Since mid last year I’ve been designing, clearing roadblocks and managing internal, onshore, nearshore and offshore builds of Goomzee’s multimodal interaction framework (MMI Framework) which allows for rapid scripting of voice, mobile, email and instant messaging - based applications or services. At first we were going to pitch the framework but recently switched gears and identified a few use-cases that could leverage the technology internally to build out new businesses.

One will be a service call management system, self service portal and communications gateway. In the short term, I decided to capitalize on another opportunity that I can bring to market very quickly and provide the most value to both customers and end users. That will be a text-message, voice and email based lead generation service called LeadsByCell.com.. This service will place buyers and sellers in touch, leveraging today’s mobile, Internet and voice technology.

Be on the lookout for the launch of this new service. Not only will we offer this to sellers (and/or agents), we hope to leverage this in our own marketing campaigns as well.

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!

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.

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.

Well Jamie and I tied the knot at 5pm on Saturday, June 24, 2006. I am awaiting photos from the photographer but Rohit was kind enough to send me a couple snapshots.

Here I am speaking with the officiant, Ed McLean, a local judge and friend of the family.

Jamie with her father, Joe.

Feeding each other our wedding cake. Nice catch, Rohit!

Speaking of catch, see the garter mid-flight before Jeff snags it.

Jamie and her girls, Mandy Joe, Erica and Erika.

When I get the photos from the professional photographer, I will likely dedicate a page to our wedding so thanks for viewing and of course to all who shared this moment with us both in person and online.

- Mike and Jamie Sparr

A casual night where the families and wedding party could meet. We kept it small and personal with enough time to hang out with all our out-of-town guests - all in all, the entire week was a hit.

The parents. Mine: Bill and Debbie (left) and Jamies: Joe and Kathy (right)

Rohit and Darin in Joe and Kathy’s front lawn as sun set over Missoula.

The boys - Part 2 (Rohit and his “ghost”)

Missoula Valley at night - from Mansion Heights.

After the dinner, we rallied some of our other out-of-town guests and hit downtown Missoula. Jeff’s girlfriend, Stephanie, got the grand tour. Of over 50 venues, we hit 4. We started at the Iron Horse, a nice brew pub (yuppy crowd) with great food, atmosphere and the posh 501 Lounge. We then hit an old college haunt, Shawn Kelly’s, an Irish pub w/ live music.

We stopped for a quick basketball game at The Bodega, a sports bar in downtown Missoula, before heading to our “destination”, Hammer Jack’s, a local dance club that Rohit insisted we re-visit (after the bachelor party the night before).

Darin and Rohit on the dance floor.

DJ booth and dance crowd. There are several rooms and a raised section here with pool tables and 2 bars. It was the first smoke-free bar in Missoula and now Iron Horse and others have followed suit.

Jeff and girlfriend, Stephanie, having a laugh at our buddy’s expense.

After the bachelor party the night before, I was in no condition to “tear it up” Friday night so it was a chill evening. We closed down Hammer Jack’s and hit a late-night pizzeria for snacks before heading back to my house.

The boys went all out and threw me one heck of a bachelor party. My thanks to Darin, Mike, Dave, Brandon, Jeff, Rohit, Travis, Jamy and Jason. Everyone met at my house and a school bus showed up to my surprise and carted us around from place to place the whole night.

They did their job and punished me. We all had custom-printed t-shirts and I had to carry a doll all night between drink after drink. Here a couple teaser pics:

Darin presenting our transportation.

Guys reviewing the contract before signing.

Our first stop - appetizers and drinks at Paradise Falls.

Group photo of our bachelor party crew running into one of the 3 bachelorrette parties we crashed Thursday evening at The Iron Horse.

Thanks again boys!

Although Goomzee is still my baby, RSI Global has been taking on more venture projects since early 2005. I’m pleased to announce the launch of one of them, a yearlong engagement called Sportsmen’s Access (www.sportsmensaccess.com). Sportmen’s Access Inc (SAI) is a membership-based portal featuring localized content for outdoor enthusiasts. The first release boasts a plethora of content and features and our content team is diligently working on building out the most comprehensive sporting database available.

SAI members receive detailed information about public and private lands available, outfitters and trips available plus localized tips on dining, eating, drinking. In addition, we have partnerships with a growing number of content editors who will be furnishing localized reports. Finally, our agreement with GCS Research provides a comprehensive mapping engine that features species density overlays for hunting/fishing districts and a dozen other views including Topo Maps.

Currently focused on indexing Montana’s tens of millions of acres of land, SAI will be expanding to a 15-state region this following year. Our custom-built content management system (built/designed by yours truly) will be refined ove this coming year and may eventually be licensed to other organizations or developing countries.

I’m pleased to announce that in our first two weeks live, we’ve already had over a dozen members registered. Knowing that over 1.4 million out-of-state licenses were issued to sportsmen in Montana last year alone, we are bullish on the rapid growth of SAI.

Chalk another Internet Business success story to the RSI Global family and enjoy what SAI has to offer.

I had an article in the Missoulian upon moving back to Missoula in February of 2005, now Goomzee is gaining some press. Expect to see more announcements in the very near future as some exciting happenings are in progress. Below are photos of cover and article I took with my mobile phone - I’m unsure when their online version will publish.

Cover of In Business Monthly.

Page 1 of the Goomzee article - In Business Monthly

The first of hopefully many businesses from the Great Falls Made In Montana Show (last week) has signed up for service. They signed up for Goomzee thursday afternoon and went live friday morning. Visit: http://www.montanasweetheat.com and see another Goomzee-powered online business.

Thanks Lora!

Friday I attended the Made-In-Montana convention in Great Falls. It was a great opportunity to meet with a group of merchants who can all benefit from Goomzee’s E-Commerce solutions. I was impressed with the City of Great Falls and their support of the convention. They even hosted beverages and a food cart and presented awards to some of the merchants.

I haven’t been to Great Falls for over 10 years and I couldn’t recall how nice the area is. Like Missoula, they have a River (The Missouri) running right through town. I didn’t spend a lot of time there, but definitely liked the city and their support of Montana businesses.

As my aunt is an artist, and early adopter, I grew up owning hand-me-downs of every Macintosh model built up until the PowerMac 7200/90. Upon enrolling in college, I then made the switch to PCs with my first laptop (a Compaq Presario) and then Dell P3/600 Desktop. For 10 years I’ve been working on PCs (primarily notebooks from Toshiba and Dell) and this past year I decided to buy a couple Mac Minis, mainly to act as web terminals for telivisions in my home. I liked them so much that I decided last month to make the switch, ordering my MacBook Pro. I eagerly await its arrival. I still use PCs and just purchased two new ones for my office (developer workstations) and will likely upgrade my current Dell Laptop to either another Dell or and IBM ThinkPad. However, I have officially made the switch - now Apple just needs to send me the darn thing…

Ordered: January
Est. Ship Date: Feb 15
Est. Delivery Date: Feb 23 !!!

Enjoy!

I just saw the movie “Firewall” with Harrison Ford. I thought it was great entertainment and would recommend it.

Well I must get ready as I am speaking to a group of MBA students for a course sponsored by MADE. We had a nice dinner last night at the Depot (thanks Jeff!) and met some of the speakers. I guess I better get people rallied for hours of snacking and commercial critiquing, oh and I think there’s a football game on the tele today as well.

Goomzee has moved into a new office in Rose Park Center. I established the office primarily for business meetings and a place for developers to work on product enhancements and creation/support/enhancement of new products. My time will be split between my home office and this new office, periodically working alongside my employees as needed.

Finally a whiteboard!

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One might find it odd that three people all missed their flights out of Las Vegas, have no recollection of the night prior and are now stuck in Sin City but that’s what has happened. To make things worse, one bright individual has a dead cellular phone, no charger, no watch and no flight until Thursday unless bouncing around the country. Guess who that is?

Of course how would one get themselves into that kind of situation deserves some clear thought and sharing of photos which will come soon - until then just know that sometime in the next couple days I will get back home.

I just wanted to take a moment to wish you all happy holidays this season.

No Travis, the lights aren’t burned out - you just keep missing our “show.” But, just to be nice I thought I would share with the world a couple photos of the snowfall this evening, and our festive Christmas display. If you know me at all, you’ll know that this is huge - I’d normally hang an ornament on a coathanger and calll it good - j/k. - Enjoy.

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It took me nearly a year but given the addition of my new roommate (fiancee), I was forced to move my home office into a spare room. Earlier in the year, the Missoulian, published an article titled “Long Road Home” (2/12/2005) and in it, they displayed a picture of this room with boxes strewn about. I’m pleased to announce I finally unpacked!

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My former colleague, travel buddy and fellow nerd, Rich Schwarz, wed his bride Anna this October. I flew to Charlotte, NC to attend the festivities and also enjoy a little of “the South” during NASCAR weekend. The wedding was in Concord, on race day, and downtown Charlotte was hopping each night.

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