I knew this was the stuff databases were made for, but I also felt sure I could pull it off in excel as well. (No Visual Basic required, as I don’t do any programming!)

After a couple of days on the web with my friend google, I finally found a solution, what I was trying to do was called ‘The Cartesian Product’. The solution I found is posted below:

I want to produce a list from two arrays.

A    1
B    2
C    3

I want the result to be
A1
A2
A3
B1
B2
B3
C1
C2
C3

This is referred to as obtaining the Cartesian product. Here's
the way I know how to do it. This uses MSQUERY, which doesn't
get a lot of press but is very useful for manipulation of data
(Excel and otherwise) using SQL. You don't actually need to know
SQL to do this though.

Set up a little worksheet like this cornered at A1:

First_Value Second_Value
A  1
B  2
C  3

Create two named ranges like
First  : refers to =Sheet1!$A$1:$A$4
Second : refers to =Sheet1!$B$1:$B$4

Save the workbook.

Data | Import External Data | New Database Query

In the "Choose Data Source" dialog, select "Excel Files*" | OK

Navigate to the file you saved. If everything is correct so far,
you will see "First" and "Second" in "Available tables and columns".
Use the chevron > to add each to the "Columns in your query". Next.
The query wizard complains that it can not join the tables, etc. OK.
The query editor will open and should display the kind of results
you are looking for. So, click File | Return Data to Microsoft Excel.

Now choose (click) a place to drop the query results, such as D1.

The results should look like

First_Value Second_Value
A  1
B  1
C  1
A  2
B  2
C  2
A  3
B  3
C  3

The results can then be concatenated with the usual methods, e.g.,
=CONCATENATE(D7;E7)  C2

Hats off to ‘hande’, whoever they may be! This worked exactly like I wanted. The problem I quicky ran in to however was that my options exceeded the 65,000 row limit in the version of excel I was using. (2007, I think, now allows something like a million from what I’ve heard) To find out if you’re going to break the limit in excel just multiply the number of each option times each other. In the example above its simply 3X3=9 unique numbers.

In my case Option 1 (the model lines) had 78 items, Option 2 had 3, Option 3 had 2, and on and on. (101,090 total unique products in my case!) I got around my limitation by leaving out one of the two(2) item options thus cutting my results in half. To solve that, I simply copied the resulting part numbers over and had one column of Option X and one column where I set it to Option Y.

After a couple of off/on days work, I now have an excel file that I can use pull downs to select options and create valid part numbers/optioned products. Each number or group represents a logical option. This number is compared to an edited list (from the 101,000+) that now only contains valid numbers.

A hint here, if you use a mix of alpha and numeric values for your option codes, it will help break a part a model number. All numbers are bad because someone can leave one out and change the whole model. If you mix in a letter here or there it’ll help. Also, with only numbers you have 0-9, text has 23-24 (leave out the ‘O’, ‘I’, and ‘L’ as they may get confusing: i1l or 0oO), plus text can actually equal options R=Red, B=Blue and make even more sense.

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Click, click and I’m there.. This thing is a Kleenex box with golf cart wheels??
OK.. then I get to reading. I’m slowly recognizing a LOT of names.. Cadillac steering column, Momo steering wheel, Carrera shocks, Bert Transmission, Mazda Miata, Toyo Tires, Konig Wheels, Hawk break pads, Wilwood master cylinder, Vintage Air A/C, Sparco seats, and more.. you get the idea.. These are parts I’d like to have in MY car. All are top notch names.

Now, it’s not much to look at but geez.. after the entire read.. it’s a great engineering achievement none the less.

• 0-60 in 4 seconds!
• 1/4 mile at around 12 seconds and 120 MPH.
• Top speed around 135.
• Seats 2 with a few groceries.
• 40-60 mile range on lead acid (150 on Li-Ion), and pretty much charges anywhere.
• SCCA and NHRA roll cage.
• Rollover equivalent to Porsche 911 (National Safety 5 star)
• Carbon fiber body panels.

All this in a tiny 39″x8′-5″ package. Did I mention it’s tiny?? Found a pic with people so you get a good idea of it’s size.

Tango at a car show

OK.. so all this cool doesn’t come without cost. In this case it’s $121,000 US. That’s the basic ‘kit’ with the lead batteries. For another $25,ooo you can get the Li-Ion batteries. Takes about 8 hrs to assemble.

Now, would I buy one? Simple… No, I don’t have 121k! But if they were around 20k… probably. I commute 41 miles each day. Probably about the average?
Look at this for a shocker: Tango vs. Toyota Prius vs. Toyota  Corolla.
(100,000 miles including maintenance and gas at $2.50/gal)

Tango – $4,200
Prius – $6,947
Corolla – $8,718

This means you could pay back your Tango vs. Corolla in only about 27 years. Now you know why these new commuters aren’t that popular. But, you’d be using much less fuel (power plants do use fuel too you know), can smoke your neighbors car daily, and get a 10 year unlimited mileage warranty. Oh, and you pretty much can park anywhere you find a Honda Goldwing motorcycle parked. Oh, and if you really must get away.. there’s a tow behind generator! How’s that for cool! A few gallons along the way and you can travel the blue ridge like the rest of the leaf lookers.

I honestly must give these guys credit. It IS cool to me. Step down the performance a bit to increase range and then stamp them out like a Honda or GM product and I’d bet you could easily take over the foreign and domestic markets. Now with that said would I trade my T/A for it.. no. But for the daily grind it’d be a blast! Are you listening GM?? Make one of these for under 20k and I bet you’d sell them in Japan, Europe. and the US like hotcakes!

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They send you this nice letter telling you that your domains are going to expire soon and if you’d like to renew them you can send them your payment. That’s nice, and they will renew your domains as advertised (as far as I know). My problem with them is that in doing so, you are going to pay about double the going rate AND you’ll also be transferring the ‘rights’ over to them to manage your domain. So if you later let the domain go, it’s theirs to do what they want (not godaddy, yahoo, or whoever you used to have). What this means for them is they get to auction the site off or put anything they want on it after you loose or choose to let it go. What if you miss a payment? Who knows what they’ll charge you to get it back?

Maybe you don’t care? But at the very least, why pay double to renew your site. That extra would pay for another month of hosting at most places.
Oh and I just checked.. They rate an ‘F’ with the Better Business Bureau. Probably for the same reasons I’ve mentioned above.

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