<p>How does one execute some VBA code periodically, completely automated?</p>

There is an application method that can be used for timing events.  If you want this to occur periodically you'll have to 'reload' the timer after each execution, but that should be pretty straightforward.
```
```
Sub MyTimer()
   Application.Wait Now + TimeValue("00:00:05")
   MsgBox ("5 seconds")
End Sub
```
```
-Adam