A free online search tool that allows users to enter in a drug name and identify whether alternatives exist is now live!

Late 2005 I kicked off a small project to create a program that automatically downloads the US Food & Drug Administration database files each week after they update them. This program loads the information into a database. I then built a web service that exposes queries to retrieve information from the database that may be useful for whomever leverages that information. The first operation is getGenerics which returns generic alternatives for a specified drug. To demonstrate how one could leverage this information, I published:

http://www.genericdrugfinder.com

Through Google AdSense and future affiliate relationships, the site can actually earn money leveraging a free web service. Goomzee will be publishing more services and showing people how to earn money by using them real soon. Stay tuned!

Below is some information that I found about Montana that I thought might be useful. It includes census data, useful contact information and more.

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A lot of folks in the US take the Interstate System for granted, not knowing some of the smart features. I know for a fact that a lot of foreign visitors, first confused, think that our mile marker system tied to Interstate Exit numbers is brilliant (a lot more intuitive than other countries’).

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Well I just learned that today was National Ice Cream Day. Given it is 91 degrees right now in Missoula, Montana, I think it couldn’t have come on a better day. We’re off to Dairy Queen so I better run.

Simply put, open your System Preferences, click on Sharing and click the checkbox next to SSH to enable it.

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I spent a lot of time downloading SSH from Gnu and other sites and tried to figure out how to get it installed on a Mac Mini box to enable remote managment and then found out it, FTP and a variety of other services come pre-installed.

I’m liking Mac OSX more and more each day. Hopefully this tip helps.

One of the professional photos from our wedding. I have 705 photos to go through and then will create an online album that I will link to somewhere within. For now, here’s a cool black/white photo of the happy couple.

Every summer we get on one of the many rivers either fly fishing, floating, boating or all of the above. We headed back early from the lake so we could join a group of friends and go “tubing” down the Blackfoot River. Over the years, we rarely ever had photos so I found this the perfect opportunity to use my new waterproof case for my digital camera.

Sadly enough, this is not an uncommon site on a hot day. College students find any means possible to enjoy the recreation around Missoula. I had to snap a photo as we got a chuckle seeing these guys cruise down the road heading downtown.

Our caravan of trucks filled with tubes and rafts was a little more P.C. - cruising along the Blackfoot heading towards Johnsrud Park.

Jamie starting off on her first Blackfoot float. We floated the Bitterroot river several times last year but she had never floated the Blackfoot - it was a great day. We had about a dozen strong and the river was filled with hundreds, if not thousands of kyakers, rafters, tubers all day long.

Scenery and friends and great weather make a good combination.

Our crew. Complete with some guys from So-Cal and Nor-Cal (Hyperion) and Seattle (Accenture/Microsoft) oh yeah, and a few locals.

Some rafters staging their own water battle.

Jamie’s raft was voted as the repository for people’s beer cans, unfortunately for her.

Hundreds, if not thousands of people enjoying the water on hot days - a common site.

While our shuttle took us back up to Whittaker Bridge to pick up several vehicles, we commented on how many people were out Sunday. We joked about how there had to be some vehicle accidents with that many people driving on the mountain roads while heading up to the bridge.

An SUV rolled over on the road - noone was hurt.

I continued on as so many people had pulled over. I later found that some of our crew pulled over and helped roll the truck back over towards the ditch to clear the road.

It was a fun day.

Jamie and I had some buddies in from Seattle this weekend, both former colleagues and currently working at Microsoft. We decided to go hang with friends for Saturday up Flathead Lake.

Beautiful views of the Mission Mountains while driving up to Flathead Lake, about an hour north of Missoula.

We played half dozen volleyball games to work up an appetite.

Trav’s cousin Laura and Travis preparing to dive.

I tested out my waterproof case for my digital camera. Here is a pic of Travis diving in while I was underwater.

View of cabin from the lake.

We had to let Jeff and Stephanie experience the jet boat… at between 40-50 you can crank the wheel and spin a 360-degree circle - it’s a rush.

One of our many 360s. That boat can turn on a dime at any speed. Last time I went out we hit a wave while mid-spin and nearly flew out, smacking into the steering column and bruising my side - crazily enough, I still go.

Jeff gives the experience 2 thumbs up. Thanks Trav!