Stories

Here are some stories I’ve written:

Recent – Business and Technology

Federal Agencies Seek Data Center Stability – Fed Tech magazine (February 2011)
Vince May gets paid to worry. As a regional storage manager for the Veterans Affairs Department, it’s May’s job to protect the data that’s the lifeblood of several dozen healthcare facilities in VA Region 2. More

Recovery Efforts – State Tech magazine (January/February 2011)
When Phil Lowder came to Linn County, Iowa, as IT director in 2008, he expected to ease into the job during the first two weeks: He’d meet with county administrators and introduce himself to his IT staff. But a devastating flood that damaged county buildings and crippled the IT infrastructure changed those plans. More

Open Data Center Alliance Charts Future – Baseline magazine (December 2010)
A new industry consortium made up of IT managers is building a set of blueprints on how best to build and operate data centers and cloud infrastructures, and in doing so, its members hope to serve as a unified voice that drives the future direction of the technology. More

Going Global – Ed Tech: Higher Education magazine (January/February 2010)
Saint Louis University and its campus in Madrid, Spain, are separated by the Atlantic Ocean, two languages and disagreement on who makes the best tapas. But thanks to video conferencing, the IT and administrative staffs from both campuses work almost as closely as if they were in the same room. More

CalBusiness – UC-Berkeley Haas School of Business (Fall 2008)
Every Sunday during football season, Paraag Marathe feels partially responsible for whether the San Francisco 49ers win or lose. He doesn’t catch touchdown passes, kick field goals, or sack quarterbacks. But he signs the players who do. More

Sports

Book excerpt: “Giants: Where Have You Gone?”
Bob Brenly is having a rough week – and it’s about to get worse. His 2004 Arizona Diamondbacks are struggling with a 14-20 record and are mired in last place, eight and a half games behind the division-leading Dodgers. It’s only May 14, but the local media are already speculating his managerial job is in jeopardy. Ace Randy Johnson has made matters worse, first by publicly second-guessing him for pulling him from a 1-1 game in the seventh inning, a game the D-Backs later lost. Then yesterday, the southpaw flamethrower dissed the team after pitching brilliantly for the second time in a week, but still losing 1-0. More

Giants could learn from D-Backs’ rebuilding effort – San Jose Mercury News
Does this sound familiar? The team’s left fielder is the face of the franchise, the team’s slugger and once carried his team to the World Series. He’s near the end of his career and is a free agent, but he feels he can still play, wants to end his career at “home” and has publicly expressed his desire to do so. The team, however, is in the midst of a rebuilding effort and wants to get younger, so what does it do? In the case of the Arizona Diamondbacks, they cut Luis Gonzalez loose at the end of last year and committed to a full youth movement by deciding to let unproven rookies and second-year players play everyday, and they’ve been rewarded this year with an 81-63 record and a three-game lead in the NL West with 18 games to play. More

Giants fans head to the ballpark to watch… Warriors basketball – San Jose Mercury News
Last Thursday night, it’s cold and rainy, and I’m shivering in my seat when the crowd begins cheering for no apparent reason. I look at the field, at the scoreboard, and back on the field – and nothing is happening. A few seconds later, the crowd roars again. It’s around the seventh inning, the Giants are down two runs, and the few thousand diehard fans remaining in their seats on this dreary night aren’t even clapping. And then I realize: The booming cheers – that even players on the field could hear – are coming from inside the ballpark, where Giants fans are watching playoff hoops on TV. More