Hello (again) World!
24 August 2026I walked away from blogging on July 4, 2008. Eighteen years and around 190 recovered posts later, the seed is back in the ground.
Life
The everyday stuff — family, getting older, and whatever I was chewing on that week.
One Man Submarine Ride
2 January 2026Six weeks after being laid off at 61, I hadn't sent a single résumé. I'd been building. The honest version, and where the name SubmarineTest comes from.
The Lookout
4 July 2008The Lookout While returning from a venture to Kapa’a to escape the rain, Suzanne made a snap decision to pull over to check out a shop as we were entering Hanalei. In a neighboring shop, we found a Kim McDonald...
Quarterly Update
10 February 2008Suzanne has been making fun of me for not blogging after posing the question: does anyone read this anymore? In that post, I believe I alluded to writing a bit more. And then promptly I disappeared for several months. What...
Does anyone still read this?
2 November 2007I have been told by many that I need to blog more. I’ll admit I go through spurts where I write a lot and then go dark, so right as I reclaim some readership, I leave them high-and-dry. What can...
Travel advisory for Buffalo…
9 October 2007I was thinking to myself there was something funny to say about last night’s Dallas vs. Buffalo football tilt. Through all 60 minutes of the game, Dallas never led — but they won. Yes, that’s true. The clock hit 00:00...
Enjoying Life on the DirecTV “A-List”
7 June 2007In March I finally decided to go proactive with getting HD into my home theater through the satellite dish. My indoor antenna just wasn’t working — it didn’t work for most local channels and for those it did, I nearly...
Touring the Pearl Harbor Memorial
2 June 2007Pearl Harbor Memorial You are made to check out of your rental home at 10am which can often leave you at loose ends on your last day. In the past, Suzanne and I have not used these days very well...
Suzanne & Handbags…
29 May 2007Suzanne with Handbag purchases Prior to our 2006 trip to Kauai, Suzanne had discovered Denise Tjarks through this San Francisco Chronicle article. I think she actually found the article through a link on one of the Kauai blogs that we...
A River House
20 May 2007The River House We are staying at A River House in Haena on Kauai. That’s its name, but we are calling it “the” River House. This is a new find for us made out of necessity since the place we...
Times Like These…
19 May 2007Mini-Falls It’s times like these you learn to live again It’s times like these you give and give again It’s times like these you learn to love again It’s times like these time and time again I am a new...
We’re Unemployed!
15 May 2007This goes in the we-do-everything-together category. In early April, I was notified by Nokia that I was being laid off. In February, there was a meeting called suddenly on the day after Valentine’s Day to notify all those in the...
Mending Fences (Not)
29 March 2007On February 24th, we had a strangely windy day which made Dallas resemble Lubbock — very dusty and hazy. As a result of the wind that day, our neighbors had their fence nearly blow down. In the days and weeks...
Sweet Sixteen!
17 March 2007Penn. Louisville. Watching the NCAA Tournament when you are a die-hard Aggie fan is like having an ice cream headache. You look forward to the games, you crave them, but then when its crunch-time, your head aches till its over. ...
Couples Training…
6 February 2007Suzanne has joined me in my training sessions the past five weeks and its been a blast. Between the two of us and our trainer, there are lots of laughs, good stories, and definitely some hard work. She should be...
Christmas Kitty
10 December 2006Christmas Kitty Suzanne and I each had extended gift-wrapping sessions today. Autumn couldn’t help but be a curious and mischievous kitty all throughout. So it wasn’t surprising that her busy day ended up with her curled up amongst the new...
UCLA defeats A&M; Too many mistakes
9 December 2006Well, my hopes for a 1-1 road trip against two of last year’s Final Four were dashed this afternoon. The Aggies lost 65-62, but blew a chance to tie the game in the final minute. This was the first ever...
LSU defeats A&M; UCLA awaits…
6 December 2006Thanks to the FSSW network, the A&M vs. LSU game was available in its entirety last night. This was the first opportunity I’ve had to watch my team play. Unfortunately, the results was a disappointing 12 point loss. My observations:...
Progress Report: 1 month with a Personal Trainer
4 December 2006My lovely wife gave me the gift of 10 sessions with a personal trainer for my birthday. I’ve now completed those 10 sessions and have some positive results to report. First, let me say that I was a bit fearful...
While you weren’t looking…
6 November 2006…I’ve been upgrading my site. If you are reading this within a feed reader, you’ll notice absolutely nothing. However, if you’d like to click on over to my site, you’ll see a few new things. To begin with, I discarded...
No joy…
6 November 2006Mavericks 0-3 on the young season. Someone please explain what’s wrong with this team. Aggies lose to Oklahoma by a single point. If only Franchione were as brave as Stoopes. Cowboys lose to the Redskins in the weirdest ending I’ve...
In Training
6 November 2006Consider what you might think if your wife gives you ten sessions with a personal trainer for your birthday. Do you wonder if she thinks you are out of shape? As in, is this some kind of message?! Well, this...
Weekend in Gruene
22 October 2006My gift to Suzanne for our first anniversary was a weekend’s stay at a bed and breakfast in Gruene (pronounced green), Texas. Gruene is a little German town located near New Braunfels — which is 30 miles northeast of San...
Forgive me Father for I have sinned…
10 July 2006You are wondering where I’ve been, no? As of Monday morning at 1:30am, I completed my 80+ hour work week which included a joyful tour of duty on Independence Day. There’s something ironic about that. But alas, I need to...
When is a gift not a gift?
28 June 2006Speaking purely hypothetically, of course. An employee is gifted an item from his / her company. The item is received with no guidelines, advisements, or paperwork; it is mentioned that it is for personal use. The item also happens to...
Work Rewards, but…
20 June 2006Yesterday a meeting was called and a select few of my team members were invited. The meeting was billed as a refocusing meeting. In that meeting our deadline was extended one week. So now they want to go live on...
From Buzz to Fizzle…
15 June 2006In the weeks prior to my vacation, I worked on average 55 hours per week. In the week before I left, I worked 72 hours. I don’t mind working, but I must believe in the cause and I must feel...
Picture Framing
10 June 2006Cliffs from Honopu Ridge Today we are taking two of our favorite pictures from our recent Kauai trip to get 5×7s of them. We have a series of these types of pictures and are adding to the collection. This picture...
I’m Cybersquatting!
6 June 2006For those who don’t know what the term means, check out the definition at Wikipedia. But even as you read the definition, realize that the term doesn’t quite describe what’s going on here. Here’s the story. When Suzanne and I...
Are you kidding me? The Saturn Sky.
5 June 2006In the Nokia parking lot, I saw a black Saturn Sky; a roadster from Saturn! I’ve been driving my car, also a roadster, for 6 1/2 years and I don’t have car envy, but I had to do a double-take...
Reintegrating…
27 May 2006As of about 6:30am today, we are back in Dallas.
Paydirt!
21 May 2006Me on the beach… Or should I say “sand!” We had a full day of sun and thus a full day on the beach. So now I know it pays to broadcast our plight to the blogosphere in hopes for...
Rain Continues…
20 May 2006Kauai Rain Its really a good thing that the two of us are mostly just happy to be away from Dallas and happy to be in Kauai no matter what the circumstances. A couple of days ago, I started to...
Wednesday Review
19 May 2006It is well-known that the north side of the island of Kauai gets more rain, but we are getting it almost every day. This has made it somewhat challenging to get sustained sunshine on any of the northern beaches. As...
Flickr Pics
14 May 2006In case anyone is interested, we are collecting a set of pictures on Flickr at this address: http://www.flickr.com/photos/billeisenhauer/sets/72057594134652801/ Or you can return to this post to see the three most recent pictures: #flickr_badge_source_txt {padding:0; font: 11px Arial, Helvetica, Sans serif;...
Tax Troubles
8 April 2006Without going into the details, let me just say that the IRS and I have a disagreement on my 2003 tax return. Its a minor one, really, but the experience is frustrating me. The process began with a "Note of...
Jury Duty…
8 April 2006I started the week by reporting for jury duty promptly at 8am on Monday. Well, perhaps not so promptly as a wreck caused me to be 15 minutes late. No worries, after reporting in, I sat for 2.5 hours until...
In a funk at work…
23 March 2006I have just about hit a career low in terms of how I have felt about my work. Ideally, you want to do meaningful work that is interesting and have some fun doing it. Unfortunately, it seems the environment I...
Who can beat them?
22 March 2006Its no wonder my Aggies couldn’t beat Texas. Just look closely at the picture to see their defensive secret weapon! </p>
Lowe’s Customer (Un)service
22 March 2006Suzanne and I continue to add refinements to our house — its Extreme Makeover: Married Edition! So the latest project is getting new countertops. As we were disappointed by Home Depot in our island installation, we decided to try Lowe’s. ...
King of the Rain
19 March 2006Having a Counting Crows kinda weekend here in Dallas.
Stay Sober in Irving Bars!
18 March 2006This story from last weekend: Irving police have taken their fight against drunken driving to a new level. Irving officers and state agents targeted 36 bars and clubs Friday and arrested some allegedly intoxicated patrons before they departed the businesses....
CBS needs to get a clue
18 March 2006This may sound like sour grapes since I’m in a foul mood from the Aggie loss, but I feel I must publicly criticize CBS for its broadcast coverage of this game today. In the Dallas market, no other game is...
More things I wonder about…
11 March 2006I started noting things I wonder about here. Here are a couple more: Wondering about the term "meteoric rise." The term is used to describe a dramatic upswing and yet all meteors do is fall quickly to the ground and...
The Four-Way Stop
7 March 2006I don’t know how it came up, but Suzanne and I have discovered that we have two very firm, but different beliefs on how a four-way stop is navigated. These are such long-held beliefs that even if we find out...
Playing the game of Life
4 March 2006Two years ago when I was still single and unattached, a Friday night usually entailed an evening out at a bar drinking a lot of beer. Two years later and married and things are much different. Last night, out of...
You know you work in Corporate IT when…
28 February 2006You attend 3 1/2 hours of meeting in the first half of the day and management wonders why deadlines aren’t being met. You are asked to build an application, but provided no requirements or testing community. And technical resources who...
Compass Bank Sucks
28 February 2006I have long realized that most every post on this blog tends to be negative or whiny in nature. I think its really just therapeutic for me to write about things to get them off my chest. If you want...
Unfortunate Car Trouble…
27 February 2006I had a strange car trouble episode today. It started as I arrived at work today at 8am. Like always, I got out of my car and used my keyless remote to lock the car. But as I did so,...
Things I wonder about…
27 February 2006I have things I wonder about and mean to post, but always seems to forget them. Here are two: Why does my printer (HP OfficeJet v40) print pages from first to last? The result of this is that the first...
Lowe’s and Home Depot Frustrations
11 February 2006With the marriage now approaching the completion of its sixth month, we’ve been busy nesting. In doing so, we’ve been adding to the kitchen. We contracted with Home Depot to install an island. And now we’re contracting with Lowe’s to...
Our Christmas Tree
4 December 2005This is a post mostly directed at my Mother who requested a picture of our Christmas Tree — a tree with a couple of ornaments she gave us. I should say that this is the first tree I’ve had since...
Christmas Gifts…
4 December 2005When I added Suzanne to my life, it was a package deal. Coming with her was a 3-year-old cat which Suzanne rescued from a shelter two years ago. I’ve never really been a cat person and in fact, I’ve always...
Miscellaneous Stuff
28 November 2005Today we went to see "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire". This is now the second Harry Potter movie that I’ve seen without having read the corresponding book. I managed to read the first two books, so I had...
Thanksgiving Review
27 November 2005For our first Thanksgiving together, Suzanne and I invited my parents up from San Antonio to enjoy the Holiday with us. Our not-so-hidden agenda was to send my old sofa back home with them and thus clear out space in...
Everything Zen…
22 October 2005A rare post on music. I was a big fan of the band Bush in the mid and late ’90s. I hated to see them break up as I really liked their music. However, Gavin Rossdale (the leader singer of...
SOA 2.0…
3 October 2005With all the talk about Web 2.0 on the blogosphere this week, I thought this post talking about SOA 2.0 might be interesting reading to the techies out there. My favorite possibility is “uncontrolled reuse”…
Green with envy…
3 October 2005Check out this site. I’m sure he’ll appreciate the trackback, but he certainly doesn’t need it. The site sells advertising pixels in blocks of 100 and each pixel sells for $1. So far he’s made a quarter of a million. ...
More Bathroom Humor…
1 October 2005Two more incidents happened this week…surpisingly in the same “session”: Sitting in the stall, but someone else is occupying the stall next to me. He does an “incremental flush!” I had seen this done at the urinal, but never while...
Dental Phobia
28 September 2005Writing here has ground to a halt as I deal with the after-effects of two crown preps. Alas, I’m not blessed with healthy teeth. And to make matters worse, I’m not very diligent about ensuring their health. Yes, I have...
Sign of the times…
21 September 2005www.ritarelief.org Looks like we’re preparing well in advance on all fronts. That said, their web page does appear to be registered by someone wishing to ward off the scam artists of the world. Its early, but I fear we may...
Happy as a clam?!
20 September 2005I uttered the phrase "happy as a clam" the other day and then wondered what I had just said. Suzanne and I began to wonder how the phrase came to be. After all, when you are a clam, it seems...
Chic-Fil-A’s domain name
20 September 2005If you perform a search on chicfila.com on Yahoo, my Chic-Fil-A and Ketchup post is tops on Yahoo’s list. You can try the search here. So it had me wondering if they had a website at all. Turns out its...
Bathroom Behavior…
13 September 2005Nothing entertains me more than bathroom behaviour gone awry. This post is for the men since those bathrooms are the only ones I have experience with. Would someone please explain the following odd behaviors to me? Washing your hands before...
Think Big, Act Small
12 September 2005I am about to start a new book called Think Big, Act Small by Jason Jennings. I am hoping this book will affirm a long-held belief of mine that big companies should adopt elements of the startup business culture to...
Hitched!
30 August 2005What a day! Getting married in Kauai was supposed to be without the usual stress of a big mainland wedding. However, just as I was closing up yesterday’s relaxed weblog, the weather turned South. We figured the only thing that...
Marital Bliss Awaits…
23 August 2005I’ve been admonished for not posting with such a momentous event approaching. So here is my attempt to mitigate the admonishments, but more importantly focus on the event and what lies ahead. On Friday August 26th, Suzanne and I fly...
News about my Side-Venture
8 June 2005Ever wonder why I don’t post very often. One of the reasons is that I’ve been working on SpringFlix.com. This is a website meant to appeal to a very focused audience — those who develop in Java using the Spring...
Dealerships Suck II
9 May 2005This is a continuation of my experience with Park Place Motor Cars - Bedford. And if the last rant seemed questionable, this one is surely not. As I mentioned in the last post, I took my car in for service...
Dealerships Suck…
22 April 2005In advance of my trip to San Antonio for my Grandmother’s funeral, I decided to finally get my car in for service. I am the worst procastinator where car service is concerned. So today I took my car to Park...
Remembering Granny Panny…
21 April 2005They met at a small-town dance, I believe. He was from across town and they were both as young as they could be. I’m not sure what it was, perhaps her blue eyes or perhaps her good heart, but something...
If you could live forever…
20 April 2005I’m reading a book called Fanstatic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever by Ray Kurzweil who always has interesting views of the future. I had previously enjoyed his book The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence,...
You might be an ass if…
14 April 2005On the morning radio show I listen to (The Ticket), they had a segment the other day called "You might be an ass if…" where they pointed out and discussed behavioral traits shared by the asses of the world. I...
Shoe Laces…
8 April 2005This is a silly topic to devote a post to. In my work (software), we do a lot of testing. Well, some of us do. So in having that testing mindset, I’ve noticed that I look at the world sometimes...
Getting Married…
3 April 2005I know anyone who stumbles across this post will be stunned and amazed. After donating 4+ months of fees to Typepad with not a single post, here I am with my biggest post ever. After 10+ years of being divorced,...
Let me get this straight…
17 November 2004I’m so confused on what is considered "right" these days. The Middle East is in an uproar regarding the shooting of a wounded insurgent who had previously taken an attacking position from a mosque. Meanwhile, the insurgents are beheading innocent...
Election Fallout
17 November 2004I’ve been stewing on this for a couple of weeks now. I have a couple of former co-worker friends who were involved in an e-mail thread that I was part of. One of them suggested that a friend who was...
My Four-Letter Addiction…
21 September 2004I admit I have a four-letter addiction. No, its not “coke” or “beer” or other four-letter words with bad connotations that I’m not clever enough to attach to this post. Its books. Okay, please no one point out that that’s...
10 Years Ago Today
21 September 2004I knew this day would come and I wondered where I’d be in life. Its been 10 years now. In December of ‘85 at barely 21 years of age, I got married. At that point, I didn’t know myself, much...
Aging…
20 September 2004I turn 40 on Wednesday of this week. And you tend to get a bit reflective at a milestone year like that. And coincidentally, its been an interesting year for my health so I’m reflecting and revising the way I...
Valet Parking
31 August 2004I’ve debated whether to post about this as I’m not sure how this makes me sound. Over the past three weeks, I’ve had at least three instances where I’ve had to valet park. Now usually, I’m okay with this as...
Chic-Fil-A and Ketchup…
25 August 2004A short rant here. And one could argue that I get what I deserve when I subject myself to fast-food. I love Chic-Fil-A’s offerings, but I do not like their policy on ketchup. Ketchup is made available only in those...
Hooray for Spring!
21 August 2004Ah, but you say if anything its nearing Fall. Yes, you are right, this is not about seasons. But if we were to mention “fall”, we might use it to describe EJB’s fall from grace. Well, okay, maybe I’m being...
Send Me A Business Idea…Please
19 August 2004Not you. Well, maybe you. Actually, I was making the call to some higher power. Or directing the ether to send an eddy my way with one nice passion-filled, blockbuster idea that I can put some sweat equity into. Like...
I am a Thief…
19 August 2004It wasn’t a pack of bubble gum. It wasn’t a car. It wasn’t the Hope Diamond. But if you go to www.zeldman.com you’ll know what I stole. There, I feel like at least one wrong has been righted.
Hypothetical #1
19 August 2004I love hypotheticals. If they are sick and twisted…even better. This one is better in the PM hours after a beer or two. So first of all, I need answers to two questions: 1. Who is your best same-sex friend?...
Corduroy is life
24 June 2004Isn’t it? cor·du·roy — (kôrd-roi) 1. A durable cut-pile fabric, usually made of cotton, with vertical ribs. And now you know the meaning of life. Any questions?
I’m back…
23 June 2004Its been more than four months since I’ve last posted here. I last posted on Valentine’s Day — a lonely Saturday night as I remember. But anyway, I needed to get back out here and reconnect with my audience. So...
Mach 3 or Quattro?
14 February 2004For years, I’ve shaved with the Mach 3 and have been pleased. But when I ran out of blades and my local Kroger was out of refills, I decided to try the Quattro. From the name, you can guess that...
Partying with the Parents
30 December 2003When I was in San Antonio, I went to a party hosted by my Mother’s boss. He is the owner of Mad Dogs Pub in San Antonio. They also have a couple of other locations as well, one of which...
Sub-Optimal Thinking
25 December 2003I just discovered that I left my new book “Optimal Thinking” in the hotel room that I vacated two days ago. Is there any question that I need to read that book?
Greetings to thee!
19 December 2003Just as I resisted the cell phone and grocery self-service, so too have I resisted web logs and web-logging. But since I have several web logs on my daily surf list, I feel in some small way that maybe I...