Really, the hardest part of writing these weekly recaps is narrowing down the great list of SAS blog posts we publish every week and picking just a few to highlight. This is a bit of an estimate, but I've been telling people that we publish an average of eight posts a day, which totals out to about 40 posts each work week - and they're all great reads. To make my job a little easier this week, I've grouped some favorites into categories for you.

Abbreviations

You know your blog post has hit its mark when it inspires other bloggers to write on the same topic. This week, Rick Wicklin wrote a post about a type of shortcut in the SAS enhanced editor that inspired at least three other posts on the same topic:

• Chris Hemedinger's response, Take SAS program editor abbreviations to the next level.
• Abbreviation for GTL boiler plate by Sanjay Matange on the new Graphically Speaking blog.
• SAS user Ken Kleinman called Rick's post a gem and responded with a post on his own blog: Character substitutions in the SAS editor.

I should mention that Rick's original post was actually inspired by a SAS conference paper that Elizabeth Ceranowski wrote and presented: SAS Abbreviations are your friends, use the template method to code!

Innovation

Three different SAS bloggers wrote about innovation this week from three very different perspectives:

• Waynette Tubbs continues her weekly Innovation Inspiration series on the SAS Users Groups blog.
• With inspiration from Facebook, SAS CMO Jim Davis gives tips on creating an innovative corporate culture.
• Robert Rowan gets philosophical and describes innovation as a force against inertia.

The Holidays

Two posts this week included holiday themes, and a third is more about dressing up for the stage (a stretch, I know - but it's a celebratory topic nonetheless):

• At a reader's request, Rick Wicklin revisits his post about using statistics to assign names in the holiday gift exchange.
• Then, Rick tackles Halloween with a post that analyzes the distribution of flavors in bottlecaps candy.
• Leo Sadovy dresses as Don Quixote and tells readers what the very best finance organizations are doing that others are not.

What themes did you see in the blogs you read this week? And what themes would you like to see SAS bloggers cover next week?