After working for a couple of hours in the morning. we headed out to Cary where friends from Chuck’s working group (from our 2012 sabbatical) had invited us to SAS for lunch. SAS was one of the first statistical analysis systems and has won several “best place to work” awards in the past few years.
It was great to see Prof. Carl Meyer and his former graduate students Hansi and Ralph, whom we had talked with a lot during the sabbatical. (Carl and Hansi are above with Chuck – as I mentioned, we have been bad about taking photos with friends!) Hansi and Ralph both work at SAS, and Hansi was kind enough to take us for a walk on the large and park-like SAS campus. We had to stay away from the buildings though – the mirror-like glass gave a perfect reflection or Rumple, which sent him into a frenzy of protective barking. We were very impressed by the size and beauty of the campus, as well as all the artwork.
In an odd co-incidence another former PSU stat person, my friend Ruth Hummel, who works for a SAS division in Orlando FL was at a SAS business meeting. All of us went to the same cafeteria (in a building none of them worked in) and there I ran into Ruth. We managed to squeeze in a sunset walk on the campus with her.
Between these two SAS walks, we scooted to the other side of Raleigh, to meet with another member of the working group, Shaina Race, who had a new baby just last week (and another 18 months ago). Did I mention that we have been doing a poor job of taking photos of our friends?
Shaina lives on the Neuse River bike trail, so we also took a few minutes to walk along the trail (no photo)
Our final social event of the day was dinner with friend Amy Nail, a local statistician and rock climber.
It was great to catch up with everyone. We hope to see you again soon.