Curt Frye is a freelance writer and Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for Microsoft Office Excel. He lives in Portland, Oregon, and is the author of eight books from Microsoft Press, including Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Step by Step, Microsoft Office Access 2007 Plain & Simple, Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Plain & Simple, and Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting 2006 Step By Step. He has also written numerous articles for the Microsoft Work Essentials web site. Before beginning his writing career in June 1995, Curt spent four years with The MITRE Corporation as a defense trade analyst and one year as Director of Sales and Marketing for Digital Gateway Systems, an Internet service provider. Curt graduated from Syracuse University in 1990 with an honors degree in political science. When he’s not writing, Curt is a professional improvisational comedian with ComedySportz Portland.