I've completed my first day of teaching a two-day course about SAS Enterprise Guide. I'm in Sydney, Australia...but my biological clock is still tuned into Cary, North Carolina time. I woke up at 1 a.m. today and even though I tried to convince my body that it was still time for sleep, my body remained convinced that it was midday, and thus refused to comply.

Despite my lack of sleep, I managed to muster enough energy to propel me through the day. (Caffeine helped. A lot.) I've enjoyed meeting the students, who make up an interesting cross-section of SAS customers that are based here in the region. They work for banks, telecom companies, and government agencies. They all have different uses for SAS, of course, and yet they are probably more alike than they are different in their need to access data, produce and run SAS programs, and manage their work in an efficient way.

Tomorrow we'll finish up the course, and then on Thursday we'll all attend the big SAS Forum day here in Sydney. It's a sold-out event, with over 1200 SAS customers registered to attend.

It's going to be a busy time. I'd better get some sleep!