Brett's Brainwork

Golf at The Retreat, Cleburne, TX

2017-08-08T12:19:00.000-05:00

Are you eager to play The Retreat golf course just outside Cleburne, TX? I'll host!

Ranked #75 in the state by The Dallas Morning News, The Retreat a 7,046-yard, par-72 course has five tees per hole with unexpected elevation changes throughout. 419 Bermuda Fairways gracefully wind through the trees and TifEagle Greens have a distinctive design that enhance the natural beauty of the land. Prominent design features include 400 foot wide corridors from tee to green and two double fairways.

Just 30 minutes south of Fort Worth and about an hour from the Dallas side of the metroplex this golf paradise is worth the drive. Be careful one trip and you might end up buying a lot!

Texas Outside says "It doesn't get much better."

Book your reservation!

Is Tim Allen on TV again?

2011-01-11T17:39:00.003-06:00

Don't kids say the craziest things? Luke and I were crusin' south bound on the N. Dallas Tollway heading home from work and school when out of no where we have the below conversation.

Luke: "This truck has lots of horsepower, right Dad?"

I'm laughing because I can't recall ever having a horsepower conversation with Luke.

Luke: "Right, Dad?"

Me: still chuckling... "right"

Luke: "What's so funny Dad?"

Me: trying to blow it off... "Nothing"

Luke: "Is it horsepower? Are you laughing at horsepower?"

Me: laughing again... "Yes"

Luke: angry voice.... "Horsepower isn't funny. It's Cool!"

I may be biased but someone seems pretty funny and cool.

Fun with Luke

2010-11-11T21:00:00.003-06:00

Luke's class at pre-school is learning about a new letter each week at school. Below is our conversation this evening.

me: Luke, What letter are you learning this week?
Luke: k

me: Oooooo.... what letter is next week? I knew he was going to be excited
Luke: L!
me: AWESOME! What starts with L?

Luke: Me!
me: Nope that's an M

Luke: no I do
me: that's an I

Luke: What?
me: I is an I

Luke: pointing at his chest repeatedly First Name, My First Name
me: Luke that is an F

Luke: DAD!
me: that one is a D

Luke: Dad you are silly
me: thank you.

iPad Review - Day 3

2010-04-06T20:53:00.003-05:00

A few ramblings on the iPad after 3 days.

My iPad was reserved several weeks ago, Saturday April 4th I went to pick it up as instructed between the hours of 9 and 3. I was a little worried about the pick up as I chose the North Park Mall store by mistake. I felt like the store on Knox would have been less busy and closer to the house. I arrived right at 9 and found myself about 50 people back in the reserved line with another 50 or so in a line without reservations. Apple was well prepared for the big day and had me out the door with iPad by 9:45. Free bottled water, coffee and cheers for each exiting customer helped the time fly by.

Set up was initially very easy. Having an existing iTunes account with Email, Calendar, Contacts, Songs, Video and Apps helped tremendously. Time for bullet points.....

- Apple, shouldn't there be an easier way to upgrade my existing Apps to iPad compatible Apps? I spent several hours searching the App Store for each App I used to see if a new version had been released.

Great Apps for the iPad -

Calendar - It is fantastic. Love the "List" view.
Maps, Mail, Safari - I think they are all the same as iPhone but each seems so much better
TweetDeck, IMDb, USA Today, TFLN - I give them props just for being ready for the iPad, All Good.
Kindle - I haven't used a Kindle but I can't imagine it being much better than the iPad with a Kindle App. FYI, I prefer the Kindle App over iBooks
The Weather Channel - the iPad doesn't have a default weather app and I think this might be why. Fantastic 10 Day forecast, Hourly and Radar.
ESPN XL - Greatness for the sports fan
Netflix - FAST, so FAST.... ready to watch any Netflix movie in less than a minute
Photos - they look incredible.... can Apple add an editor?

- Facebook and Gist why don't you have iPad Apps? The sites look great on Safari but Apps would make it so much better.

- It is my early opinion, restaurants that don't have Wi-Fi will lose some business due to the iPad. I have been out in the field the last two days at lunch time. Each time I looked first for a place with Wi-Fi so I could use the iPad while eating. Side note.... I'm learning to eat left handed so I can keep my right hand free for the iPad.

- I'm new to the Numbers App and it looks great but I think a keyboard is going to be needed for data entry.

- FeeddlerRSS App is a good reader for Google RSS Feeds but it doesn't link to the actual article. That should be fixed.

Overall, I really enjoy the new toy. It is way better than my iPhone but I can't imagine attempting such things as creating this blog entry on it. It is much like HD TV. Completely unnecessary but so fantastic to have.

what's in a year?

2009-10-06T06:27:00.002-05:00

My iPhone caught it all. Well some of it. From September 08 to September 09, I just "dumped" my iPhone photos onto Flickr. Take a look back right here.

2 year old + 3 year old = Fun

2009-09-23T20:32:00.007-05:00

Tonight's conversation:

Me: Ok, boys what are we going to watch before bed?
Luke: Caillou
Beck: Fairly OddParents
Me: boys pick a number between 1 and 5 (emphasis on the 1 and 5)
Luke: Caillou
Me: nope
Beck: 5
Me: oooo.. good guess, Luke?
Luke: 4
Me: Another good guess! but no, boys a number between 1 and 5, not 4, not 5.
Beck: zero
Me: wrong
Luke: zero
Me: (laughing) still wrong
Beck: 11
Me: No
Luke: 15
Me: boys... let's try this again. A number between 1 and 5 not 4 not 5 let's count (holding up 5 fingers)
Boys: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Me: (wiggling my middle finger) so the number is...?
Beck: 3!
Me: YES!
Luke: (sad) what number is Caillou?

M. David Palmeiro Tournament Winners!

2009-08-28T14:19:00.004-05:00

Courtesy of the Tarkio Avalanche, August 27, 2009.

THE BILL SMITH TRUCKING TEAM - Won the M. David Palmeiro Tournament on Saturday, August 22, 2009, at the Tarkio Golf Course. The team finished 20 under par at the end of 18 holes. Left to right are team sponsor, Bill Smith of Tarkio, and team members, Travis Smith, Darrell Smith, Brett Smith and Tyler Smith.

It was yet another fantastic weekend in Tarkio. A big thanks goes out to our sponsor, the foundation board, all volunteers and the golf course management crew. The the course was in great shape. I can't wait to defend the title next year.

Do you remember May 7th?

2009-07-27T12:41:00.004-05:00

Rangers fans don't but I bet the Royals' loyal do. Having lost yet another series this past weekend to the Texas Rangers my phone took a text lashing from local friends and co workers.

"Wish we played the hapless Royals more often. AA team at best"

The DFW locals have easily forgotten the 2 of 3 the Royals took from the Rangers in April. What happened? We were good, full of promise. May 7th.... .621 winning percentage, the 4th best record in baseball, batters couldn't touch Greinke, 6 wins in a row. In a row?

Then 80 days of misery, 20 - 48 over than span. Don't do the math it's too ugly. A .294 winning percentage. I remember emailing Royals front office in mid May begging for middle relief, I wouldn't even know where to start now?

Save us please.

looking for a reason to celebrate?

2009-05-19T08:14:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, rather quietly, a new player in web searches launched their site. WolframAlpha is certainly interesting. I could spend hours following their "ambitious, long-term project to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable".

Here are a few examples of what I learned in my first 5 minutes on the site. Yesterday Sarah and I celebrated a days of "2"s as it marked 2 years, 2 months and 22 days since we were married. Today, Mom get ready to party down.... you are 20 thousand 800 days old! I bet Dad already had something REAL nice picked out for her.

More useless stuff... Tarkio is at an elevation of 928ft (which is just 7.1 meters shorter than the Eiffel Tower), if I had worked 24/7 at my first job at $3.75 per hour I would have made $32,800 that year.

The information available is endless and unfortunately mostly useless.

Geographical Photos

2009-05-15T21:47:00.005-05:00

Flickr has always been my favorite place to post and share photos. Just as with this blog I also struggle with which photos belong on facebook and which ones (if not the same) belong on my old favorite Flickr.

I tend to lead with Flickr and follow with a select few on facebook. I'll leave it up to my friends to tag me with new photos on facebook.

Here's one of several great reasons why I enjoy Flickr. I can map all my photos.... take a look!

My Map (zoom out... then hit GO)

Recent trips to Boston and Cabo have added some much needed diversity.

Where have you gone Joe Dibloggio?

2009-04-02T22:00:00.003-05:00

What happened to me? I'm going to state the obvious. I haven't posted to the blog in over a month. I know, lack of posting has happened before but this time it's different. There wasn't a lack of ideas... I've had a few good ones. I even had a "fan" convey their disdain... "at least D Lee still updates his blog".

I've got (uttmmm...) I had no excuses.

This evening I was reading through the hand full of blogs I enjoy and found my answer. Howard Lindzon is one of those smart and funny guys that not only has good ideas.... he conveys them brilliantly on his blog. These are his ideas in my words.

The "new" internet or Internet 2.0 is killing my blog. Facebook, twitter and BrightKite are the leading suspects. They make it so easy to share a thought or idea in less than 140 characters, I usually choose their communication method from my iPhone rather than this one. Sorry Blogger, I still love your t-shirt.

Add to the mix my (fairly) new job and the blog is dying a slow death. I love my job. The old job not so much. With the old one the blog was a great distraction from work, with the new one it's the opposite.

The good news for the blog, it has some company. My golf game crawled into the corner of my garage last August and has replaced it's usual companion sunshine with last thing I every expected my clubs to see; cobwebs.

In my opinion, Howard's closing words are quite poetic... I'll steal and post them below.

Everything and everyone dies. So do passions.

You can’t fight death or lost passion, but at least passion can be revived. I want to blog and golf more, but I won’t force it. Forcing it will only hurt my chances of renewed passion.

seeing things as they should be?

2009-02-23T19:11:00.003-06:00

This evening before going out for a quick run Sarah made a short list of household items we needed from Target. The timing of her request was perfect. Tomorrow is our 2nd Anniversary and I had yet to pick up a card for her.

As I randomly searched hundreds of cards for just the right message Luke stood behind me calling out familiar items. First it was "Diego!" then "Mickey Mouse". Then it got a bit interesting, he said "Dad! It's Elmo". I turned to see him holding a card with two wiener dogs on the front. "Good Job, Luke" I told him.

About a minute passes... Luke hollers "Here's Mommy!" then again "Here's Mommy!"

I busted out laughing. I mean a really good belly laugh. So proud of little Luker.

turn the lights out, say goodnight

2009-02-10T20:58:00.006-06:00

Sarah's endearing idiosyncrasies are countless. Honestly, it's what makes me enjoy being with her so much.

This evening one of my favorites was taken to entirely new level. Sarah loves to turn the lights on and leave them on. Initially, I'll admit, I found this to be just a tad bit irritating. I'd return home, Sarah would be out running errands and at least 4 lights would be on. Come On! Turn out the lights before you leave. She couldn't have cared less.

As time passed and this continued, I began to find the number of lights left on entertaining. Sometimes on her best days she'd even leave the TV on for me. Maybe this was her way of leaving her "trail of bread crumbs" in the house.

UPDATE: Sarah just interrupted this blog. "Look at this Lighting Storm! It's only happening every few minutes.... Does that mean it's close or far away?" I love being with her. So fun!

Tonight, I returned home to find the front entry light on (she had locked the front door). Inside, I could hear Sarah and Luke upstairs. As I made my way around the downstairs I found 6 lights on (tidying up, I'm sure). Additionally, the TV, both back yard lights and (here's the kicker)..... the oven light were all on.

The bar has certainly been raised. I can't wait to see what she will do next.

times are tough.... time to get better

2009-02-02T16:53:00.004-06:00

Here are two great posts from this past week.

The Difference between Panic and Urgency: This one really got me motivated. Brad Feld's final paragraph would be a great pre-game pep talk.

Focusing the Organization: When I ask a friend of mine who's worked 20+ years with IBM what he's doing, his response is always the same. "Running a small business." I love that mindset. Bill Flagg's ideas in this post are easily applied to "my" organization. The requirements he list for goal setting are fantastic.

Remember good ideas are just that, until you take action.

the Tarkio influence

2009-01-18T20:51:00.004-06:00

The road to the Super Bowl goes through Tarkio!

At least that is the case for one individual this year. Arizona Cardinal's Defensive Line Coach Ron Aiken worked at Tarkio College from 1982-84.

This great piece of trivia originated in Dallas with Jeff Moore, former Tarkio College head coach, but then (of course) traveled north to my parents who emailed me.

Will someone please create Six Degrees of Tarkio and prove it is the center of the universe?

Hide & Seek

2009-01-06T20:07:00.005-06:00

This evening Luke randomly announced "Hide!" and ran into the other room. Wanting to be sure my cell phone or keys didn't go missing for several weeks, I followed him into the next room to investigate.

Attempting not to laugh, I said "Found You"! To which Luke responded, "Help".

the condiment nazi

2008-12-30T19:48:00.009-06:00

Beck: Luke, you can never have too much pepper. Luke: Uh, ok.

Beck: Let's put some on this slice also.

Luke: Now lets add some CHEESE!

Beck: Did you say, more pepper? Luke: No, CHEESE!

Beck: Ok, Here's you cheese. Luke: What are you up to?

Beck: Now more pepper! Luke: Just you wait a minute.

Beck: You want trouble? Luke: Uh, nope.

Beck: I didn't think so, more pepper? Luke: Uh, ok.

Beck: Like I said, never too much pepper. Luke: Do you expect me to eat this?

love is on the rise...

2008-12-24T23:45:00.001-06:00

Do you need a little love? Go get yourself a Twitter account. From my friends at Mashable...

Merry Christmas, loved ones.

early Christmas

2008-12-24T10:17:00.002-06:00

Great news for Sarah today. It's offical.

From: Boston Athletic Association [mailto:registration@baa.org]
Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2008 7:06 AM
To: Sarah BradySubject: Welcome to the 113th Boston Marathon

You're receiving this email because you are an entrant in the 2009 Boston Marathon.

to the person with the "Pain is Temporary" sign.... THANK YOU!

2008-12-15T14:18:00.004-06:00

The Dallas White Rock Marathon was awesome! Running in less than ideal conditions, Sarah posted a new PR of 3:39 and best of all qualified for Boston, the world's oldest annual marathon.

Sarah was so thankful for all the support received during and after the race. Family, friends and co-workers were scattered about the course as the temperatures rose above 70 degrees and the wind gusted to 30+ mph.

Post race, Sarah told me three mental things helped her get through the 26.2 miles and reach her goal.

First, she didn't want to explain why she was unable to qualify for Boston. She kept replaying the conversations in her head. Too windy or too hot were excuses she didn't want to use.

Number 2. She couldn't let me be right. You see a few weeks ago Sarah asked for my honest opinion on this subject. "Do you think I will make it to Boston?" I emphatically said no. At the time, a complete jerk move. Today, a brilliant move of reverse psychology. Honey, you are welcome.

AND last but certainly not least. Somewhere around mile 21 there was a sign that made a BIG difference. Having spent miles 14 - 18 running into headwinds on the lake and miles 19-21 running all uphill she was nearly broken. The sign Pain is Temporary got her going again. Once seeing the sign she kept thinking the phrase over and over in her head.

From mile 21 it was literally all down hill for her. Each time I saw her (mile 23 and 25) she had passed several runners in front of her. Her last mile was clocked at 7:15, the fastest mile of her race!

Sarah, Congrats on reaching your goal, Boston is going to be a blast.

Tarkio is on The Map!

2008-12-09T22:37:00.003-06:00

Yes, we've always been on the map but now it's a little better.

Google Maps "Street View" made a quick drive through town sometime last summer. While we didn't get full street coverage, I was pleasantly surprised to see Tarkio looking great on today's new Google release.

I'd like to challenge the locals (or anyone else wanting to play) to tell me when Google visited Tarkio. I'll even throw in a free lunch anywhere in Tarkio to the winner. (Will says to shop local, I'm trying to do my part.) Here's the kicker.... I don't know when they visited. You must find proof from the street view photos to win.

Post your guess in my comments and good luck.

Mr. President... I'll be there in 10 maybe 11 minutes.

2008-12-04T15:20:00.006-06:00

Word on the street is George and Laura have purchased a Dallas home in Preston Hollow.

Mr. and Mrs. W,

Consider this an open invitation to use our pool anytime you'd like. Oh and if you need some help with the move in January just give me a ring.

The Smiths

these bailouts are making me crazy...

2008-11-21T08:33:00.004-06:00

Yesterday, I was against "the" bailout. Any bailout. Bear Stearns, Freddie AND Fannie, AIG, the American Auto Makers. I'm OUT, on the bailout. It makes me mad just thinking about it.

Then someone decided to really get me going and said "You're naive". What do you mean, I'm naive? I'm not the one asking for billions yes that is with a B. A little later I read the below post from Brad Feld.

Today, I'm for accountability and taking responsibility for your actions. I'm starting with me. I'm am naive on the bailout subject, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

Enjoy the read from Brad. If you have time, follow and read his links.

Take Responsibility For Your Actions

I made a mistake this morning. I allowed myself to get ramped up during my morning information routine. As I read through my online news and feeds, I kept seeing various permutations of discussions around "the bailout." Which bailout you ask? So did I. Before I knew it I was way down a rat hole of reading about all the various requests around "the bailout", tricks for getting "your share of the bailout", absurd requests from very large established companies regarding "the bailout", some surprising and particularly offensive (at least to me) requests from other companies around "the bailout", and lots of justification for action couched in terms like "economic disaster", "crisis", and "collapse."

You don't have to go very far to see where I started getting ramped up - just read the front page of the New York Times business section online this morning. Note to self - you are an idiot - you should have gone running instead.

I hate the word bailout. None of the companies I invest in are getting a "bailout." When they make bad decisions, don't execute, or run out of capital, they fail - which sucks, but it's part of the economic cycle. I tried calling 1-800-BAIL-OUT to see if I was missing something. They wouldn't help me, but they let me rant about what I think about bailouts (smart entrepreneurs!)

Every time I hear the word "bailout" it makes me think of Atlas Shrugged. There's a good idea - before you are allowed to mention the word "bailout" you have to read Atlas Shrugged - that'll slow people down a little and make them think.

I'm not against government involvement and financial support in the broad business ecosystem. That's not what got me ramped up. What got me ramped up is the pervasive and omnipresent requests for a piece of "the bailout" along with endless hyperbole justifying the naked requests for money from the government without clear consequences. This, combined with the endless language of fear and panic from our "leadership", rather than a rational discussion of cause, effect, and proposed solutions makes me nuts.

Fundamentally, I feel like the ethos of "lack of responsibility" is finding its way into every nook and cranny of the discussion. The connotation of "bailout" is "it's not my fault - please bail me out." By definition, if you are asking for a bailout, you need to take responsibility for your actions and how you got there.

Before I end, I'll leave you with two things to clean your palate. The first is from my friend Shawn Broderick titled UAW Rip and cuts to the core of the notion of taking responsibility for your actions, understanding cause and effect, and coming up with solutions based on a real understanding of the underlying facts. The second is from another friend - Karyn German (who is one of the execs at NewsGator) titled What I Have Learned About Leadership. Just reading it made me feel better.

and in this corner....

2008-10-27T17:37:00.008-05:00

Checking in at 2 years and 2 days old... a bare knuckle southpaw from deep in the depths of Dallas... Luke's Tale of the Tape:

Weight - 28.8 lbs - 60% percentile
Height - 3 feet 1/2 inch - 93% percentile
Head - 20 1/4 inch - off the chart

While he may be one of the bigger boys in his age group, the doctor's written comments show signs he may not be ready for the ring.

Wonderful!! Very verbal.

Then of course there is the glass jaw....

me "Luke, who's boy are you?"
Luke "Mamma's Boy!"

I guess the ring will have to wait.

Growth is Good for Competition

2008-10-24T15:07:00.005-05:00

Growing up, my month to party was June.

Sure, sure... the weather, no school, golf and summer league baseball are all great reasons to party in June. However, June was our party month for a different reason, 5 Smiths celebrate birthdays in June.

Mom on the 7th, Uncle Darrell 14th, Grandpa Ira Paul 15th, My cousin Tim 21st and yours truly on the 23rd. The nice spacing makes for presents and cake every single week of the month.

Recent acquisitions (marriage) and expansions (children) have created a new month to party in the Smith family. October now packs 4 birthdays into this the final week of the month. A month that once allowed us to focus all attention on Melanie (25th) now must be shared with 3 new Smiths. Luke and Amanda, Tim's wife, on the 24th then Sarah on the 30th.

The first of the 4 birthday parties kick off tomorrow with a photo scavenger hunt in LA for Mel followed by a sugerfest for Luke at the Dallas Museum of Science and Nature. Happy Birthday All!!