I'm not out of retirement but just stopping by the "office" to share some news.
I picked up a paper when I was down in Mansfield today and Savanna's picture was looking back at me. Front and center.
They wrote a nice article about the difficulties of children going off to school for the first time. Savanna's picture isn't attached to the article, but trust me, she is adorable.
I don't know how long the article will be available so I hope you catch it before it is gone.
Folks, I'm hanging it up or it this case closing the laptop.
I might be slightly more busy but not so much that it can be used as an excuse. It seems I just don't have the interest any longer. So rather than leaving you wondering when the next post will be (not that anyone is)... this will be my last, at least for a while.
I was a good year run. I enjoyed it. I hope you did as well. If I change my plans and come out of retirement I'll shoot you (I do know who you are) an email so you know.
Thanks for reading.
Brett
These two blogs got my attention. Who would have thought a shower head would be a good example of an American epidemic. Here is how shower heads are tied to the lowering of our standards.
Best of all is when you are part of something that refuses to lower their standards. That is when you get that special nod. If you read the last you will really enjoy this one.
Here's to refusing to lower your standards.
BTW... Happy Birthday 7 - 11
...not that anyone cares but Bill Simmons wrote a great Welcome back, diary from draft day.
Here's a teaser...
8:20 -- Here's why you have to love the NBA draft: It's the only show where you could ever see a graphic like, "Q: WOULD MOST LIKE TO MEET? A: HIS PARENTS."
This past Friday I turned 32 years young. The weekend events added up to one of the better birthdays I've experienced in the last several years.
I got an early start to the festivities, on Thursday evening, with a round of golf out at GSW. This, naturally, was followed up by a second round of golf on Friday afternoon before making my first visit to Pappas Bros. Steakhouse.
While the restaurant is widely regarded as one of the best steakhouses in town I had somehow managed to miss out on dining there until Friday. The experience lived up to it's expectations. I learned some new things about wine, enjoyed a great lobster bisque, a wonderful steak, fantastic service and had the best company imaginable.
Following dinner I was treated to surprise plans for the remainder of my weekend, a Kansas City trip. I left out of Dallas Love Field just before lunch on Saturday and met my KC hosts, Darin Lee and Eric Levings, in no time at all. Our time together was full of surprises.
We had tickets to a Royals game, but there was a surprise rain delay. Once we finally entered the gates we were surprised to learn it was Frank White bobble head night. By the middle of the 7th, the Royals were ahead and "surprise" went on to win. After the game we ventured down to "the boats" for some blackjack. Surprisingly, well maybe not, my cousin Travis was there and as usual winning big. All in all, I think (i know i did) the Tarkio Triad had a great time getting back together again for a short weekend.
Lastly but certainly not leastly... I was treated to my favorite oreo dessert upon my return home. 32 is off to a great start.
Turns out ESPN has caught wind of my post that wasn't. Dan Patrick (DP) met up with me (BP) this evening to discuss our opinions on the NBA Finals.
We both agree the Mavs win game 6, but Dan says "the Heat in 7" I guess we'll see who has more sports knowledge.
When I was fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished by how much he'd learned in seven years.
Mark Twain
Happy Father's Day
The last two days I have been thinking over what was sure to be a good blog post. It involved me working with the Mavs and helping them turn the series around; beating the Heat, to win the NBA Championship. In order to make the post work, I planned to use some photos of me with Dirk and Mark Cuban at the 2001 Dallas All Sports Association banquet.
Yesterday, when the photos were found, I didn't look anything like I do today. In the picture was a chubby guy with only a slight resemblance to the me of today. There I was, less than shoulder high to Dirk and as wide as Mark. The result? Neither the photos nor the story will make this blog.
Following the disappointing photo find, the kids and I headed to my office to pick up a few items. When we arrived, the parking lot was nearly empty and Savanna jumped out of the car all fired up. I walked around to the other side of the car to get Beckett. As I opened the back door, Savanna, doing her best Chinese Fire Drill, ran right into the edge of the door. She immediately began crying. I told her to watch where she was going and bent over to take a look at the damage. It was WAY worse than I expected. The blood was already running through her fingers and beginning to drip on the ground.
My first thought was doctor or hospital. Then I remebered we had a first aid kit in the office. I can do anything a doctor could right? We dashed into the building up the elevator and into the bathroom. Savanna, by this time, was already telling me how tough she was and that the blood didn't bother her. I cleaned it up with a wet papertowel then treated it with an alchol swab (she did not enjoy this) and finally a nice bandage. All better. The kid can take a lick.
Have any of you seen the commercial or tried KFC's new Famous Bowls? You recall the dinner table comment when someone attempted to keep their food separated on their plate? "It all ends up together in your stomach." Well, KFC has put it all together on the plate or in this case all together in a bowl.
Who in the KFC marketing department thinks this will work? Here's the tag line..."All the KFC favorites you know and love served in a convenient easy-to-eat bowl!"
It sounds more like a hot slice of Thanksgiving Dinner pizza.
I spent this past Memorial Day weekend with the kids in my home town of Tarkio, Missouri.
While "city folk" might compare visiting Tarkio to an experience in a foriegn land or on different planet, I couldn't think of a much better place to call home. We had a great time with family and friends. My sister has several fantastic pictures to prove it. While Tarkio isn't quite what it once was, there still is a wonderful Alumni party each May. This year it brought together Tarkio's first 3 bloggers. With a little brainwork from the briefcase you might actually find something of substance(s).
Last week, I received one of those letters no one ever wants to see in their mailbox. The Internal Revenue Service was making a case for some back taxes they felt were owed to them.
I wasn't pleased about it, but in usual fashion was confident things would be resolved without much trouble. I sent the letter over to my tax man and until today hadn't thought much about it. Turns out the IRS is taking things much more seriously than I. Below is yesterday's detail for one specific visitor to my site:
IP Address: 152.216.7.# (INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE)
ISP: INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE
City: District of Columbia
State: Washington
Time of Visit: May 19 2006 10:33:38 am
Referring URL: http://blogsearch.go...author:Brett
Search Engine: blogsearch.google.com
Search Words: inpostauthor:brett smith
Come on Uncle Sam. If you are so concerned, pick up the phone and give me a call. I wonder if they use Google to catch all the bad guys?
MySpace is killing Amazon in traffic, getting 4 times the number of web page views a day. Should Amazon be worried? Nope. Seth Godin tell us why in simple terms.
Amazon users visit to buy stuff, and MySpace users visit to flirt.
Last time I checked, flirting was a fairly unprofitable activity.
I've got an exception to that rule Seth, there are several saleswomen that can turn a nice profit flirting.
Isn't it funny how the littlest of things can take a turn for a big new experience. Back at the beginning of the year, I signed Savanna up for her second year of soccer. I was ready for several weekends of watching games but that changed with this email:
Dear Parents -
I have been working on forming teams for the U5 girls division and I still have 12 girls without a coach. This means I am forming 2 teams of 6 girls and I need two volunteers to coach.
Please let me know if you can coach this season, because if not, these 12 girls will not be able to play and I do not want that to happen.
Thanks,
Karen Baird
U5 Girls Commissioner
I have very little soccer experience and even less skill but after two days without a volunteer stepping up I decided I would coach the team. 
It's been a fantastic experience. While we've yet to win a game we've all had a ton of fun. Saturday's game was worth writing about. It was a game of many first. Savanna scored her 1st goal, which gave us our 1st lead of the season. And after falling behind 5-2 we came back and had our 1st tie game late in the 4th quarter before losing 5-6. The girls have made SO much improvement in a short amount of time. They've done almost all of it on their own.
The Explorers play their final game of the year this Saturday. Savanna, Tori (who won't play unless it's a blue ball), Kaylie, Camryn and Elizabeth (didn't make the picture) take the field at 10:30.
my new medium to communicate
I recently received my Verizon cell phone bill and for the second consecutive month I've exceed 1,100 text messages. Do the math, that's just a shade over 36 messages a day, every day.
For a select few of you, I can see the wheels turning in your head. That's just ridiculous. I ensure you, texting is not for school days alone. A few benefits:
There are no uncomfortable silences or talking over each other.
No answers and voicemails are not an option.
Grammatical errors are not only accepted they are encouraged!
the evolution of dance
This one was sent to me today. It is a rare display of ingenuity combined with phenomenal talent. It's six minutes of entertainment. Enjoy.
i've got a great memory it's just short
There was a third, short topic I had hoped to blog about but I've forgotten it. It was there when I started writing but it's gone now.
Some mornings I wake up feeling great. I roll out of bed with anticipation of what the day will bring. Today was one of those mornings. I mean WOW! Something good was bound to happen today. Luckily for me I only had to wait for lunch to find out what it was.
I made the short trip from my office to the Boston Market (BTW when looking up the link, I found coupons! I could have saved a buck.) just down the road. I entered the restaurant with a pretty good feel for what I wanted. I was distracted initially by the new menu that had been placed above the order station. Following a brief re-acclamation to my choices I placed the order. Immediately, I noticed the employees had new hats. These weren't your typical chain food hats, these hats had style. I had to have one.
Time to start selling. Even when you are buying you should sell.
"Are those hats for sell?" I asked. Now the two employees behind the counter thought this was a real funny question. "No, they aren't for sell."
Pay them a compliment, this get's them to drop there guard.
"Well the should be, those are sharp hats." "Can you get me one?" At this point they have no idea what to do. Apparently such a request had never been made. Several more employees were starting to find humor in our conversation. Then much like John Wayne would ride in to town, here came the store manager out of the back office. She stared right though me.
I wasn't sure what to do.... "I'm free advertising for you." I was in! "Are you going to wear it at the Byron Nelson?" she asked. "Absolutely." She had one last question, "Are you going to act like a fool?"
Here I made a common sales mistake. I assumed I knew the answer for which she was looking. Thank goodness it didn't kill the deal.
"Me? No I won't act like a fool." I was smiling ear to ear. "Well then you can't have it." All her employees thought she was hilarious.
Hat and a great meal, $8.99.
Any parent looking for a weekend full of kids activities in the DFW area should look no further than Dallas' GuideLive.com. Now granted, Saturday afternoon was already filled up with a soccer game and birthday party but other open times filled up quickly.
Friday's plans were made easy when I heard that Brian Fields, a member of our Covad team, and his band were playing a youth concert not to far from Mansfield. The evening was a big hit with Savanna as she broke into her own dance routine several times.
Saturday we got up early to catch a (free) kids magic show in Fort Worth. After grabbing a quick bit to eat we got ready for our second to last soccer game. The team put together it's best game of the year. Still losing in excess of 10 goals but scoring a season high 5 goals. I can promise you, compared to our other games this one felt like a win. On a side note Savanna is really aggressive. Had this been real soccer she certainly would have been red carded. The post game birthday party wore out Savanna as I had hoped so we stayed in Saturday evening.
Sunday, following church we headed north to Willow Bend Mall for a butterfly exhibit. On the way to the event I made a failed attempt to teach Savanna about a Toll Road. I ran into such objections as "This road is mean!" or "Don't let it take my dimes Dad!". Anyway, we burned a good part of the afternoon and both kids had a nice time.
Savanna took this one.
Beck didn't take this one.
A short time back I spent a few days in the "city" visiting my good friend Jason Ratliff.
On Saturday afternoon, right in the middle of a great weekend, Jason and I took a trip to Shea Stadium; to catch my first Mets game. We had a wonderful time. The weather was great, we got on the "jumbotron" and I saw the infamous Mets fan wearing a Red Sox jersey that read Buckner 86 on the back.
If the jersey doesn't make any sense to you watch this great replay of Game 6. It's a bit long but well worth it. Click on the play button, it will load.
So this morning I was encouraging Savanna to brush her teeth. "Let's Race!" I hollered.
Into the bathroom I ran. By the time she caught up with me, I'm was nearly finished.
Me: "I'm the winner!"
Savanna: "We aren't racing."
Me: "Winner, Winner!"
Savanna: "IT WASN'T A RACE!!!"
Me: "Chicken Dinner."
Savanna: "Dad! STOP!"
Me: "How's second place feel?"
Savanna: "TERRIFIC!"
It's not so much winning or losing, MUCH more important is winning or losing within the family. Yet again (for the 8 time in 9 tries).... Melanie has secured second place in the annual Smith Family NCAA Tournament bracket. Congrats!!! Your the first loser, the top runner up!!!
I am stuck with first, again. All those high expectations. Forced to listen to excuses from the other participants. Sure it was just one point. Yea, who could have picked the games correctly this year.
If you see her....
Give her a smile, a pat on the shoulder or a big hug. There's always next year.
Yea, Yea... I know I've been neglecting the blog lately. There's no need for any detailed excuses. I'll just work on keeping "all ya all" (plural for "ya all" and yes I've been in Texas 10 years now) better informed and hopefully entertained.
So I had the kids Saturday and was tasked with the challenge of meeting everyone's wants and needs all at the same time for dinner. Beck made it easy, he just needed his bottle. Savanna and I were a bit more difficult. First off, I didn't want to make anything nor clean up afterward. I also wanted to be sure and catch two games on TV; the Mavs and the NCAA Basketball Tourney. Savanna on the other hand was more worried about the food. "Dad, I want cheeeeese sticks and uuhhhmmmm... ranch!" I suggested she have some chicken as well, to which she agreed. This left us only one choice for dinner, HOOTERS!
Trust me, I know the place was suspect at best for kids but we had a great time. Savanna loved sitting on the "big tall chairs". She got a great coloring sheet with 4 new crayons. Our waitress was kid friendly. She let Savanna try and throw our order into their kitchen on the fancy "tennis ball on a wire" system. Most importantly to Savanna, they served ranch with everything.
I got to watch both my games and Beck loved it too....
This evening, following dinner Savanna asked me if I wanted any dessert. Knowing I was in for more than a tasty teat, I gladly accepted her offer.
Savanna: "How about some imagination Ice Cream?"
Me: "Ohhh, Sounds perfect."
Savanna: "What kind do you want?"
Me: "Vanilla with Oreo cookies."
she makes two imagination scoops then mixes it up a bit
Savanna: "Here you go. That'll be $25 dollars."
Me: "$25 Dollars?!"
she gives up way to quick....
Savanna: "How about $4 dollars" Holding out 4 fingers.
Me: "How about free?"
Savanna: "Ok, $3 dollars."
now I'm laughing and she's confused
Me: "No. FREE!"
Savanna: "What is Free?"
Me: "Zero"
Savanna: "Ok, give me Zero."
Me: "You drive a hard bargain, but ok."
I gave her two imagination Zeros to make her feel better.
My sister just pointed me to a great spoof article on the 2008 Olympic USA Basketball team.
Turns out instead of having a "team" of individuals, the USA wants to go with just one, Kobe Bryant. David Stern justifies the decision by stating, "81 points will beat a lot of teams, especially foreign ones."
Yesterday afternoon I had what is sure to be a once in a lifetime event happen. An event so rare, that I am willing to bet good money it will never happen to any of you out there reading my blog. It's a bit confusing. but I'll do my best to explain.
I had a scheduled 2pm meeting at a North Dallas Starbucks with a fellow telcom sales rep. I knew of the guy I was meeting but had never seen him in person. Appproaching the coffee house doors I could see just inside there were two men fitting my contacts profile. As I opened the doors both men were smiling suspiciouly. I admit I was courious.
"I'm Brett Smith"
"Who are you here to see" says the guy on the left.
"Mark"
The first guy directs my attention to the second. As we shake hands he's still smiling.
"What's up?" I ask looking back to the other guy.
He really thinks it's funny now, "I'm here to meet Brett Smith also."
"Are you serious?" I ask.
He goes on to explain that he also had a 2pm meeting at this same North Dallas Starbucks with a Brett Smith he had yet to meet. 3 minutes later his story proved to be true when Brett Smith #2 showed up.
Can somebody tell me the probability of that happening? Where's Otis Miller when you need him.
Today I read 45% of bloggers stop posting to their site just 3 months after their blog is created. I guess that would explain why yet another blog on my "Good Blog" list is going to the graveyard.
In his last post, dated 12/21, Reese wrote about a donut thief. Did the thief also steal your computer? or maybe just each good idea for a blog. Reese joins C Mill1 and Johnny Stevens in the used to read but no longer post bucket. There's no lid on the bucket fellas, start posting again anytime.
Out with the old, in with the new... Professor David Freeland has done his best to get me in the musical mainstream. Back in the day, which is getting to be WAY back in the day, I was right smack dab in the middle of the mainstream. D. Lee and I DJ'ed all the coolest (high school) parties held in northwest Missouri. Slowly but surely I lost track of what all the cool kids were playing on their boom boxes. Dr. Dave is solving those problems. He's got me listening to Bloc Party, Arcade Fire and Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah. I ain't cool, but at least my music is. You too can join the music fun. Just check out Hearsay on my "Good Blogs" list.
The whole blogging thing isn't easy. This morning, I was riding the wonderful waves of the internet. A cool breeze was blowing through my golden locks. It was raining outside, but in our office (as it does on most days) the sun was shining. Anyway, I stumbled on a little gem of a blog topic.
The Oscar Mayer Wienermoblie turns 70 this year! Can you believe it? I thought is would only be about half my age.
Way back in 1996, I was on a little weekend trip down in Houston when I spotted the Wienermoblie on the freeway. For all you wiener dog lovers out there, it was only 9 1/2 dog years old at the time and didn't show its age at all. Luckily, they stoped to fill up its 32 gallon fuel tank only 15 minutes after I began to follow them. I had to see the inside of the Wiener. The hotdog on wheels was spectacular. Roomy, comfortable and loaded with lots of free giveaways. The folks driving loved their jobs.
So to make this whole blog post work, I had to find my photo from the event. Given that I hadn't seen the photo since before I was married I knew it could be trouble locating it. I sorted through 3 file cabinets and roughly 12 boxes from our last 2 moves before finally locating the picture.
Hotdogs sound good, huh?
Savanna is a fantastic kid. She is bright, energetic, charming and like most kids her age, impressionable. Unfortunately, a few things I found to be pretty funny didn't go over too well with the faculty at school.
Savanna, thankfully, couldn't get anyone to sing along to, "when the pimps get an attitude, drop it like it's hot." Nor did Mrs. Kelly find it funny when Savanna took counting a whole different direction, "1, 2, 3... and to the 4 Snoop Doggy Dog and Dr. Dre at the door."
Just when her music interest had been cleaned up another problem arose. When fellow classmates would get up to go use the restroom Savanna would holler "LET IT RIP!" Really funny, but disruptive to any classroom environment.
So, I took the heat. Cut out the funny business and cleaned up my act. It was smooth sailing at school for several months. Then Apa came to town.
We were just about finished putting together the trampoline. I was hanging up the safety net when my pants were pulled down to my ankles. I calmly finished tying the net then turned to find the guilty party. There they were. Two peas in a pod, Apa and Savanna giggling uncontrollably.
Savanna thinks the new "game" is hilarious. It won't be long before she tries it at school and when she does Apa will have some explaining to do.
Growing up, I was the kid in town with the trampoline. It was a source of entertainment just about anytime the weather would allow for me to get on it. I mastered flips, twists and turns. When I could get away with it, I would move it under the basketball hoop for a game of "slamball." I even remember sleeping on it a time or two.
Well, about three weeks ago my Aunt Carol called to let me know she and Grandma Irene were buying Savanna and Beck a trampoline for our backyard. I have to admit, I was more excited than Savanna to here the news. Today, after the rain cleared up, Dad and I pieced together what is sure to be a ton of fun for the family.
I've yet to gain Vanita's approval (not that I need to), but I'm going to go ahead to offer Savanna up for employment. I'm telling you, this girl can close a deal.
This evening, Vanita was out of the house leaving me to tend to the kids. When it came time for Savanna to have her evening glass of warm milk I though it was time to change the routine.
Me: Savanna I don't make warm milk anymore.
Savanna: WHAT? DAD! I want warm milk.
Me: Sorry, Savanna. It's cold milk or no milk at all.
Savanna: Ok, Dad you put the cold milk in my cup. (she pauses, I can only assume she is looking for buying signals) Then put it in the microwave and I'll push the buttons. OK?
Really, I tried to come up with an answer other than "fine" or "ok" but couldn't. Zig Zigler look out, even on your best day, you don't have a chance.
My spelling is horendous. I often argue that spellcheck removed all willingness needed to learn the correct spelling of each word. It appears new internet enhancements are doing everything possible to ensure I will not be alone.
Seth Godin, I was wrong.
Trekking to Patterson, NJ tonight. Went to Yahoo maps, typed in the address and boom, "That address doesn't exist. Here are directions from the nearest town."
So I went back to my source. Checked it twice. Copied and pasted. Did a second Google search to be sure the address was right.
Turns out that Paterson only has one "t".
I share this with you because it's a great example of how dependent we are on the search engines to fix our mistakes for us. Should Yahoo Maps have "known" that Paterson is often spelled with two "t"s? Of course.
The danger zone is when only some of the obvious mistakes are caught. We're being trained to be sloppy, and expecting that will always work. Watch a kid search on Google--they don't even try to get the spelling right. Why bother?
This past weekend we took a little trip to Southlake Town Square. The place is one of a kind. The town and the square are relatively new but was built to appear much older. Here's a picture of the square on the 4th.
We had a great time. Returned a few gifts, purchased some new ones, had a relaxing lunch and enjoyed temperatures near 80 degrees. However, the highlight of our day was quite unexpected.
We noticed a small crowd of children gathered near a fountain at the center of the square. Savanna hurried over and found what had to be the largest dog I have ever seen.
The dog's secret? Milkshakes.
Today is your day.
Yes, it was news to me as well. Upon arriving at the office this morning, I was greeted (via IM) by a co-worker in Atlanta "Happy National Smith Day!"
My first instict was that he needed something or was just poking fun. But, a quick Google search confirmed the news.
It is officially listed in Chase's Calendar of Events, a book published annually that tracks about 12,000 such holidays, large and small.
Smith Day commemorates the Jan. 6, 1580, birthday of Captain John Smith, the English colonial leader who helped to settle Jamestown, Va., in 1607.
By sheer numbers, folks named Smith deserve their own day. According to the 1990 U.S. Census, more than 1 percent of the population shared the last name.Did any one catch the new ads running during the at&t Cotton Bowl?
Here's a great post by Brad Feld discussing how at&t "wasted" nearly 1 billion dollars on their new brand, The Deathstar Rises. It is apparent the marketing world needs to be saved and Seth Godin is the guy to do it. Who is Seth Godin?
His site is exceptional. He creates daily posts that are smart, fresh and entertaining. I've added him to my "Good Blogs" list. He even drove me to try out three new web tools. After all I want to be "...the self-elected early adopter, the radical new, (one of) the folks who embrace big new ideas."
So with my extra day of vacation I added Mozilla Firefox, Flickr and del.icio.us to my laptop. If you have some time give them a try.
Mozilla Firefox is a new web browser. You can browse the Web with confidence - Firefox protects you from viruses, spyware and pop-ups. Enjoy improvements to performance, ease of use and privacy. It's easy to import your favorites and settings and get started. Thus far I've found it to better noticeably better than Microsoft Explorer.
Flickr is the best way to store, search, sort and share your digital photos. I've just gotten started with it and I already love it. Scroll down towards the bottom right side of my blog to view my photos.
del.icio.us is like bookmarking websites, but helps with the detail. If bookmarking is similar to saving a magazine issue, del.icio.us would keep track of just your favorite articles.
Best of all, each tool is free and easy to download.
