KeePass2 and Gmail

It's been a while since I posted, but with a good cause: We just had our second child a few weeks ago!

The other day, Google decided to change Gmail's login screen to be in three parts (two for those without two-step authentication): 1. Username 2. Password 3. Two-Step Authentication. This is annoying because I use KeePass2 with auto-type, and the new pages interfere with the auto-typing mechanism.

Today I decided to solve that issue, and I'm posting it here to share with anyone else who may also have the same problem. Here are the steps:

1. Open up the Gmail or Google Apps email account you want to change ("Edit/View Entry" on the context menu, or hit Enter when the entry is selected).
2. Go to the Auto-Type tab.
3. Select "Override default sequence" option.
4. The field should initial have (without quotes):
   
   "{USERNAME}{TAB}{PASSWORD}{ENTER}"
   
   Replace that with (without quotes):
   
   "{USERNAME}{TAB}{ENTER}{DELAY 2000}{PASSWORD}{TAB}{ENTER}"
   
   
5. Test in your favorite browser. Adjust the "{DELAY mmmm}" parameter by replacing "mmmm" with a different numeric value. This is in milliseconds, so a value of 1000 is 1 second.

The "{DELAY 2000}" parameter is the key to fixing the issue. Since there is a new page in between the username and password, we need a delay to let the page load before typing the password.

For more information on the auto-type feature and the parameters that can be used, see the KeePass documentation here:

http://keepass.info/help/base/autotype.html

Don't forget to tag your Gmail account as an OpenSSL account (add "OpenSSL" to the description) while you're at it!

Lego Raspberry Pi Cases

I purchased a Raspberry Pi last year, and inspired by a girl in Britain who assembled her own Pi case, I spent way too much time making my own Lego case:

I made it so it could be mounted on the wall. Additionally, the left side opens to expose the GPIO pins, although I doubt you could fit something on them without having to remove pieces from the case.

A friend of mine also has a Pi, but he was using a plastic food container for its housing. I simply could not stand for this, so I created another case for him:

This one doesn't mount on the wall. I think he's just using it on an entertainment center near the cable modem box. Unlike my case, it opens fully, exposing the entire board. I forgot to take a picture of this feature, but you can see the hinges on one of the side photos.

Both of these cases use some classic Lego pieces that I received from my cousin when I was a kid. The old-school computer terminals in blue and grey and the pieces with space logos came from this set, and I mixed them with some newer space buttons and circuitry. The glass-like covers are also newer, but have a similar hokey space feel to them.

It was fun putting my old Legos to use again!

My Professional Network, Graphically

A few months ago, I was thinking about my professional network and wondered what it would look like if it were mapped out. It turns out, LinkedIn has a lab project to do just that. I loaded up my profile and a few minutes later, this came out (click for larger version):

Each dot in the above chart represents a person, and each line represents a connection between people. The larger the dot, the closer the relationship. I am at the center, and unique clusters of people become apparent by their interrelationships, and they are grouped together in space.

The lab does not label the clusters, but it does identify the clusters by color, and it allows the user to identify those clusters and name them, as I have done above. Further, you can explore your network by hovering over the individual dots that represent people.

Essentially, five groups arise from my network: Family, Friends, and Educators on the left; Dean Health Plan at the top; CPM Healthgrades at the upper right; the UW Health System, which is composed of the University of Wisconsin Medical Foundation (UWMF), the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics (UWHC), and the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (UWSMPH); and finally the SAS Institute at the bottom.

The lab isn't perfectly accurate, but it is pretty good. I checked out a number of individuals and some don't make sense, but most do. As an example, my wife is one of the larger dots on the left, which makes sense, since she also has networked with our friends and family on LinkedIn (although I usually avoid doing so for a number of reasons).

The UW Health cluster is visually split, but there is apparent movement and interrelationship between the organizations. There are some people who traveled between the UW and Dean, one way or another. The same is true between Dean and CPM, with most, I believe coming from Dean to CPM. There are some hubs in each organization, likely managers, project managers, or other people who attended a lot of meetings (I think one of the big dots at Dean was an IT manager who sat in on a lot of projects).

Aside from family and friends, SAS is probably the oddest group. I have some connections, and they seem to be somewhat strong. Before I attended the SAS Global Forum, this chart may have looked quite different, since I made many more connections after the conference. The chart also shows how well-developed my connections were at Dean and the UW, and how I'm still fairly new at CPM. (I bet if I ran this today it would look a bit better developed.)

Of course, charts like these leave out people who aren't on such sites as LinkedIn, but I would think that all the other people would compensate for them when graphed like this. Additionally, I don't have much of a network for old jobs like the ones I had in college, nor have I really networked much with fellow college classmates.

It would be interesting to see what other people's networks look like, especially people who are essentially professional networkers, like HR professionals or recruiters. How do networks in different industries look (mine is mostly health care)? What if you have someone who only networks with family or friends? What does that show? Perhaps different geographic locations you've lived in? How about someone who is a world traveler?

This type of graph is very powerful in that makes you think about the data behind it and ask such questions as I have done. It opens up doors we haven't thought of and inspires curiosity.

Debian GNU/Linux and LibreOffice

I've upgraded my personal computer from Windows XP to Debian GNU/Linux, a modern, 64-bit operating system. The experience has been excellent, and you know you've done the right thing when you realize over half of the software you have on your old system are there just because the OS was either doing something incompetently, not at all, or if you didn't have the software it was a huge security risk.

Anyway, it's been great, but one thing has been driving me crazy. When I go to shutdown, I can't. The Gnome interface seems to just ignore me. I finally found out what the issue was, and I wanted to share it with everyone: The LibreOffice quickstarter is interfering with the ability to shutdown or logout. Disable it, and it should be fixed.

So there. Now if you have no idea what I've been talking about regarding Debian, go download a CD to try it out for free. If you've ever tried to keep a Windows OS up-to-date, you'll know how much a relief Debian GNU/Linux is. Package management - you're my hero!

What About Gas Prices?

Recently there's been a lot of hubbub about gas prices. While high, gas prices are not as high as many other things people buy, especially some things people buy on a daily basis, like coffee. For my family, I can demonstrate that the cost of gas is not as big a concern and not as big a budget item. Using Mint.com, my credit and debit cards, my wife's credit and debit cards, and many other financial accounts are linked and the transactions pooled together and categorized. Using this tool, I graphed the entire year of spending in 2010 in seconds:



Note: "Everything Else" includes Gifts and Donations, Health and Fitness, Uncategorized (cash and some checks), Travel, Business Services, Personal Care, Pets, Entertainment, and Fees and Charges. I also separated "Gas and Fuel" from "Auto and Transport" to demonstrate my point. What's left in in "Auto and Transport" includes Parking, Services and Parts, Auto Insurance, and "Other" (state transportation fees). Restaurants, coffee shops, and alcohol were included in Food and Dining, but I split those out into "Restaurants, etc.".

Our family probably does not spend like other families. We're generally fiscally conservative. We do like to buy good, healthy, and (when we can) local food, so our food prices are high. We don't splurge on electronics, entertainment, fancy phone or cable services, or personal care. We also minimize driving, which keeps auto costs lower. Both our drives to work are within 15 minutes. On the other hand we have a lot of educational debt. Even so, that's still a relatively small percentage of expenses. It should be no surprise that the top of the list is housing. That's probably true for just about anyone at any income level.

So what concerns me more? The cost of fuel or something else? Even as the cost of gas has risen, I'm not as concerned as I am about the cost of food, which is partly related to the cost of gas. However, there are more insidious factors in the cost of food: Wall Street.

As quoted by BoingBoing author Mark Frauenfelder, Frederick Kaufman wrote, in an article titled How Goldman Sachs Created the Food Crisis:

[T]he boom in new speculative opportunities in global grain, edible oil, and livestock markets has created a vicious cycle. The more the price of food commodities increases, the more money pours into the sector, and the higher prices rise. Indeed, from 2003 to 2008, the volume of index fund speculation increased by 1,900 percent. "What we are experiencing is a demand shock coming from a new category of participant in the commodities futures markets," hedge fund Michael Masters testified before Congress in the midst of the 2008 food crisis.

The result of Wall Street's venture into grain and feed and livestock has been a shock to the global food production and delivery system. Not only does the world's food supply have to contend with constricted supply and increased demand for real grain, but investment bankers have engineered an artificial upward pull on the price of grain futures. The result: Imaginary wheat dominates the price of real wheat, as speculators (traditionally one-fifth of the market) now outnumber bona-fide hedgers four-to-one.

Today, bankers and traders sit at the top of the food chain -- the carnivores of the system, devouring everyone and everything below. Near the bottom toils the farmer. For him, the rising price of grain should have been a windfall, but speculation has also created spikes in everything the farmer must buy to grow his grain -- from seed to fertilizer to diesel fuel. At the very bottom lies the consumer. The average American, who spends roughly 8 to 12 percent of her weekly paycheck on food, did not immediately feel the crunch of rising costs. But for the roughly 2-billion people across the world who spend more than 50 percent of their income on food, the effects have been staggering: 250 million people joined the ranks of the hungry in 2008, bringing the total of the world's "food insecure" to a peak of 1 billion -- a number never seen before.

As you can see in my spending graph, "Food and Dining" consumes 13% of our budget, higher than the quoted 8-12%. This category originally included restaurants, coffee shops, and alcohol, which I moved into "Restaurants, etc.", and was at 18.5% of spending. With these items removed, it seems much more reasonable, but still high. About 4 times higher than gas prices!

Given that our expenditure is already higher than the estimate in the article, and that food prices are likely to increase due to this investment scheme as well as increased transportation costs due to gas prices, I am much more concerned about the cost of food. Occasionally I joke that my son eats so much I might as well buy a farm to feed him, and that's not that far from the truth. We do partake in local farmer's markets and a community farm, but even so, those prices will probably be affected too.

So take a look at your own expenses and critically examine what's really costly. And once you figure that out, take action to reduce the costs however you can. For me, I'll chose to vote for politicians who push for financial reform and continue to buy as much local, organic food as I can.

A Room

A Room with a Nu

A Room with a Gnu

Original room image credit jaybergesen (source).

Kindle Review from a Newbie

I received a Kindle for my birthday last month, and ever since, I have had it with me quite a bit. I've read a number of books, online articles, downloaded articles/books (hello Gutenberg project!), personal documents, PDFs, and alternate ebook formats (e.g., text, Mobi). I've also viewed images, listened to music, played games, and listened to articles with the text-to-speech feature.

My first impression? AWESOME. This is one of the most useful devices I own, and it has helped me face a mounting task: to read that which I "should" read, including articles for work, research articles, random pages online, Wikipedia entries, classics I should have read in school, and simply books I've been meaning to read for a long time.

Further, the device is extremely useful for work. I don't have to print out long documents for meetings: I simply load them on to the Kindle. (I don't have the 3G version, which is fine by me. I don't want to pay extra fees for content delivery, and the USB cable is easy enough to tote to work where there's no WiFi.) I maintain a project list as a text file with current items on the first page and completed items on the second page. Once it fills up I plan to archive it for review purposes.

The capability to search, easily navigate a document, and have a document anywhere has been immensely useful, especially during critical moments in a meeting when someone says, "I think that's documented in that XYZ document that I've either printed out a 150-page version of and will take me 15 minutes to find or I did not print it or I left it at my desk, so none of us will know the answer until later." Just yesterday we were fumbling around trying to figure out the next date we should meet, when we should run a process, and when we should communicate by email or phone. I opened up a PDF calendar I loaded and it made planning much easier.

Of course, this could be done with just about any e-reader, right? Yes, but the Kindle has that iPod-like cool and ease-of-use. The ease-of-use is really the big advantage. The Kindle loads quickly, turns pages quickly (except in some PDFs, especially those with too many images), has an excellent organization method ("collections", where a book can be located in multiple collections), a "newspaper" feature with auto-archiving of old "editions", and all the other features I mentioned above. It's also comfortable to hold and it has the potential for more capabilities. For example, it has a microphone with no known current use, but I imagine that voice commands (e.g., "turn page") would be an excellent addition, especially for people with disabilities.

Even though people complain that it has a locked-down ebook format, so do the other e-readers, especially the Nook, which claims it doesn't. Barnes and Noble use a more open standard, but they still lock it down with DRM, making it practically inaccessible to other ereaders. And frankly, there are ways around these limitations, as any savvy computer geek can find a way to break DRM. (Hopefully, those people are being honest and not selling or distributing copies.)

Have I had any hiccups? Yes. First and foremost: DO NOT BUY THE NON-LIGHTED COVER BY AMAZON!!! Due to its construction, it causes the Kindle to short and restart, seemingly at random. It is not the Kindle. It is the cover! The lighted cover is fine, in fact, I exchanged the non-lighted cover for the lighted cover, and I haven't had any problems with it restarting since. (Caution: The lighted cover costs a bit more, almost half of the cost of the Kindle!)

Additionally, I've had some odd problems with PDFs. Sometimes viewing PDFs with a lot of images makes the page turns very slow. PDFs maintain the format, so they are often hard to read in the default orientation. Rotating the orientation to landscape helps with that problem. It's possible to load images onto the Kindle, which is a hidden, experimental feature. The images look similar to the screen savers, and are a bit slow to navigate as well. Simply put, it's not a device built for handling images (yet). So really not too many drawbacks directly related to the Kindle!

Overall, it's a great device. Easy to use, flexible, and quite frankly, beautiful. My wife says, "It's not beautiful - it's sexy." Please note: she said that, not me.

AHIP Answers

I use Google Analytics to observe the trends on my site, including this blog. Searches including the term AHIP (America's Health Insurance Plans) have a high hit rate, including the following phrases:

• AHIP certification test questions
• AHIP course [material | answers]
• AHIP final exam questions
• AHIP fundamentals of health insurance part a [answer | exam | tips]
• AHIP practice test questions
• AHIP questions
• AHIP study [guide | material]
• AHIP test [answers | help | tips]
• answers [for AHIP | to the AHIP exam]
• how to study for AHIP test
• passing the AHIP test
• sample questions of the AHIP
• what is hardest part of the AHIP test in 2010

Long list, right? It would seem there are people desperate to find answers on AHIP examinations. Well, I would like to tell everyone what the answer to every AHIP exam question is:

1. Read the material!

It's as simple as that. All the answers and how to study them are there. To help, you could take notes, make flash cards, use the provided study guide, etc., which are all basic study skills. Trying to avoid reading the material is not only lazy, but deceitful, and rather defeats the purpose of the AHIP courses and exams: to educate people about the American insurance system, especially targeted for those people who work in the system. Now why would you want to cheat your way through that? Isn't the system broken enough? Do you really need to contribute to it by cheating on a simple test?

Now, if you're reading this and you have an exam coming up, turn off the screen, pick up the book, and start reading.

CheckLog: A Utility for Reviewing the SAS Log

At my previous job, I worked on a SAS program that was intended to be run by someone who did not know SAS. So I needed a utility to tell the user whether the program completed successfully. The final result was a macro called CheckLog that checks a specified log, directory of logs, or the current log for error, warning, invalid, and other messages related to issues in a SAS program.

In order to accomplish this, I first needed a way to export the SAS log to a file so I could read it back in as a SAS data set and search for the terms and phrases associated with issues in the SAS program. Fortunately, there was already a utility available at work that exported the log to a file. The statement that exports the file is a simple DM statement, for example:

dm log "file 'C:\Directory\File.log' replace;" wpgm;

The next step required reading in the log into a data set. Initially, I used the import procedure (i.e., proc import) to import the text file into SAS. However, I needed to specify a delimiter that would not actually delimit the file. I wanted the file to be one large column. So I looked through the SAS font and found a character not common in English, the cedilla ( ¸ ). This character is also not usually found alone, even in languages that use it (like French). At least, I hope it isn't!

The last part is a continuing effort - identify and search for words and phrases associated with issues. The keywords were easy: error, warning, invalid, and uninitialized. The phrases, however, are elusive and open to interpretation. Sometimes phrases like "the data set has 0 observations" may be intended, and therefore should not be searched for. On the other hand, after completing an import, a data set with 0 observations is probably not intended. This type of issue requires the programmer to identify the problem.

Otherwise, the CheckLog macro can identify many common issues of varying levels of importance. Issues like the statement "numeric values have been converted to character values" or the statement "the query requires remerging summary statistics back with the original data" should be identified and resolved to avoid unintended consequences.

The macro includes several options. First, the macro can review a specified log, a directory of logs, or the current SAS log. As long as the file ends with ".log", it can be reviewed with this macro. Second, To enhance reviewing non-SAS logs, I added an argument to add additional keywords, like the word "caution" or "alert". Users could implement user-specified issues (instead of using put statements with the word ERROR or WARNING).

Third, the output can be renamed, with a default of "Log_issues". (When reviewing multiple logs from a directory, this option does not take effect, and the output is named "Logs_w_issues".) Fourth, an option to change the behavior of the pop-up message: always, never, and only when issues are found. Finally, an option to abort the currently executing SAS program if an issue is discovered. This allows the user to run code in production and end it prematurely if issues arise, so the code does not continue to execute with issues.

Readers interested in the macro can join a user group (see below) hosted by Google Groups to download the macro, view documentation, and receive emails when I updated the code. And please, send feedback! I would like to know if the macro works well and whether it checks for all of the issues users require.

---

CheckLog Site

CheckLog User Group

Description:

This group is a forum for the users of the SAS CheckLog macro to receive updates, ask questions, and post feedback. The CheckLog macro checks the SAS log(s) for issues, including lines with error, warning, invalid, or uninitialized messages. Additionally, other phrases associated with issues are checked, and specific phrases are ignored. The macro can also be used with non-SAS logs, as long as the log uses the same issue keywords.

Subscribe by Email:

Open Last Table in SAS

I've been trying to find a way to open the last table created in SAS by using a keyboard shortcut. It's taken a while and many online searches to find it, but I finally figured out a good way to do it. I created a macro and set the macro to a keyboard shortcut. Here's the entire macro:

%macro OpenTable(table=&syslast) / des="Open a table";

dm "vt %sysfunc(compress(&table))" vt;

%mend OpenTable;

Set the macro to a keyboard shortcut by typing the following code into the keyboard shortcut editor window (F9):

gsubmit '%opentable;'

By default, the macro opens the last table created, and the argument can be modified for any table.

I'm so glad I found a way to do this! This should save a lot of time!

Update:

I added more to the macro code in case the table doesn't exist. Here's the new code:

%macro OpenTable(table=&syslast) / des="Open a table";

/* Check if table exists */
%if %sysfunc(exist(&table))=1 %then %do;

dm "vt %sysfunc(compress(&table))" vt;

%end;

/* Otherwise pop-up a message that it does not exist. */
%else %do;

dm 'postmessage "The specified table does not exist."';

%end;

%mend OpenTable;

Update Update:

I've developed a rather complex macro now that does the same thing:

OpenTable.sas

Electronic Task Management

I have a lot of things to do, and sometimes I have trouble remembering it all. At home, I use my computer to do remember and remind me of many tasks. At work, I use a combination of paper and the computer. Since documents from my PC or the network are not always available, it is still useful to retain a copy of certain tasks on paper. Nonetheless, I still use a few computer tools, at home and work, to help remember all of these tasks and make task management easier.

My wife and I planned our wedding using a number of Google's online office applications, including Docs, Calendar, and Notebook. We also used RememberTheMilk (RTM), an online task management application. Managing our tasks online provided the opportunity to travel and retain access to our tasks, as well as keep an eye on tasks while at work. Gmail and Microsoft Outlook also provide some useful tools for managing tasks.

For our wedding, my wife and I kept a few documents for the wedding in Google Docs, including the guest list and a service provider comparison spreadsheet. In Google Notebook, we had song lists, service providers and costs, a long to do list, and all sorts of ideas in a shared notebook. (Unfortunately, Notebook is not longer supported, so I transferred our notes to Google Docs and have been using that application since.) For specific projects at work (for example, HEDIS), I keep a task list in an electronic document, and I usually archive the tasks as I go forward, keeping newer items at the top.

My wife and I also used RememberTheMilk for managing tasks. I used this quite a bit and shared to-do items with my wife. We went back and forth between our to-do list in Notebook, which was a long-term list, and RTM, which was a short-term list. I still use RememberTheMilk for short- and moderate-term tasks, and Google Docs for long-term tasks. RTM, Google Calendar, and Outlook's task feature are useful for scheduling a task with a reminder and a specific due date. Calendar was also useful for sharing events with my wife as well as managing our to-do list and making appointments.

I associate many tasks with emails. Using Gmail at home and Microsoft Outlook at work, I flag specific emails with varying levels of priority. Gmail has a "lab" feature that enables various flags or "stars" that users can associate with anything. I have flags for immediate tasks, "important" tasks (due soon), "assigned" tasks (due later), items to read or review, and items to monitor. Gmail also has a Task list feature. I have not used this feature extensively, since I have been using RememberTheMilk for some time, and it appears that RTM has more features (e.g., scheduling tasks, associating a task with a URL).

I hope these tips and strategies are useful to someone out there. If you have any novel and efficient ways of managing tasks, feel free to share them in a comment!

AHIP Insurance Course

Last week, I completed an introduction to insurance course, Fundamentals of Health Insurance - Part A (Basics of Health Insurance), offered by AHIP, America's Health Insurance Plans, a coalition of health insurance companies. I had decided to take the course online to save paper and money. To prepare for the exam, I studied for a couple of hours every night last week. I had already read all of the material, but it was quite a bit of information to remember, so I was reviewing it and going through the study guide. I took the test Friday and passed. However, I wasn't offered the opportunity to offer any feedback on the course, so I would like to here.

First, I had a number of problems accessing the presentation online. When I would try to load the presentation in Firefox, I received an error message from Java. I tried it on Internet Explorer and received the same message. I checked my version of Java, and it appeared to be up-to-date. I also check my security settings in both Firefox and Internet Explorer. Nothing seemed to be blocking it. I also checked my firewall, but since I was in a hurry, I didn't check it thoroughly. So then I tried my wife's laptop, which is less secure than my desktop PC in terms of browser security and firewall settings, and it worked. I studied using her computer for a few weeks until I had some time to investigate issues on my PC. Finally, I manually updated Java and changed my firewall settings to asked about network connections. It turned out that the Java applet AHIP was using was out-of-date, and I had to allow an exception. I'm not sure if the update or the firewall change resolved the issue, but it worked on my PC.

The presentation itself was also problematic. The data presented was out-of-date by at least 10 years, as the presentation only included data up to the 90s. It appeared that many of the terms, definitions, and trends were also quite out-of-date. The presentation also included a number of "Knowledge Checks" to see if you were understanding the material. About 90% of the time, these questions were completely irrelevant to the material. At first I thought they were from a different chapter, but now that I've finished reading the material, I don't think they were even from the right course. The answers to the questions were not provided in ANY of the material. Fortunately, these questions were only intended to help the student study and did not count toward the final grade. I'm not even sure AHIP even kept track of the answers.

I had contacted AHIP about both problems - with access and the questions - however, they were not much help. The guidance on updating my PC did not help, nor did the tip that "these intermediary quizzes are not graded" - basically saying "skip them". Open the following link to view the email conversation with the AHIP representative:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dff94k46_67gdnxhwhn

At any rate, I was able to overcome these issues, study the material, and pass the test. There were issues with the test, too. The location for accessing the test was oddly placed at the end of the presenation content. If you clicked on it before you were ready or before your test time, that took up 1 of 2 test opportunities, since it would load the official test. I heard a number of people saying they accidentally clicked on it or expected it to be a practice test. This seems to be a bit of poor design.

The test format was a bit odd. It consisted of a number of frames with the browser, with a convenient clock counting down the time left for the test. The questions were multiple choice, but included poorly-written answers like 1) A and B; 2) B and C; 3) A, B, and C; 4) Only A; 5) Only C. These types of questions do not really increase the ability of the test to distinguish between those test-takers who know the material and those who do not. Simpler questions with 3 or 4 clear choices for responses would be adequate.

Some features were actually very convenient, helping the test-taker. One was the "Review" button, which once pressed would flag the question and put it on a list for you to answer later. The other was the button that showed the list of questions to review. The next button, as I heard from a colleague, changed from "Next" to "Submit" on the last question, which is not good if you're not paying attention to the number of questions you've answered. She clicked Submit by accident, without reviewing the questions she had flagged, and as a result, failed the test. Once I completed the test, a list of the questions I answered correctly appeared. Apparently there was a link at the bottom that showed the total percent correct, but I did not see it. I clicked the "Home" button to check to see if I passed the test. When I went back, it did not load the test results. I suppose it was a safety mechanism so that the user does not overwrite a test that was just taken, which would not be good, especially if the taker passes it the first time and fails it the second.

Although all of these problems were present, I did learn quite a bit. The course had a lot of good information about how the insurance industry works and huge number of common terms and definitions. There was some information I did not find as relevant, for example, commissions for agents/brokers, but it would certainly be useful for someone in those fields or working with those fields. I heard feedback from my co-workers that sounded similar to my experiences, but I found that a lot of people order the books. I feel that's a bit wasteful; however, it would have avoided the problems with the online presentation and questions. In the end, the information I learned was very useful, but the presentation could have been better. I hope AHIP reviews the presentation and content and updates the content to include new data and up-to-date definitions.

Internet Explorer 6 at Work

At my last and current job, my computers have been set up with Internet Explorer 6 as the default browser, even though Microsoft has developed Internet Explorer 7 and version 8, not to mention the flourish of alternative browsers, like Firefox, Safari, and Google Chrome, to mention only a few.

I've noticed that the possible reason for this may be legacy software, software that may exploit some security hole in Internet Explorer 6 in order to operate. At my last job, I downloaded Internet Explorer 7 because I thought it would be more secure while I was performing research. (At my new job, the IT department is much more serious about security, since the company deals with health care data. I am unable to modify much of anything. My screen resolution isn't even permanent!)

When I tried to access one of the company's intranet pages for storing customer information, I received numerous errors while trying to use some of the features. I tried lowering the security settings, updating all sorts of related software, and modifying the connection settings, all to no avail. It just wasn't going to work on Internet Explorer 7.

The software has some serious flaws - it's number 8 on the worst tech products of all time rated by PCWorld and the Computer Emergency Response Team has recommended that internet users not use it at all. So I'm wondering, with all of the security flaws and out-of-date features, why do companies still use it? Do newer versions lack compatibility with legacy software? Is it too difficult and time-consuming to convert to the newest version? Is it easier just to wait until Vista is the defacto operating system for business PCs? What is the reason?

Update: One of my co-workers had IE 8 installed. It was an attempt to help a web interface work better, and it seemed to do the trick! Lesson: Upgrade!

Are You Sure - SAS Code

Update on May 20, 2009: Users may wish to add "memtype=data" option to the proc datasets statement to drop only SAS tables (see below). I believe the proc datasets procedure will delete formats and possibly other types of data.

Today I wrote a macro program in SAS to delete all of the contents of a specified library. I programmed a pop-up window to ask the user if they really want to delete everything. Here's the code:

%macro DeleteLib(lib);

%let rusure=N;

/* Pop up a window to ask a question */
%window surewin
#1 @20 "DELETING ALL TABLES!"
#3 @20 "ALL TABLES WILL BE DELETED FROM &lib"
// @20 "Are you sure you would like to delete all tables from &lib?"
@81 rusure 1 attr=rev_video required=yes " (Y/N)"
// @20 "HIT THE ENTER KEY TO CONTINUE"
%display surewin delete;

%put rusure=&rusure;

/* Delete all tables if Yes */
%if &rusure=Y %then %do;

data dummy;
run;

proc datasets library=&lib memtype=data;
save dummy;
quit;

proc sql;
drop table &lib..dummy;
quit;

%put NOTE: All tables have been deleted from &lib.;

%end;

/* Put a comment if No */
%if &rusure=N %then %do;

%put NOTE: No tables have been deleted.;

%end;

%mend DeleteLib;

The first and last line are the beginning and end of the macro program. The second line sets the variable "rusure" (that is, "Are you sure?") to "N" for "No" by default. The next block creates the window and pops it up. In the window the user can specify "Y" or "N" to specify whether to delete the library (think of it as a folder or directory with SAS datasets in it). (The code uses a macro variable "&lib" to insert the name of the library.) If "Y", then the code creates a dummy dataset with nothing in it, runs a program that keeps only the dummy dataset and delete everything else, then it drops the dummy dataset and puts a note in the log. If "N", then it just puts a note in the log.

At first I thought of putting another set of code in there as a double-check: An additional window asking "Are you REALLY sure you want to delete the library?" then running another Y/N if statement. But then I thought that might be a little annoying to have to deal with so many windows.

It would have been a funny April Fool's joke to insert a series of windows into someone's program asking, "Do you want to run this program?", "Are you sure you want to run this program?", "Are you REALLY sure?", "REALLY, REALLY sure?", "Wouldn't you rather run another program?". The user would have to keep hitting Y or N over and over again to get it to work. It would be easy to insert a small line of code referencing another piece of code using a %include statement (for example, %include "c:\AprilFools\rusure.sas";). A trickster could even hide the code after a line of spaces far to the right of the window where no one would find it.

If anyone tries that, let me know what happens!

Keyboard Shortcuts

I love keyboard shortcuts. There's no better way to do things quickly than by using a keyboard. If you think about it, using all fingers instead of moving your hand/arm and clicking with one finger must be faster. But first you need to know the shortcuts. Here's a list of some good resources for keyboard shortcuts in various programs:

1. Windows XP
2. Windows Vista (Remote Desktop)
3. Firefox
4. Microsoft Excel (Others)
5. Microsoft Outlook
   
6. SAS
   

Here are some of my favorite shortcuts--ones that people don't usually know about. These are based in Microsoft Windows XP.

1. Alt+Tab for switching programs. Ctrl+Tab for switching tabs in Firefox or other tabbed programs. Alt+Page Up or Page Down is incredibly useful on remote desktops for switching between programs just like Alt+Tab.
2. Ctrl+Shift+Esc brings up Windows Task Manager. Similarly, Windows+Break brings up the System Properties. The usual Windows combinations are good, too, especially Windows+L, which locks the computer, Windows+D, which shows the desktop, and Windows+E, which opens Explorer.
3. Alt+F4 terminates a program. In some programs Ctrl+F4 terminates a window, submenu, or other child program within a program. I like to use that in SAS quite a bit. Ctrl+Shift+T opens a new tab in Firefox, and Ctrl+W closes tabs in Firefox.
4. Keyboard shortcuts can be assigned to shortcut icons. At home and work, I use the Ctrl+Alt+Shift combination for typical programs. I usually assign Ctrl+Alt+Shift+W for Microsoft Word, Ctrl+Alt+Shift+X for Excel, Ctrl+Alt+Shift+N for Notepad, and Ctrl+Alt+Shift+C for Calculator.
5. At work, I use the Ctrl+Alt combination for connecting to various programs that allow me access to something, for example, Ctrl+Alt+S for connecting to SAS, Ctrl+Alt+R for connecting to remote desktops, and Ctrl+Alt+Q for Rapid SQL.
6. In Excel, Ctrl+; enters the current date and Ctrl+: enters the current time. Ctrl+" copies the cell above to the selected cell and Ctrl+' copies a formula in the same manner. Alt+Enter inserts a line break within a cell, allowing the user to break text across more than one line. Ctrl+Home, Ctrl+End, Ctrl+Page Up, and Ctrl+Page Down are useful navigational keyboard shortcuts in Excel, too. Try them out!
   
7. In Microsoft Office, Ctrl+K creates a hyperlink on the selected text.
8. In Microsoft Outlook, Ctrl+D deletes highlighted or currently viewed mail. Ctrl+Shift+V brings up a menu to move currently highlighted/viewed mail to a folder. Alt+F4, like above, terminates the current open message (I thought Ctrl+F4 would make more sense).
   
9. In SAS, the best one to know is F9. Then you can read about all of them! Otherwise, F8 for submitting programs, F6 for viewing the log, F7 for viewing output, and F5 for viewing programs. Keep pressing F5 to toggle between multiple programs.
   
10. If the Language Bar toolbar is on in Windows, don't hit Alt+Shift. It switches the language! That one gets me all the time, since my wife uses Chinese on our computer on occasion. And for some reason I bump it quite often.
    

That's about all I can think of right now. I like learning new keyboard shortcuts, and I know there are a lot more to learn. What are your favorites?

My Tax Man

Instead of hiring a tax agent or using software, we decided to put our little boy, Luca, to work. Here he is, trying to figure out our deductions:

"You want ME to do your taxes?!"

"How on Earth do you organize your receipts??"

Actually, we used TaxCut Online to do our taxes. I'm sure Luca would have done a great job, though. He did seem awfully interested in my W-2s while I was working on it. Maybe he just wanted to eat them though.

TaxCut Online worked very well. For basic tax needs, it's quick and reliable. I spent about 2 hours working on it, and if there hadn't been a slightly confusing question about the Alternative Minimum Tax in Wisconsin, it probably would have been faster. Oh, and it would have been faster had I not been trying to complete it with my son on my lap, who likes to hit the mouse and keyboard! I also cleared my cookies on accident and had to log back in. Oops!

I used the software last year and it went very smoothly this year with the addition of my wife's tax information and our new deductions for our son. The software remembers data entered from the previous year and restores specific answers from last year's return for review. It does not allow a direct import of last year's data without review as a safety mechanism.

All in all, I could probably have saved a buck and done it on my own for the State and Federal taxes, but having the software to check over your work and the addition of on-demand support and assistance in case of an audit is a definite plus. Last year I did both TaxCut and the free State submission form, and I discovered that there was a difference in the return that was exactly the amount I paid for use of the software. There is a discout for tax preparation that TaxCut submits with you taxes!

Submitting taxes online is also incredibly fast. We received our State return in less than a week and our Federal return will arrive 9 days after I submitted it. Overall, I would definitely recommend this software to anyone willing to submit your tax information on the internet. Of course, if you have a complicated tax return, a professional is always the best and safest bet.

My Home Computer Desk

I have a bit of an unusual work space for my computer at home. On the right of the keyboard, I have a trackball mouse. On the left, I have a regular mouse that is not used for moving the cursor. I also have a wireless mouse on the monitor area of the desk and a video game controller. Here's a photo:

The trackball mouse aids with avoiding carpal tunnel syndrome and it saves space. The small left button is set to the middle button and the small right button is set to "Back" for internet and file browsing. The mouse on the left side serves two purposes: First, this style of mouse has a better scroll device than the trackball mouse, which doesn't really have one. Second, if it's ever necessary to get the precision of a regular mouse (editing images, for example), then it is available for use. The laser is currently covered with a small sticky pad to avoid any cursor movement from it. The wireless mouse is used for viewing the computer desktop on the TV, away from the computer monitor. It's great when watching internet TV shows on an actual TV (hulu.com is great for internet TV).

Also note the USB extension cord, which is useful for any other peripheral devices one would need to plug in temporarily (a camera, for example), and the wireless headphones, which allow for freedom of movement and less cord clutter. The small device under the monitor is a CRYPTOCard, used for accessing remote computers at work. The monitor is on a base that rotates and adjusts vertically, making it perfect for getting just the right position for the user. The combination of the trackball mouse and vertically adjustable monitor have significantly improved the ergonomics of my computer desk, making me a lot more comfortable, especially during long hours of work (or play!).

Here's an older version of the setup with an older left mouse and keyboard and without the wireless mouse.

I (thankfully) upgraded the monitor from the bulky, unadjustable CRT monitor. Since I spilled juice on the keyboard (not recommended!) I had to get a new one of those too, although I went with a cheap keyboard. Actually, the only component I would change about the current setup is the keyboard, which isn't exactly comfortable and the extra buttons on the left and right sides are not prominent enough to be very useful. I liked my old one, but I spilled juice on it...

By the way, all of these devices except the keyboard are from Logitech. I really like their computer input devices. The software isn't completely bug free, but once I got the settings where I like them everything works just fine. I haven't used the wireless mouse as much, but I advise getting a USB extension cord with it, as its range is limited.