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Earlier this month, I released version 2.0 of my NCAA basketball tournament bracket spreadsheet. The v2.0 update contained the functionality to grant bonus points for correctly choosing an upset win.

Unfortunately, it has been called to my attention that there is a bug related to the bonus point calculations in the Excel version of the file. I created the sheet in OpenOffice and then exported to Excel format. Apparently one of the formulas I was using worked a little differently in OpenOffice than in Excel. I have since corrected the file and updated it to v2.1. Please go to the original post to download the update. Please DO NOT use the v2.0 file which was available from Mar 12, 2010 - Mar 20, 2010.

How To Fix The Problem If You Are Already Using the v2.0 File For Your 2010 Pool

If you downloaded the v2.0 EXCEL file (OpenOffice file is fine) between Mar 12 and Mar 20, 2010, are currently using that file to run your pool, and are using the bonus points feature, you will probably want to run the following fix to correct the problem.

Instructions for fix:
1. Download this file: Fix_Excel_Bonus_Points.xls
2. Open the Fix_Excel_Bonus_Points.xls file
3. Go to Tools->Macros->Security and set macro security to Low.
4. Open your master bracket file.
5. Go to Tools->Macros->Macros
6. In the Macros In box near the bottom of the screen, make sure All Open Workbooks is selected.
7. Select the macro Fix_Excel_Bonus_Points.xls!Fix_Excel_Bonus_Calc
8. Click Run
9. Wait for message box saying Done
10. Save master bracket file
11. Close both files.
12. Your master bracket file should now be updated with corrected formulas for bonus point calculation.


Next year, download and use the fixed v2.1 file.


I apologize for the error. Hope you still can find the file useful.

I have updated my original bracket spreadsheet post to include sheets pre-filled with the 2010 field of teams. To download the 2010 bracket or the blank template spreadsheet, go to http://josh.breittechnologies.com/blog/2009_03_13_NCAA_Basketball_Tournament_Bracket_Spreadsheet_File

Last year my NCAA basketball tournament spreadsheet was quite a hit. To make it even more popular, I have added the ability to score bonus points for upsets. Bonus points can be awarded based on the difference in seeds between the winning and losing team. If an "underdog" team wins, you can give whatever amount of bonus points you want depending on how much of an underdog they were (a 16 beating a 1 deserves more bonus points than a 9 beating an 8).

See the instructions in the original post and in the spreadsheet file for more details.

http://josh.breittechnologies.com/blog/2009_03_13_NCAA_Basketball_Tournament_Bracket_Spreadsheet_File

I know I'm a few days late in posting this, but attached is the TV schedule for the 2010 Winter Olympics. This schedule only includes the main NBC network (not any of their cable networks). Times are in Central Standard Time.

Also, please note that due to the weather, some events have been moved around. This schedule is based on the original events schedule so there may be some differences in the skiing events.

Hope you find this useful.

2010_NBC_Olympics_Coverage.ods - 17KB OpenOffice.org Spreadsheet
2010_NBC_Olympics_Coverage.xls - 26KB MS Excel Spreadsheet

Well we just got the grass cut for the last time for the season. I have to say, the lawn is looking pretty darn good at this point. Especially considering it's only 2 years old.

This summer was fairly mild and wet (coolest July on record). Definitely do droughts this year. In fact, for most of the summer, I could barely keep up with the mowing.

However, during this growing season, the yard did develop a lot of white clover and various broadleaf weeds. Therefore, my fall mission was to eradicate the weeds.

I did some research online to figure out which weed killer to buy. I didn't want to mess around and only get partial kills only to have the weeds come back next year. I wanted to hit them hard. In addition to looking for something that was strong enough for my liking, I wanted to find something in a concentrate. I have quite a good amount of area to cover and concentrates usually give you more bang for your buck.

If you look at the local big box stores, you will notice that most of the weed killers they sell are not concentrates; they are ready to use. If you look carefully though, you might be able to find one or two options in concentrates.

The other thing you will notice is that most of the weed killers they sell (Weed-B-Gone, etc) have Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2-4D) as the primary active ingredient. I've always heard that 2-4D was a good weed killer, but online research showed that while 2-4D is a good broadleaf weed herbicide, it is actual quite ineffectual against clover.

According to the Iowa State Extension Office the best weed killer for clover is 2-2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxy propionic acid (MCPP). And while MCPP is good at killing clover, it's not great at broadleaf weeds. Therefore, the most effective herbicide for me would be a mix of these two.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find any MCPP at the big box stores, and the 2-4D that they had was not very concentrated which did not give me a good feeling about its effectiveness.

In the end I went to a local farm supply store and found Trimec 899. Not only does it contain 2-4D, MCPP, and Dicamba (good at killing creeping charlie), it was the most concentrated stuff I could find. In fact, the label said that 1 gallon would cover 3 acres. I bought two.

I applied with a hose-end sprayer. I did not feel like shelling out the money for a pull-behind sprayer for my lawn tractor. It took about 2 hours to cover the whole yard. That was about a month ago. There is basically NO clover left in the yard anymore. And the broadleaf weeds are almost all gone too. The ones that remain are all shriveled and appear to be on the way out.

I'm very pleased with the effectiveness of the product and am happy that I have over a gallon left over for the future. If you have common weed problems like these, I'd highly recommend getting yourself some Trimec 899 for a fall application.

That someone is me. This is possibly the longest I've gone without posting a new article since I started blogging a few years ago. I'm going to blame it on the fact that I started a new job back in May and have been focusing pretty heavily on that learning curve.

I hope to get back into blogging to provide you with more of my ever so "useful" bits of information.

Thanks for hanging in there.

If you followed my blog last year, you know that I started a new lawn from seed last Spring. There were definitely some issues. We had a bit of a monsoon last Spring and it washed out a bunch of my seed. Then the weeds (mostly foxtail) crept in during the summer. It got pretty depressing and I had considered spraying the whole thing with Round Up and starting over last fall. Instead, I aerated, over-seeded, and fertilized. I think the results of everything are finally turning out to be pretty good.

This Spring, I aerated again and put down a fertilizer with pre-emergent to help keep the foxtail away. So far, it seems to have worked. I have a few dandelions and a pretty good crop of clover in a few places, but really no foxtail.

So here's the one year pics taken a week or so ago. This was taken just after mowing when it was quite tall, so there are some clippings in the pics that hadn't been raked up yet.

Front Yard:


Back Yard:


Side Yard:


Detail:





Compare that to what I started with:



And this is what it looked like during the summer last year. The coarseness is from all the foxtail:






Read more about my lawn in the lawn care category:
http://josh.breittechnologies.com/category/Lawn_Care

During the month of March 2009, my blog set a new personal readership record. Due to a few high-volume blog articles (NCAA Basketball Tournament Bracket Spreadsheet File and Tax Reporting For Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)), my blog saw over 2000 unique visitors last month. The previous record was just under 1000 unique visitors, so this was quite a feat.

Obviously, both of those articles are about seasonal topics, so I would imagine the readership would recede again once their time of year is over.

But just wanted to say thanks for reading (and commenting)!

I have posted updates to my NCAA bracket spreadsheet files with the 2009 field of teams already filled in. See the post regarding my bracket files here:

http://josh.breittechnologies.com/blog/2009_03_13_NCAA_Basketball_Tournament_Bracket_Spreadsheet_File

It's almost time for the 2009 NCAA Basketball Championship, aka March Madness! If you're one of the many people who like to take your luck at filling out a tournament bracket or maybe even organize a pool, I have just the spreadsheet for you.

My family has been doing a tournament pool for years (mostly just for bragging rights). In the past we would all fill out a paper bracket and someone would manually check them and highlight them as the games ended. With my family living farther apart now, we decided we needed an electronic format for our brackets. Yes, there are various websites out there devoted to this, but they often require account registration, have ads, etc. My goal was to make it simple so I created a spread sheet which allows you to fill out your bracket using simple drop-down boxes. Then I collect everyone's spreadsheets, combine them in to one (a little complex), and the spreadsheet automatically keeps score as I fill in who wins the games.

At the end of this post are links for downloading the spreadsheet in Excel or OpenOffice.org format.

Instructions On Using The File

1. Download the File

Obviously, the first step is for the person running the pool (that's you) to download the file and open it up. There is are also instructions in the file for your reference.

A Note On File Protections:

This file and the sheets within it, are protected to prevent users from accidentally messing up the file.

To add/rename/copy/move a sheet, you will first need to unprotect the document. In OpenOffice.org, Tools->Protect Document and uncheck Document. In MS Excel, Tools->Protection->Unprotect Workbook.

To edit the protected regions of many of these sheets, unprotect the sheet. In OpenOffice.org, Tools->Protect Document and uncheck Sheet. In MS Excel, Tools->Protection->Unprotect Sheet.

It is recommended that you re-enable protections before giving this file to the people in your pool to prevent problems. You can even add passwords to the protection to keep it more secure.

2. Setup Scoring

To begin, you need to define your scoring methodology. Switch to the Scoring tab and unprotect the sheet.

Enter the number of points for a correct answer in each round of the tournament. For example, if you choose 1 point for Second round, you will get 1 point for each team that you successfully predict making it to the second round. If you choose 8 for Champions, you will receive 8 points if you predict the correct winner of the tournament.

You may also setup bonus points to be awarded based on team seeds. If a lower seeded team beats a higher seeded team the bonus points assigned to the seed difference will be awarded. No bonus points are awarded if a higher seeded team wins.

In the bonus points table, assign a point value to each seed difference. For example, if you assign 5 bonus points to seed difference 7, you will score 5 bonus points (in addition to the regular points) if you correctly pick a winner that was an underdog by 7 seeds (i.e a 12 seed beats a 5 seed).

Re-protect the sheet.

3. Fill In The Master Bracket

The Master Bracket tab holds the field and all the winners as the tournament progresses. Switch to the Master Bracket tab and unprotect the sheet.
Fill in the field of teams in the tournament by typing the name of each team on the corresponding line of the bracket.

When done, re-protect the sheet.

4. Distribute The File

If you are doing this for a group of people, make sure all the sheets and the document are protected. Then e-mail the file to them with instructions on entering their picks.

Tell the other people to each use their own file, and to fill out the YourBracket sheet just like the instructions below. Have them save it and email it back to you.

5. Enter Your Picks

Go to the Your Bracket sheet (no need to unprotect). For each line of the bracket, click the cell and use the drop down box to select the winner.

Enter your Name in the Name field at the top of the sheet and your Tie Breaker value (whatever your pool is using for a tie break).

6. Consolidate The Sheets (slightly tricky)

Your file will be the master file. You will now consolidate all the brackets into your master file. For each file (including yours), open it, unprotect the document, switch to the YourBracket sheet, unprotect the sheet, then rename the sheet to the person's name. Copy the sheet to the master document.

If you are using MS Excel, you will have to change the links to point to the master document. Go to each person's sheet in the master document. Unprotect the sheet if it is not already. Go to Edit->Links. Select the link and click the Change Source button. Then browse to and select the master document file. This will make sure all the sheets in the master document file are linked to the master bracket. The link on that window will disappear since there are now no externally linked files. Reprotect everything if you wish.

7. Create A Score Sheet

If you want, you can create a sheet with each person's name and the score from their bracket sheet. That way you can easily see the standings.

8. Watch The Games!

9. Fill In The Winners

When a game is over, mark the winner on the MasterBracket page. Every person's individual bracket should update. A wrong answer gets crossed out and a correct answer gets highlighted.


I hope you find these files useful. I will also upload a file with the field of teams already filled in each year, so bookmark this page and come back!



**** UPDATES ****

Mar 21, 2010 - v2.1

!!BUG FIX!!

It appears there was a bug in the MS Excel version of the file in the bonus point calculation. The bug is now fixed and the file has been updated to v2.1. Go here for more details about this bug and the fix.

Mar 12, 2010 - v2.0

I have updated the template so that you now have the option of scoring bonus points for picking upsets. See the instructions for more details.

*****************



I hereby donate these files to public domain so feel free to use it in any way you wish.

Template Files:

NCAA Bracket Template v2.1.ods - OpenOffice.org Calc Spreadsheet (38KB)
NCAA Bracket Template v2.1.xls - MS Excel Spreadsheet (138KB)




Files With 2010 Field Already Filled In:

NCAA Bracket Template 2010.ods - OpenOffice.org Calc Spreadsheet (38KB)
NCAA Bracket Template 2010.xls - MS Excel Spreadsheet (138KB)

Files With 2009 Field Already Filled In:

NCAA Bracket 2009.ods - OpenOffice.org Calc Spreadsheet (36KB)
NCAA Bracket 2009.xls - MS Excel Spreadsheet (101KB)