Tyson Kirksey

I really dislike mowing, but it’s one of those package deals with homeownership I guess. Anyways, I was flipping through Popular Mechanics this week and saw something for the first time. A roomba for the yard!

I love it when hosting companies decide to change your password for you! With no warning! On a weekend! Woot!

Anyways…sorry I haven’t posted anything lately.  Been busy with lots of stuff lately including overtime at the office, some big projects with Kirksey Solutions and a new home improvement project. That a way to kick-off summer, eh?

Much has been written about Microsoft’s bribery search engine - Live Search Cashback. I like a deal as much as anyone, but this almost seems ridiculous. Anyways…I’m shopping for a couple of unique items for my car stereo in order to hook up my iPod, and here’s my experience:

1) I typed in the product name I’m looking for “FMMod01″, into the box at the top of this page. Here are the results. Looks like there are some options at a decent price, hopefully.

2) After clicking on Compare Prices, I see the list of merchants. Oh, Crutchfield! Fantastic…love ordering from them, even if it costs a little more. And look at that discount! 50% cashback…score!

3) At this point I’m getting excited, so I click Go To Store and see this:

OK, what!? It went from 50% cashback savings to a whopping 0.0% cashback savings!? I decide to enter an email address, hoping that the savings will switch back as quickly as before, but the next page shows this:

Well that really bites! Two thumbs down for live search cashback - I’ll just stick with Google and evreward.com.

A few months ago I told you that I registered TylerTXBlog.com. If you live in Tyler, TX (and I know some of you do!), head on over and participate in the polls and blog posts. Also, please subscribe to the RSS feed. Let me know if you or anyone you know would be interested in writing for the blog.

If you’ve grown up in church like I have, you’ll find this humurous. I’ve mentioned before about my church, and yesterday Chris gave a remarkable sermon on the seventh day of creation. That’s right, God’s rest. He talked about how we often tire ourselves searching for counterfeit rest, and how even the things given to us by God we turn into chores with rules and regulations instead of enjoying them in light of God’s rest. Hear this 1 minute clip for more:

I just recently learned about the Nike+iPod system, which is very cool. But this, this is a great idea.

It’s opening day for the Astros, and I’m pumped! Not because Houston is going to be good this year - just because I enjoy baseball.  The double-switch, the hit-and-run, watching Jose Cruz Sr. remind professional baseball players how many outs there are at every visit…you can’t beat that!

I also enjoy listening to Jim Deshaies’ humor…yes, that’s a great bonus.  Personally, I can’t stand announcers from other teams, especially the Rangers. I mean, I understand it’s punishment having to watch that team every year, but man those guys just don’t have a clue. I remember a game last year when they spent the entire inning talking about cold remedies.  And the Braves announcers - I’ve always wondered if they suck helium before each inning.  Don’t get me started on ESPN’s hot air blowers who watch one game of each team and think they know everything. To be fair, the Cubs announcers are decent - at least they have a good grasp on the game and the players for each team.

Anyways…back to the Astros. I think they will be around .500 this year, and probably miss the playoffs again. The offense is obviously improved, but the pitching is definitely below average. I think Backe will be OK, but I don’t see Wandy improving much from previous years. If he was going to get better, I think it would have happened by now. Hopefully I will be surprised and we’ll be in the hunt come mid-season.  If so, maybe we can get a #2 starter at the trade-deadline and make a playoff run. 

Play ball!