SAS Data Analytic Development

Chapter 7Execution Efficiency

Following my first tour of duty in Afghanistan, I moved to Antigua, Guatemala, to unwind and relax for a few months. One of the most cosmopolitan cities in Central America, Antigua's fabled cobblestone streets are lined with backpacker hostels, quaint cafés, international cuisine, and 17th- and 18th-century cathedrals and colonial architecture, all laid beneath the volcanos Agua, Fuego, and Acatenango.

I'd visited Antigua years before with a friend and, flying into Guatemala City some 26 miles from Antigua, we'd hailed a cab to the bus exchange where we'd caught a chicken bus to Antigua. Aside from the conductor (driver) yelling at us at one point to put our heads down (possibly a bad part of town?), it was an uneventful yet laboring hour-long journey winding through the mountains, making stop after stop.

Now living in Antigua, as friends and family would fly in and out of Guatemala City to visit, I'd meet them at the airport, and we'd typically catch a shared shuttle back to Antigua, one of the fastest methods since it bypassed the central terminal and made no extra stops.

But, in first getting from Antigua to the city to pick them up, I had several options. When running extremely late, I called a private cab I knew to be very reliable; if available, he'd race over and ferry me to the city in the fastest possible manner.

Shared shuttles were the next-fastest method, but departed on predetermined schedules primarily from Parque Central (the central ...