Open like yo Moms.
April 30, 2006
I work for a Marine Insurance Underwriting company. I don’t really feel like going into what our role is, but just know we deal with insurance for boats.
Part of the Patriot Act states that when a policy is being created or is up for renewal, we must check the insured’s name against the OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control), which basically means that if you are Cuban or linked to a terrorist organization, we can’t insure you.
Anyways, as a result of the last AAMGA Open Source round-table discussion (I didn’t attend – how did I miss that?), a new site/forum has been set up primarly for us IT guys in the insurance industry. One company has pretty much spear-headed the initiative, and as soon as I heard about this, I went to the powers-that-be, and told them what I wanted to do.
About a year ago, I wrote a quick little web-based app to download the OFAC database from the US Treasury Dept. and input it into a MySQL database so that my users can search it. Wrote the app in an afternoon, both saving us a bunch of money (by not buying ignorantly priced software) and making us OFAC/Patriot Act compliant.
Over the past few days, I’ve been going back over it as I have time, cleaning it up and prepping it. I registered a project (still pending dammit – hurry up) at sourceforge called openOFAC. As soon as I can, I’ll be uploading my files to the repository and sending the guys over at insuranceITpro.com a link to the app, establishing our company early on as a progressive and open-source friendly company.
The last line of the previous sentence sounded like media spin, didn’t it?
We use the following major open source apps as major backbones of our business, I figured it’s time to give something back: PHP, MySQL, Apache, Gentoo Linux, Samba, openLDAP, openSSL, openSSH, Rsync, openVPN, and Firefox/Thunderbird, just to name a few.
Lawd, I’ll be in that number…
April 21, 2006
Just got my Saints season tickets. Will be sitting with Jonah, Sonny, Jude, Chris, and others.
Section 630, Row 8, Seat 8. We’re gonna have us some fun.
Who Dat?
Shoot me. Please.
April 19, 2006
I have one of my users’ computers in my office, as it seemed to completely bork yesterday. Nothing like the Three R’s of Microsoft (Reboot, Reformat, Reinstall), right?
Anyways, her tower is currently in my office, down the hall from hers. I’m running 47 critical/serious patches right now, and doing a general reinstall. Let me re-iterate the fact that her tower is in my office, not hers.
She buzzes on the intercom to inform me that her computer won’t turn on.
…
I really wish I was making this up.
Christopher Miller Bozeman
April 13, 2006
It is with profound sadness that the death of Christopher Miller Bozeman is recorded. Chris passed away on March 29, 2006, at his home in New Orleans. He was 30 years of age. Born in New Orleans on August 26, 1975, he was reared in Houston, Texas, and lived a number of adult years in Austin, Texas. He returned to New Orleans in 2001 to make his home. As a landscaper, a creator of beautiful gardens, and a lover of all plant life, Chris’ caring, kind and loving spirit was manifest in his life through his work. He was a son of William Miller and Diane Bonnet Bozeman, brother of Bridget Bozeman McKinney and Timothy Bozeman, brother-in-law of Dan McKinney and Jennifer Bozeman and an uncle of Lillian Marie Bozeman. He was a grandson of Lucy Dee Bozeman-Jackson and the late Travis D. Bozeman, Sr., and Audrey Bonnet and the late Harry Bonnet. He is also survived by a host of loving aunts, uncles and cousins. Relatives and friends are invited to attend a Memorial and a Celebration of Life Service at Longue Vue Gardens, #7 Bamboo Road, New Orleans, on Saturday, April 22, 2006, at 11:00 am. A Memorial Garden has been established in Chris’s name at Longue Vue Gardens. Contributions may be made via mail or online at www.longuevue.com.
Copied from nola.com.
Sypmathy Pains
April 10, 2006
So, an otherwise good weekend (and what looks to be a similar week) is shadowed by crap.
Today, I’ve been having odd shots of pain / spasms running up and down my left arm. My friend Chris (not Rose’s boyfriend, the cyclist) died the other week, and up until this weekend, we (Sonny, Lara, Tara, myself, etc.) were never really sure it was our Chris. Initially we heard it was a heart attack in his sleep. Now, we aren’t even sure of that. All we know is that he was our friend, and a good guy.
I just want more information. He was only 32, in decent shape, and was drug free. He is still on ice, and as far as I know, there are not yet plans for burial / memorial services outside of me suddenly drinking more Anchor Steam beer. It has us weirded out, as evidenced by my sympathy pains and Lara really not wanting to talk about it.
I’ll divulge more info on a guy that 99.99% of you guys don’t know when I get it.
Seventh Season Stretch
April 10, 2006
I just wrapped up the 6th season of the West Wing this weekend, after a month-long hiatus. In anticipation, I have already downloaded 5 or 6 episodes via bittorrent (and I’m about to grab some more), to catch me up to the the close of this final, 7th season.
Damn you Dave and Belen for getting me into this show.
Shake it like a Polaroid picture
April 7, 2006
I ran across Jowlers.com somehow yesterday, and couldn’t stop clicking. This lead me to of course get out my camera and make my own, and submit one.
Here are three that I took:
<Ernest>Knowhaddimean, Verne?</Ernest>
I’ll have to work on my technique when I don’t have a headache.
For best results, use a flash kiddies. Please post up pics and/or send me a link if y’all do any.
Praclarush Taonas
April 5, 2006
So, it looks like we may have to rename New Orleans to New Atlantis. Brings a whole new meaning to the term “Deep South”. Yeah, that was bad. Sorry.
And to think, we’ve always joked about it would be San Francisco that would end up falling into the ocean.
I sent that link to Jonah on Monday, and I present unto you, my dear reader, the subsequent aim conversation:
Jonah: ever get the feeling someone is trying to tell you something?
Jonah: crazy
Me: yup
Jonah: fuck
Me: beer makes that voice go away
Jonah: ha
Jonah: until you slide into the Gulf
Me: i got some kick-ass my little pony floaties, brah.
Jonah: ha
Jonah: keep your friends close and your ice chest closer
Jonah: just in case
I almost didn’t want to put this more out there (you know, just more ammo for the Let’s-Not-Rebuild-New-Orleans argument), but damn. Smoke ‘em while you got ‘em, I reckon.