Goals for 2010

At work, upper management set corporate and division goals, and asked everyone to submit personal goals that align with the corporate and division goals. Here are my official goals:

• Complete all tasks as assigned for HEDIS 2011
• Submit HEDIS 2010 measures to NCQA
• Complete any post-HEDIS analyses
• Complete an internal leadership course
• Coordinate two projects to completion

In addition, I have these goals:

• Complete another AHIP course
• Complete another SAS course (advanced macros or programming 3)
• Share SAS tools (e.g., macros, autoexecs) with other users

I would really like to increase the communication between SAS users at work, so we can share processes, tips and tricks, macros, and programming methodologies. In part, this would enhance my skills as a SAS programmer, and it would also help make our SAS programs more standardized, increasing consistency, efficiency, and competitive edge.

What goals do you have for 2010?

Snow Day

If you're living in Wisconsin, you know that today, December 9th, is a snow day. It has snowed over 14 inches in the past day, schools are canceled, and even business days have been canceled. My family stayed home today.

For a very short time, we went outside. My son, Luca has been quite entranced by the snow, staring out the window without any attention for anything else. When we went out, it was a bit difficult for him to move around with all of the winter cloths and all the snow. I thought it would be funny to stick him in the snow drift and take a picture. My wife, Kyra, said the tree near our home would be perfect for the scene:

Luca tried to crawl out of his snow trap... He ended up going face first into the snow right after this shot. We went inside right after that!

We were quite bored inside all morning, so after we came back inside, Kyra suggested that Luca and I play with some shaving cream. I guess he's done this at preschool before, and it sounded like a fun activity to keep him occupied. I spread shaving cream on the dining room table and he went to town. I thought it was quite amusing, so I spread some shaving cream in his hair. When I did that he smeared it all over his face...

We hope the snow will clear up soon, so we can get back to work and our normal lives! Stay safe everyone!

Colors in the SAS Log

Today I was writing a SAS program, and I wanted a statement I was writing to the log to appear in a different color, so the user could find the information easily by scanning the log. My supervisor wrote a macro program that output a note at the end that appeared red in the log. So I looked up the program to see how he did it.

To my surprise, the macro program uses a simple %put statement with the word ERROR at the beginning, followed immediately by a dash (-). The dash removes the word "ERROR" from the log, replacing it with 5 spaces. This is apparently a default function in SAS. He also added a %str statement inside the word ERROR to break it up, so users do not see the word "ERROR" when the program is included in another program and the user searches the log for errors. Here is the code:

%put ER%str(ROR-) Here is text in red!;

This technique can also be used for the keywords WARNING and NOTE:

%put WA%str(RNING-) Here is text in green!;

%put NO%str(TE-) Here is text in blue!;

Note that the placement of %str() is arbitrary. It could just as well be "%str(W)ARNING-". Keep in mind that the end result is also indented the length of the key word, with blue being the shortest and green being the longest indent. Furthermore, there isn't much point in removing the word "NOTE" since it is generally not associated with error messages.

In the end, only four colors can be used in the log: the default black, red, green, and blue. Blue is the easiest to use, since the key word NOTE does not need to be removed. Having red and green also available, though, is definitely better than nothing!

IBM Buys SPSS & SPSS vs SAS

Announced earlier today, IBM is to buy SPSS, the statistical and predictive modeling software and competitor with SAS. (More news articles.)

I used SPSS at my last job, and I liked it quite a bit. There were certain tasks that were much easier using the windowing interface, and SAS's code-only method just doesn't quite match that. For example, transposing a dataset in SAS is not very intuitive. In SPSS, however, the wizard explains which variables to choose for identification of variables, constants, and variables to transpose.

Then on the other hand, SAS is quite powerful and is capable of a lot more than SPSS. Perhaps SPSS's code module can be used in a similar way, but when I used it, it was rather annoying. If you need to use a dataset, it required it to be open. In SAS, you don't ever have to open a dataset, unless you need to figure out what the variables are like. Then again, you can just look at the column information in the context menu. SAS flows from one dataset to another, and there's no need for the dataset to pop-up when using it.

SPSS was much better at handling variables (columns). Variables could be easily changed from one type to another, and "labels" for particular variables could be applied. For example, 1 = Low, 2 = Medium, and 3 = High. This can be accomplished in SAS with formats, but it's not quite the same, as it requires the user to apply the format. SPSS was also quite useful for turning a variable into a category or a variable with ranges; for example, converting salaries into salary ranges. A window wizard helped with that too.

At any rate, it will be interesting to see what happens in this market now that IBM is going to own SPSS. I always thought SPSS and SAS joined together would be a really great product, and perhaps IBM will bring to SPSS more SAS-like capabilities. Who knows?

More comparisons of SPSS and SAS:

• A Guide to Statistical Software
• Comparison of Data Analysis Packages
• Comparison of Statistical Packages

Bank Advice to Couples

Recently, my bank, the UW Credit Union, published an article on the website about "Five Common Money Mistakes Made by Couples." Here is the list in short form:

1. Know where your money goes and have a budget.
2. Share financial responsibility.
3. Don't keep money secrets from each other.
4. Don't marry your debt.
5. Plan ahead.

The bank recommends using a budget worksheet, but I would argue in favor of budgeting software, or better yet, an online service like Mint.com. Mint is a great way to track expeditures, and any software package would pick out items you wouldn't think of putting on a budget. For example, you may have no idea how many times you actually stop for coffee on the way to work and how quickly that adds up. It's quite a bit, week after week!

The other points were great, if not somewhat obvious. Of course it's best to make decisions together and not retain secrets, unless of course, some money is set aside for a gift. Keeping major financial secrets is a quick way to lead to arguments or a lot of stress for a spouse should something happen to the other.

The fourth item about not "marrying your debt" pointed out that it's not best to merge debt. As many people have students loans, it may be tempting to put all the debt together. However, this can harm one or the other spouse's credit. Consolidation may save money on monthly payments, but it could make it harder to get a loan. It also reminds me of that commercial with the guy singing about his new wife who had a bad credit score and they couldn't get a home loan because of it. At the end, he sings something like, "I’d be a happy bachelor with a dog and a yard." That's no way to start a marriage!

The last point about planning ahead also noted that it's good to have about six months in savings ready for any disaster. While that sounds great, I don't think anyone in middle America is doing that. It's been said that we spend $1.01 for ever $1.00 we earn, so it's going to be difficult to change the culture to turn that around. Of course, it's best to try!