helping to focus


What We Do

At O'Boise S&S, we offer a variety of custom consulting solutions, including Business Analysis, Project Management, Application Integration and Cost Management, offering custom developed and integrated solutions for PC, Web and Mobile.

Currently, check out our annual fundraiser, the Guest Bartender for Multiple Sclerosis, now in it's 20th year with just under fifty thousand dollars raised in an hour and a half a year.

See our fundraiser for MS! »

Contact Us

O'Boise Systems and Services, llc
Fort Collins, CO 80524

MS, a perspective

MS: It Isn't Just a Software Company
The residents of Silicon Valley are more confused than usual after a billboard campaign by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society of America used this line in an ad slogan:"MS: It's not a software company." , exploiting the fame of a certain company to draw attention to an altogether worthier cause. Requests to comment on the campaign have been met by a surly silence by Microsoft which does not relish the association of ideas, but is painfully aware that it can' t afford to appear insensitive over such an issue.
Seasoned IT professionals, however, will have no trouble telling the two MS's apart: One is a debilitating and surprisingly widespread affliction that renders the sufferer barely able to perform the simplest task. The other is a disease.

In reality, however, Multiple Sclerosis is not a joke. This may strike many who know me as ironic, considering how many jokes I crack about my "MS Moments,"  but MS is a serious problem. Currently, Colorado has one of the highest incidences in the world, so if you're here, you've probably know someone who has MS. Actually, nationwide at the time I'm writing this a third of a million people in the US have MS, with about 200 people a week diagnosed. The really scary part is that many doctors believe there are many millions more that have MS, and just haven't been diagnosed, thinking their symptoms are just nerves, overwork, or stress.

Personally, it started with numbness in the hands for me after getting back from a long road trip. The doctors I went to thought it was from a pair of Brown Recluse bites that I'd received at the old house. Luckily for me, I switched to a family practioner, whose mother, I learned later on, had MS. My new doctor caught my symptoms early on, got me MRI'd and Spinal Tapped, and found out that mine went to eleven. C'est la merde. Now I've gone from the drop-foot shuffle and a cane to a wheelchair, which was and is aharsh djustment. But all in all, life could be much worse. As I keep telling people, if you can't find something funny in life, you're not looking hard enough. The hardest part for me was having to stop doing house calls for my business, and switching over to "Drag-and-Drop" computer repair, but life is all about change and adaptation.

As for anyone who's recently been diagnosed, or whose dealing with someone whose been diagnosed, I can't recommend the following book by David Landers enough for a lighter side of dealing with MS. The book is titled "Fall Down Laughing; How Squiggy got MS and didn't tell nobody." If anyone remembers Laverne and Shirley, David Landers played Squiggy, the greasy looking one. He got diagnosed with MS at a time when people were fairly unsure what MS could do to your life, or in his case his career. His solution initially was to convince everyone he was an alcoholic, as the symptoms were similar but you could still get work. To be honest, sometimes it's easier, especially considering how many times I've heard people behind my back talking about "that shameful drunk" when I was sober and mostly bipedal. Again, c'est la merde.


What's Going On?

Come on down, and raise a glass with friends for a good cause. It's time for our Twentieth Annual Guest Bartender for Multiple Sclerosis at Lucky Joes in Old Town Square, Fort Collins.

Like more info? Check out our new site at MSGuest.com!!

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