukewarm. Let us reason together. Jesus was very compassionate and yet He was consumed with Zeal for God when it comes to rebuking evil deeds. Some examples are sufficient to drive this point home:

  • John 2:13-22 - Jesus violently drove the merchants and their merchandise out of the temple for ever daring to turn God’s house into a market place

  • Luke 11:37-54 - Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for their hypocrisy and insincerity.

  • Revelations 3:15-17 - Jesus rebuked the church in Laodicea because they are neither hot nor cold.

It is often the case that evil succeed, not because of the numbers involved in the plot but more because good men like you and I are not willing to stand up for what is right.

Whenever you refuse to lift a finger when you see an evil deed, you are no longer a promoter of good works.
He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. -  1 Peter 3:11-12

If we are made in the likeness of God’s image (Genesis 1:27), if God is good, we are also by nature good. It follows that whenever you tolerate an evil act, that action is contrary to your God’s given nature. You are therefore no longer good.

Whenever you keep quiet, you are not only guilty, you are making an already bad situation worse. You fiddle with your future, those of your children and children’s children, in short, your destiny is at risk!

I am afraid because we all would suffer from this “appalling silence”.  The act of promoting evil deeds, calls for forgiveness without which the Lord will deal with us all (Jeremiah 17:10).  As Martin Luther King Jr puts it:
We shall have to repent in this generation, not so much for the evil deeds of the wicked people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.

Let us think about this. Every time you correct an evil act, you are not only trying to save yourself and those who are close to you, but the world as a whole and more importantly you are saving the soul of the evildoer.  You are ensuring that the man sees his own sin. You know, ones you are aware of your sin, repentance is easier.

Every time Jesus Christ put a wrongdoer in the right perspective, I believe it’s not just for the sake of it but I suppose to ensure that they change from their evil ways and turn to God.

Perhaps, the best way to make the world a better place is to increase the number of good men. Good men who are able to speak up against evil. Good men who stand their ground on what they know to be true. Good men who are not ashamed to forestall everything shameful. Good men who won’t just stand idly by and watch evil succeed.

See friends, the heart of man is desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9), if we do not want evil to succeed, then we have the responsibility to speak up against it.
Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness,but rather expose them. - Ephesians 5:11

Preachthe Word;be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebukeand encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. - 2 Timothy 4:2

To model goodness, you can’t just sit idly and ignore evil works.

It starts with you and I.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

1.  Using CTRL 1 to format cells in MS Excel: To open the format cell dialog box in MS Excel – use CTRL + 1 – this option makes my life easier when I’m working with Excel – As soon as I select the area to be formatted with the mouse using my right hand, I press CTRL 1 on the keyboard with the left (this is easy because the two buttons (CTRL and 1) are on the left side of the keyboard).

2.  Organize your MS Excel Workbook – I like to name my worksheets, especially when working with big projects. To change the default sheet name, double click on the name (i.e. Sheet1), when it’s selected, type the new name.

3.  Using names rather than default cell positions (i.e. Revenue instead of D20) when working with complex tables. This is useful when you are dealing with a large audience because your names tell your viewers the purpose of your formula or a particular cell.

To name a cell, select the cell or range of cell > click on Insert menu > click on Name > click on Define to add a name.

Please note that defined names can be used on any worksheet.

4.  Creating a quick chart in Excel – To create a chart quickly in Excel using default settings, select your data range > then press F11.
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