User:StaceyHamilton/BlogEntry: 2009 March 13 14:19:13 EDT
From sasCommunity
Keep repeating: “We are extremely fit . . .”
by Stacey Hamilton
Several of us here at SAS Press, including Acquisitions Editor George McDaniel and Marketing Specialist Shelly Goodin, have been taking part in the Extreme Fitness Challenge, which is organized by SAS’s Recreation and Fitness Center. For eight weeks, we are challenged to participate in group classes as well as complete individual fitness milestones. One week we climbed 300 flights of stairs, the next we jumped rope for 60 minutes, and so on. The group classes are sometimes brutal, sometimes comical. Our foray into aqua belly-dancing was I am sure something to see; I’m glad I was belly-dancing instead of watching myself belly-dance.
Although we’ve done our fair share of grumbling about the requirements, I think that we all agree that exercising in different ways has been eye-opening. Some of us are committed runners who would never think about attending a body sculpt class, while others love aerobics but balk at having to run 12 miles a week. In fact, being challenged to rouse muscles long dormant and push ourselves by getting our hearts pumping in different ways has not only led to the discovery of hidden talents (Shelly Goodin is quite the belly-dancer) but has also brought us closer together as a team. In general, shaking up a routine can bring benefits—not only for a fitness program but in other aspects of our lives.
Here at SAS Press we are shaking things up a bit too. We are experimenting with new ways to deliver content. Last week we told you about "Coming to SAS from SPSS," a nifty (and free!) guide for SPSS users who are ready to make the switch. Now I’m excited to announce that we are making available free of charge “Analyzing Quality Data with SAS,” an excerpt from Robert Rutledge’s Just Enough SAS: A Quick-Start Guide to SAS for Engineers, which will be published by SAS Press in April. The excerpt illustrates some of the SAS procedures that can be used in support of three phases of statistical quality improvement using SAS 9.2 and SAS/QC software, with particular emphasis on the use of PROC SHEWHART and PROC CAPABILITY to support the implementation of statistical process control.
I’d love to hear what you think about Rutledge’s excerpt and about SAS Press’s new ways of delivering content in general. And if you ever have the opportunity to aqua belly-dance, I suggest you take it. Carpe diem!
Shelly Goodin, at it again
