[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":182},["ShallowReactive",2],{"page:about":3},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"date":166,"description":167,"extension":168,"kicker":169,"meta":170,"navigation":171,"oldUrl":172,"path":173,"portrait":174,"portraitAlt":175,"seo":176,"site":177,"slug":178,"stem":179,"updated":180,"__hash__":181},"pages\u002Fpages\u002Ftechcolumnist\u002Fabout.md","About Tom Lasswell",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":156},"minimark",[9,14,19,23,45,53,57,60,67,70,74,78,82,85,88,92,133,137],[10,11],"facts",{":items":12,"title":13},"[[\"name\",\"Tom Lasswell\"],[\"role\",\"Director of IT, DC BLOX · board, Atlanta Technology Professionals\"],[\"location\",\"Marietta, GA\"],[\"writing since\",\"2007\"],[\"daily driver\",\"Omarchy (Arch + Hyprland)\"],[\"github\",\"[github.com\u002Flasswellt](https:\u002F\u002Fgithub.com\u002Flasswellt)\"],[\"newsletter\",\"[Insights at the Intersection](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.linkedin.com\u002Fin\u002Flasswellt\u002F)\"],[\"linkedin\",\"[in\u002Flasswellt](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.linkedin.com\u002Fin\u002Flasswellt\u002F)\"],[\"email\",\"[tom@lasswell.me](mailto:tom@lasswell.me)\"]]","whoami",[15,16,18],"h2",{"id":17},"cat-readmemd","$ cat README.md",[20,21,22],"p",{},"TechColumnist started in 2007 as a place to keep the answers I kept having to look up twice. It is still that. Most posts here are field notes: a PowerShell script that saved a weekend, a NetApp procedure that the docs described badly, a storage or virtualization gotcha that cost real hours. If a post gets you to a working answer faster than a vendor KB would, it did its job.",[20,24,25,26,30,31,38,39,44],{},"The tagline, ",[27,28,29],"em",{},"Directives from a Director",", dates from when I first ran an engineering division. These days I run IT for a data center operator, but the site has stayed hands-on on purpose. Longer essays on leadership and service management moved to ",[32,33,37],"a",{"href":34,"rel":35},"https:\u002F\u002Flasswell.me\u002F",[36],"nofollow","lasswell.me","; this site is for the terminal. The full profile, career history and board work live on ",[32,40,43],{"href":41,"rel":42},"https:\u002F\u002Flasswell.me\u002Fabout\u002F",[36],"lasswell.me\u002Fabout",".",[46,47,50],"callout",{"title":48,"type":49},"disclaimer.txt","warning",[20,51,52],{},"Personal site. Opinions are mine and not my employer's. Scripts are provided as-is; read them before you run them, and test somewhere that is not production.",[15,54,56],{"id":55},"git-log-reverse-head","$ git log --reverse | head",[20,58,59],{},"My dad wrote the best summary of how this started, as a LinkedIn recommendation years ago:",[61,62,64],"pullquote",{"cite":63},"Thomas E. Lasswell",[20,65,66],{},"In 1990, Thomas got his first computer, an IBM PC. He was six at the time. He used it for a few days, then I walked past his room and found the computer in pieces on his bed. I asked him why and he replied it was too slow. By that afternoon he had it back together and benchmarking better than before. I have no idea what he changed.",[20,68,69],{},"The rest followed the same pattern: wiring a middle school for its first computers, building overclocked water-cooled PCs in high school, and a five-year co-op degree at Wentworth that alternated classes with real jobs. I have been the person who takes the machine apart ever since.",[15,71,73],{"id":72},"history-grep-career","$ history | grep career",[75,76],"timeline",{":items":77},"[{\"when\":\"2025 – now\",\"org\":\"DC BLOX\",\"role\":\"Director, IT\",\"note\":\"Enterprise IT for a Southeast data center and connectivity operator. Automation, resilience, and a lot of infrastructure-as-code.\"},{\"when\":\"2026 – now\",\"org\":\"Atlanta Technology Professionals\",\"role\":\"Board, Director of Technology\"},{\"when\":\"2023 – 2025\",\"org\":\"Edible Brands\",\"role\":\"Sr. Director, IT Infrastructure & Services\",\"note\":\"Cloud-native Azure, DevOps pipelines, Zero Trust, unified observability.\"},{\"when\":\"2018 – 2023\",\"org\":\"Cortavo\",\"role\":\"VP, IT Operations\",\"note\":\"Built an MSP from scratch: Autotask, RMM, Intune, VMware, DaaS.\"},{\"when\":\"2013 – 2018\",\"org\":\"ivision\",\"role\":\"Architect → Director, Engineering & Support\",\"note\":\"60+ person team across NOC, engineering, architecture and service desk. Autotask and LogicMonitor.\"},{\"when\":\"2011 – 2013\",\"org\":\"CDW\",\"role\":\"Systems Engineer, NetApp\",\"note\":\"100k+ air miles a year. ONTAP upgrades, FAS controller swaps, Brocade and Cisco fabric, FlexPod.\"},{\"when\":\"2005 – 2011\",\"org\":\"CBS Corporation\",\"role\":\"Technical Engineer → Sr. Engineer → Manager, Infrastructure Engineering\",\"note\":\"Los Angeles. SMS 2003 rollout, desktop standards, NetApp, 3PAR, Brocade, cross-country data centers.\"},{\"when\":\"2003 – 2005\",\"org\":\"Bain & Company, EZE Castle Integration, contracts\",\"role\":\"Jr. Engineer, co-op\",\"note\":\"Ghost imaging, Windows Server 2003 and Exchange 2003 on PowerEdge and ProLiant, hedge-fund trading desks.\"},{\"when\":\"1999 – 2002\",\"org\":\"Computers NLA, Carson, CA\",\"role\":\"Computer Technician\",\"note\":\"The high-school job. Custom Intel and AMD builds, small networks, counter service.\"}]",[15,79,81],{"id":80},"uname-a","$ uname -a",[20,83,84],{},"Work stack, in rough order of how much of my life it has consumed: NetApp and SAN\u002FNAS storage, VMware, Windows Server and Hyper-V, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Cisco UCS, PowerShell, ITIL-shaped service management, CI\u002FCD pipelines, and lately Copilot and other AI tooling wired into all of the above.",[20,86,87],{},"Education: B.S. Computer Engineering Technology and A.A.S. Electronic Engineering Technology from Wentworth Institute of Technology; Executive MBA from Kennesaw State (Beta Gamma Sigma); currently in the Chief Information and Digital Officer certificate program at Carnegie Mellon's Heinz College. Certs that still matter: ITIL Foundation, LogicMonitor Certified Professional.",[15,89,91],{"id":90},"ls-projects","$ ls ~\u002Fprojects",[93,94,95,115,121,127],"ul",{},[96,97,98,102,103,108,109,114],"li",{},[99,100,101],"strong",{},"Home Assistant integrations."," Custom components published on GitHub, including ",[32,104,107],{"href":105,"rel":106},"https:\u002F\u002Fgithub.com\u002Flasswellt\u002Fgovee-homeassistant",[36],"govee-homeassistant"," and ",[32,110,113],{"href":111,"rel":112},"https:\u002F\u002Fgithub.com\u002Flasswellt\u002Fnavien-homeassistant",[36],"navien-homeassistant",", plus a house full of MQTT, Shelly, Flair vents and a Carrier Infinity system that all talk to each other.",[96,116,117,120],{},[99,118,119],{},"WLED architectural lighting."," Custom builds on 24V COB RGBW strip in stainless U-channel. More precision than the job requires, which is the point.",[96,122,123,126],{},[99,124,125],{},"membrik."," A personal software project that I will write about when it is further along. It currently pages me more than production does.",[96,128,129,132],{},[99,130,131],{},"This site."," Nuxt Content on Firebase, migrated off WordPress in 2026 after nineteen years. The migration notes are a series in progress.",[15,134,136],{"id":135},"ping-tom","$ ping tom",[20,138,139,143,144,149,150,155],{},[32,140,142],{"href":141},"mailto:tom@lasswell.me","tom@lasswell.me"," or ",[32,145,148],{"href":146,"rel":147},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.linkedin.com\u002Fin\u002Flasswellt\u002F",[36],"LinkedIn"," are the reliable routes. ",[32,151,154],{"href":152,"rel":153},"https:\u002F\u002Ftwitter.com\u002FTomLasswell",[36],"X"," for shorter things. If a script here saved you an afternoon, or broke something and you fixed it, I want to know either way.",{"title":157,"searchDepth":158,"depth":158,"links":159},"",2,[160,161,162,163,164,165],{"id":17,"depth":158,"text":18},{"id":55,"depth":158,"text":56},{"id":72,"depth":158,"text":73},{"id":80,"depth":158,"text":81},{"id":90,"depth":158,"text":91},{"id":135,"depth":158,"text":136},"2007-10-18T00:08:27Z","Tom Lasswell, Director of IT at DC BLOX in Atlanta, has written TechColumnist since 2007 about PowerShell, NetApp, VMware and running IT teams.","md",null,{},true,"\u002Fabout\u002F","\u002Fpages\u002Ftechcolumnist\u002Fabout","\u002Fuploads\u002Fabout\u002Ftom-lasswell-datacenter.jpg","Tom Lasswell in a DC BLOX data center, hard hat and high-vis",{"title":5,"description":167},"techcolumnist","about","pages\u002Ftechcolumnist\u002Fabout","2026-09-21T00:00:00Z","omMouUgbsWDgrNWhBKuP7XSfyVYJLKv5gByZ2Eqyh0M",1790223964367]