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Michael Dub Smitty

I have some really great friends.
Friends who were recently married
Friends recently engaged
Friends graduating & Friends going back to school
Friends writing books
& Friends making movies
Friends fighting to keep their jobs
Friends fighting sickness
Friends losing loved ones
Friends moving away
Friends visiting this weekend
Friends taking my money in poker
Friends blowing me off for lunch the other day because of snow
Friends telling me what book I've gotta buy today
Friends hanging out tonight
Friends who encourage me
Friends who kick me in the butt when I'm being extra stupid
Friends who are living their lives in a way that inspires me and many others
And a best friend who I get to love and spend the rest of my life with.
(and friends who don't care if you end a weblog post with a preposition)
I'm a lucky guy...

Mac & Me

Forgive the Marley & Me title homage - I don't necessarily want to endorse a doggy snuff film.

Moving on..
Two things Mark McGuire and I have in common:
1.  An upper deck swing to die for
2.  We're on the juice

I'm officially taking steroids.  I took two yesterday and fully intend to take a couple today. 
That's right - I'm on the rocket fuel, the roids, gym candy, pumpers...I'm bringing the gear, taking calls from Balco, spreading the clear, buying the Arnies...
 
Most of you should probably keep this in mind in case I flip into my "roid rage" mode.  At any point I might flip over a tray table or vigorously shake my fist at someone in traffic.

If you see me crush an aluminum can with my foot or testifying before Congress...blame it on the Prednisone...

it's raining trashcans

I can't find many deals better than a first class stamp.  I can buy one of those suckers and then use it to send stuff to Toledo, Ohio or San Diego, California...doesn't matter.  They'll just take it for me.  I can spend $3 and send four light bulbs to Austin, Texas. 
 

So imagine someone coming up to you and asking, "Would you mind taking these four light bulbs to Austin for me?  To make it worth your while, I'm going to give you three dollars."  You wouldn't do it. (maybe you Dave) You know who will?  Your local constitutionally appointed United States Postal Office, that's who.
 
Neither rain, nor sleet, nor dark of night will keep those bulbs from making it to the big state.  It's true.

Little known  fact:  When the Hope Diamond (valued at over 1 million dollars) was sent to the Smithsonian, it was mailed in a brown paper bag...and delivered by our friendly, neighborhood postal employee.  To be accurate, it wasn't your neighborhood postal employee unless you live by the Smithsonian.
 
Second little known fact:  My maillady didn't deliver our letters and packages yesterday because our trashcan was blown over by the wind.  Apparently the corner of it was sticking out into the street in the general direction of the mailbox.  Neither rain, sleep or darkness will keep her from delivery...but don't expect her to maneuver around a 4 pound empty plastic trash can.

Carla, can you deliver this paper bag for me?  Sure, what's in it?  The Hope Diamond.  Are there any plastic objects I might have to maneuver around?  Shouldn't be.  Cool, I'll take it then...

Hall of Fame Credentials

Looking for an undefeated basketball coach?
Sure, I'll help...let's see
Bobby Knight? - nope
Dean Smith? - lost track of all his losses
Mike Krzyze%^&ski? - lots of non-wins
Bob Miller? - keep looking
Adolf Rupp? - who names their kid Adolf?
Sean Michael Murphy? Yup

The Cheetahs nearly doubled their opponents score (24-14 a number that would have would be a tragic foreshadowing of things to come)on Saturday bringing their season record to 1 & Zero.

The Cheetahs (still looking for a sponsor if anyone has a connection at Cheetos, Chi Chi's, Che Guevara or Nike).

As a coach, I think it'd be helpful to let you know what I know about basketball:
1. The ball is round
2. It also appears to be orange...typically

No, my coaching style is more predicated on high fives and the occasional beating. Griffin played a great game and won the "hustle" star following the game. Translation on that one - he played good defense, ran around a lot and didn't score.

Season tickets are going fast, but there are still a few available...

Don't snow me in

The rest of the world is on a two hour snow delay.
Not me my friend - I'm on snow early arrival. 

I won't be owned by the snow lady (a great professional wrestler's name in a woman's league.  She'd dress up like a drug deal and be all jittery)

I own the snow, it doesn't own me.  Tell me to be cold and watch my step?  I'll wear shorts and my dress em up shoes.  You think you hurt me when you go down the back of my sweater when I'm sledding?  I embrace that.

You aren't the boss of me (obviously that's Tony Danza)

I am a man who won't be subdued by slidey roads and sidewalks of slickness.  I come at you with weapons of salt and shovel.  Friction and the sun are my friends.

I leave you with this bit of poetry (feel free to snap your fingers)

Snow you white devil

I will not give in to you

just that freezing rain

Snow Dazed and confused

you see what I did with the title?  What I did here is take snow day (a Chris Elliot vehicle) and combine it with a popular movie from 1993 known for it's Led Zeppelin references and Matthew McConaughey keeping his shirt on.
 
This post isn't about my awesome title mashup - it's really about the impending white death that will seal our doom in a matter of hours.  Last night we received a call from the Lakota School district telling us there would be a two hour delay.  It hadn't snowed yet, but they know stuff.  As I walked out of the gymnasium this morning I saw a few flakes falling from the sky, and when I walked in the Murphy mansion the phone was ringing.
 
The teacher has officially let the monkeys out.  There has been 1/10000th of an inch that's fallen and that'll do it for these kids.
 
So do you error on the side of safety?  Sure, what...do you hate kids?  Why do you hate kids?  That seems kind of jerky. 
 
Bottom line - I had my late afternoon meeting cancelled, so I might be home tonight in time to do a little sledding with the little ones...and that's not a bad Thursday.

P11X

I see the same guy wearing jeans to workout and always think that he must know something that I don't.  It's kind of like riding a crappy Huffy to train for the Tour De France.  Once you get on a real bike, it's gotta feel awesome. 

Part of me wants to take a camera to the gymnasium just to record some of the stuff that's beyond belief.
 
One of those pics would be of the lady who wears a head covering over an elaborate multi-layered robe like outfit.  It's part of her belief system and I get that.  What really threw me was when I noticed she was wearing slip on sandals to run on the treadmill.  As if the five layers wouldn't make it difficult enough, she made her new decades resolution to destroy her feet in the process.  That only lasted one day.  Today she was bounding along with her new sporty Reebok kicks.
 
There was also a sign up front that read:
In the event that Lakota schools are delayed by one hour, our 9:45 class will be moved to 10:30.
...so if you have to wait an extra hour with your kid to get on the bus - you're going to be fifteen minutes late.
In the event that there is a two hour school delay, class will begin on time.
...so you're out of luck if it's a two hour delay

They're logic was sort of hard to understand, and that's why America has an obesity epidemic.
...that and sweet, sweet Chipotle

somewhere between a tweet and Chris Day's posts

I was watching the Rose Bowl (the softest sounding of all bowl games) and saw a commercial for the Master's golf tournament...which is in April.  If you haven't checked the date of this post, check it now.

It's January.  Early January.

My digital video recorder won't let me record something that's not happening for a quarter of a year.  I asked it to and it just looked at me as if to say, "Do you even know if Tiger will be back by then?"  The truth is, I didn't know what to tell it.

We live in perilous times my friends...perilous times...

One Week Church Experiment - Vineyard Community Church

In 1989, I became a Christian at the age of 19. Twenty years later, I was working at one of the largest churches in the country.  Now, I am visiting 1 church in 1 week in order to redefine my faith. This is reflection 1 of 1.

 
Four words - Loved it!

    
This church in beautiful downtown Springdale really challenged how I thought of church.  I normally attend a church that has certain rules.  You stand up and sing for twenty minutes, someone tells you to fill out a card and put money in a satchel, and then someone speaks to us.  That's how we do it at my church.  This place was different...

They began the service (or "celebration" as they call it) with a song.  I was out in the atrium talking with a friend, but Annie said that I'd just missed "the best song".  I stuck around despite the inevitable letdown.  Turns out the music was over...or was it?  A video appeared and a young man with a sugar disease popped up on the screen.  Once I got over his voice, I was drawn in by his story and how he wove it together with Scripture.  It was compelling and had the feel of hanging out with a friend that told stories while just the two of you are hanging out.  I thought it gave the time a nice tough to sort of bring you into an overall story that would be fleshed out for the next 45 minutes or so.

   That's when a young(ish) fella stood up and told us what was going to happen next...which was listening to him talk.  There was something endearing about this guy.  He reminded me of a good friend, only with a different shade of hair and fewer SNL references.

      I liked the cut of his jib.  I'm not entirely sure what that means, but it seems somehow appropriate.  He told a few stories from his childhood and then tied them together with Paul's story.  Paul's story was a little more well known, and Joe's was funnier..so I give the slight edge to Paul even though it's not a contest...or is it?

   Joe described a bully or two from his childhood, and eventually described Paul (Saul) as a bully of sorts.  Paul was killing Christians until one day God spoke to him...which begs the question -   If this can change someone like Paul, imagine what an interaction with God could do with someone like you or me?

  Sometimes we're met with bullies - and sometimes we're the bully, or the problem, ourselves.  We fight against bad habits, bad history, bad attitude and bad circumstances...and yet we have the hope of fighting alongside God Himself.  The hero of the story from Acts 9 might just be Ananias.  God told him to go find the guy killing Christians and pray that he would be healed.  Can you imagine going to someone you love and praying out loud that God would heal them?  For some people that's just what they do - for many people that can feel a little too in your face.  We fear rejection, or the Holy roller label...or just failing.  Imagine what it'd be like to go to the Christian killer and pray for him IN JESUS' NAME.

  Seems a bit extreme to me.

  So I gotta wonder why my faith seems so tame these days.  I hear about revolution in church, and it sure doesn't feel that way.  Maybe there's a correlation that comes directly from how I really view God?

  Back to the church experiment.

  The evening (We attended on Saturday at 6:30) was far from over.  They rounded out the evening with four more songs and I left feeling a bit like I'd just come from a halftime speech from a great football coach.  The music gave the end an emotional boost that sort of lifted me out of my seat and sent me on my way.  I really liked how this church did their thing.

Overall I would recommend this church. They have good looking, smart community pastors, diet Dr. Pepper...and I'm not sure I'll be able to top that anytime soon...