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Doug Theis

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How an Adventure Race Works

Many of my friends have asked me how an adventure race works. Here’s a description of adventure racing and a recap of an adventure race that my team and I completed last weekend. Adventure racing is a team event that combines road/mountain biking, canoeing, trail running/hiking, orienteering/navigation, rope work and surprise mystery events. Teams consist of three: coed, all male and female. All team members must start and finish together, covering the entire course together. The actual distanc… Continue

Added by Doug Theis on September 25, 2009 at 2:45pm — 3 Comments

The Chain Continues: 7 Things about Doug Theis

In the spirit of an insidious chain letter, I got tagged by Rae Kridel, who requested I contribute to this 7 Things continuum. So here are seven things about me, Doug Theis: 1. I’m a tail end baby boomer – born to the son of a poor Minneapolis immigrant family and the daughter of a successful northwest Florida farmer. My parents met during World War II. I have one sister who's 13 years older than I am. That's old. 2. I’m an Indiana state high school soccer champ – I played for Heritage Christi… Continue

Added by Doug Theis on January 22, 2009 at 11:00am — 1 Comment

Smaller Indiana helps dog find new home

A few weeks ago my family and I had to make the tough decision to put one of our long-time pets down. Our cat George had become sick and there was no hope. While it was a sad, it was time, and it was the only humane thing to do. Shortly thereafter, Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler, blogged on Smaller Indiana that his dog, a seven year old female black Lab mix named Bailey, needed a new home. Scott was moving t… Continue

Added by Doug Theis on December 1, 2008 at 6:04pm — 4 Comments

Why I Love Adventure Racing

About ten years ago, one of my running buddies, Leslie Shafer (now Thompson) told me about a race her boyfriend had done the previous year. He and a team of three others raced together through a course on foot, in canoes, and on bikes for about four hours. They didn’t kno… Continue

Added by Doug Theis on November 4, 2008 at 9:00pm — 11 Comments

Requiem for our cat George

Back in 1995 when my children were 6 and 4, an old friend, Mark Graham, gave my family a couple of cats that were part of the same litter. Both cats where white; one had long hair and one had short hair. Jimmy, our oldest, and Emily our youngest child, were both very excited. We brought our new cats home, and when we arrived at our house, we let them out to explore. The long haired cat started investigating the building, and I commented that it was curious. Jimmy immediately said “Curious George… Continue

Added by Doug Theis on November 2, 2008 at 6:30am — 6 Comments

The transformation of Eastgate Mall by Lifeline Data Centers

Thanks to all for the e-mails, notes and phone calls of congratulations regarding Lifeline's new data center and office facility in the former Eastgate mall. We've received national press coverage in IT and real estate publications. Interest is high. Work progresses well as we have removed about 10 40-ton dumpsters of trash with another 20 or so dumpsters to go. Job one is converting the old Burlington Coat Factory into hardened computer room facilities. We will have that data center space avai… Continue

Added by Doug Theis on May 28, 2008 at 8:30am — No Comments

Lifeline Data Centers completes purchase of the Eastgate Consumer Mall

Indianapolis, Indiana - Lifeline Data Centers announced today the completion of the purchase of the former Eastgate Consumer Mall in Indianapolis. Lifeline will transform the 40-acre, 370,000 square foot former retail mall into 450,000 square feet of data center space supported by 200,000 square feet of office space. The acquisition is a partnership between the principles of Lifeline Data Centers and Marvin Slomowitz, President of Mark Development in Kingston, PA. Alex Carroll, co-owner of Life… Continue

Added by Doug Theis on May 21, 2008 at 7:03am — 5 Comments

Is it still called selling?

Are you a salesperson? Is selling a good description of what you do? Many sellers and buyers still think that the act of selling is someone (the salesperson) trying to convince another person (the suspect, prospect, the probable purchaser) that they need whatever it is that the salesperson is selling. How do you define selling? Fifty years ago, a traveling salesperson was the only way probable purchasers heard of a product or a service. Buyers did not have the resources to investigate options.… Continue

Added by Doug Theis on May 11, 2008 at 7:30am — 3 Comments

Storage area networks - flexibility for small business

The never ending demand for storage has created a boon in the storage area network (SAN) market. SANs are becoming more affordable and widely used in small business IT environments. A SAN is usually an appliance that consists of many disk drives with built-in computer intelligence to allow for dividing the storage among multiple servers. Business benefits include allocating additional storage on-the-fly as more data is stored and easier protection through backup and recovery. The most common SA… Continue

Added by Doug Theis on April 29, 2008 at 11:13am — No Comments

Business strategy: flexibility in your IT solutions

What are your deciding factors when faced with multiple technology alternatives to solve a particular business problem? Is it the technology's effectiveness at solving the business problem? If 80% effective is good, then 90% is better. Is it cost? It may be the initial costs, the ongoing maintenance costs, or both. Is it brand name? Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM, EMC, Microsoft, etc. Is it the technology’s coolness factor? All of the big companies are doing it. Is it how the technology c… Continue

Added by Doug Theis on March 16, 2008 at 9:00am — No Comments

Don’t lose sleep over your critical computer systems

Do you depend on your computer systems to run your business? Do you use your web servers to directly generate sales? Do you rely on your computers to log customer service inquiries? Many companies cannot deliver their services or produce their products if their critical computer systems are down for more than a few hours. So how do you cope with the fact that you bet your business on your computer systems? Here are a few key points that can help business owners like you sleep better at night.… Continue

Added by Doug Theis on March 11, 2008 at 7:53pm — No Comments

Information Technology's dirty little secret - hidden electrical costs

The electricity required to maintain an in-house computer operation continues to increase. Yet in many businesses, the cost of the computer systems’ electrical power is not assigned to the Information Technology (IT) department. The accounts payable department often pays the electric bill without considering what percentage goes to lights, copiers, phones or computers. Decision makers in the finance and IT departments should consider this hidden cost of electricity when evaluating the overall c… Continue

Added by Doug Theis on March 7, 2008 at 7:30am — No Comments

40-30-30: A ratio for team success

A few years ago I read an article about success by one of the Fathers of Adventure Racing. The article was called 40-30-30: A Ratio for Racing Success. Robert Nagle, the 2002 Captain of Team Eco Internet, wrote the article to describe his beliefs on the ingredients and ratios for success in the sport of adventure racing. To provide a little background, adventure racing is a sport where co-ed teams participate in a number of disciplines that include mountain biking, hiking, paddling and r… Continue

Added by Doug Theis on March 4, 2008 at 11:00am — No Comments

Choosing "line of business" software

Today, most companies use word processing, spreadsheet and e-mail software applications to handle routine communications with vendors, clients and partners. This article is not about those productivity applications. This article is about your line of business software applications. Line of business software applications are the business specific applications that help you streamline your daily operations. If you’re a retailer, your line of business application is your point of sale (POS) applic… Continue

Added by Doug Theis on February 25, 2008 at 7:30am — 3 Comments

Tidy up your inbox with an RSS reader

I’m a news junkie. It’s one of the things I do to provide value to my clients. I aggregate and publish articles in a monthly e-mail news digest. I republish articles that cover subjects in which my clients have expressed interest. My sources include a number of news sites on the data center business, information technology strategy, the sales profession, networking and self improvement. Years ago I would visit a dozen different websites a day to keep up with all of this. Most of the news sites… Continue

Added by Doug Theis on February 21, 2008 at 11:30pm — 3 Comments

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