We watched our favorite holiday movie last weekend: Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life. Most who know me would be surprised to read that I start sobbing at about the time that Mr. Gower buys George his—alas, unused—around-the-world suitcase and don’t stop until (spoiler alert!) Clarence gets his wings. One of my favorite scenes occurs at the end, when the whole community of Bedford Falls, including even the bank examiner, comes together to rescue George from financial ruin and possibly even jail. George’s war-hero brother toasts him as “the richest man in town.”

Although it might be a bit of an exaggeration (or perhaps just an excuse to write about the movie), but this week I feel a bit of the same spirit in regard to our certification challenge. First, I want to thank Ron Cody and the other three contributors who posted comments in response to my blog post of 4 December. All of the comments were illuminating, and we all (Ron included, I think) learned something from them. What a great community of SAS users! Thank you!

Second, in response to my post, we received a very generous offer from a technical support analyst upstairs to actually sit with her for an hour or so as she mans the phone lines in support of our customers’ questions. A fabulous idea! Stay tuned in the New Year for our adventures with technical support.

If this column seems a bit light this week, that is because it is. We were supposed to have our study session today (the 23rd), but everyone is winding down for the holidays so we postponed until 2010. Thanks to everyone who has supported us in our journey toward certification this year, and I look forward to continuing this long, strange trip next year. Happy holidays to everyone and best wishes for 2010!