Unexpected Places

Have you ever stood in front of a classroom full of fifth-graders and tried to make your white-collar job sound interesting? It's a sobering experience... I don't jump out of airplanes, hang out with movie stars or write best-selling novels.

But after a little reflection on my last five years as the editor of sascom, I realized that my job is far from dry. In the pursuit of sascom articles, I have dined with foreign dignitaries; I have watched U2's Bono cross a stage, arm-in-arm with Nelson Mandela; I've even walked with tigers in a sanctuary for these endangered carnivores.

And, while I'm not yet writing best-selling novels, recent readership surveys tell us we're producing a first-rate, well-read magazine that meets the needs of our audience. Attesting to that fact is our growing subscription base of a truly global readership. SAS customers and other readers subscribe from pretty much every part of the world: Belgium and Brazil. China and the Czech Republic. Poland and Nepal. Slovenia and El Salvador. Thailand and Tanzania. The UK and Uganda.

Someone even reads sascom in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Western Australia's isolated territory on which Darwin based his theory of coral atoll formation. (I bet there's an interesting story there, so don't be surprised if you see an article in a future issue.)

While trying to explain business intelligence to schoolkids goes over like a lead balloon – I know, I tried – this business really can be pretty exciting. If you've attended either of our big conferences, SAS Users Group International or SAS Forum International, you know why... it's because people around the world are doing such exciting things with SAS software.

So to you, SAS customers: Thank you for making my job so interesting by sharing your stories. To you, sascom readers: Thank you for your survey feedback and your willingness to resubscribe. And to you, fifth-graders, thank you for the opportunity to reflect upon my very cool job.

Diana M. Levey
sascom Editor-in-Chief