A P&A Road Trip

Some of you might remember the trailer to P&A Winter 2010.  This post and the last one are a continuation of that Adventure.  Enjoy.

Phil has congestion. Let's make a movie.

Ok, this film is long over due.  There are many adventures which have yet to be published that will follow this.  All in due time grasshopper.  

This one comes from our 2010 Winter Adventure in Reno, NV.

Long story short, I was really congested but illness did not seem appropriate during our long awaited adventure.  This led to raiding momma Stodtmeister's medicine cabinets, purchasing a Neti pot and, eventually, a video.

Please Note: 

• We are not on drugs even though we are speaking "bro" fluently.
• The Neti Pot technique is just hot water and a special salt.
• iPod touch gets honorable mention.  She's no longer with us. (Cue sad emoticon)

Welcome dear followers.

So today I received an invite to start following my friend's fashion blog.  Evidently this will be helping her with one of her classes.  I don't know what kind of classes they have in Australia, but then again I don't really know what kind of classes they have out side Australia either.  (Other than engineering that is)

Point aside.  I figured I would check the blog to see if Alex ever posted the pictures of us in Reno. You know, the ones where we were marching around down town wearing a Boba Fett helmet and tagging the town with P&A stickers....

Oh wait, you don't.  That's right, he never posted them.  Consider this an official call out to bring Boba back from the dead ___ ____.

Point aside.  I noticed our number of followers has increased greatly.  As the offical P, from the P&A, I would like to say: Greetings.  We welcome you with open arms and will seek to provide more comic stories of our ongoing adventures/immaturities in the near future.

If you aren't following us yet, then consider this an official invitation to enter into the fold.

Heart,

PS

Honoring Pi: P&A Style

Today was a day that will never be forgotten.  It was the day that Phil and Alex tackled the 2 foot pizza challenge at Venezia's.  This is known as a "party pizza" i.e. it should feed a whole party.  Well news flash Venezia's, it's always a party when Phil and Alex get together, and we dominated your pizza.

Upon arrival Alex and I began to discuss the mathematical significance of the pizza which we were about to devour.  With a 2 foot diameter this pizza turns out to have 3.14159265 square ft of cheesy goodness.  That is exactly Pi square feet of deliciousness.  I'll spare you the majority of the math, but that also means that the circumference is exactly 2 PI, a number of great significance to engineers everywhere.  Upon this discovery, we decided we would eat this pizza for engineering, math and of course America.

Behold the pizza.  Two people have an hour to get it down.  Victors get their picture on the wall and free t-shirts that say "We took down the BIG one." David and Goliath motif? Yes please.

Perspective.

A sea of cheese.  And this was no Moses story.  We faced a dilemma much like Rick Moranis from Strange Brew, drown or consume our way out in an ultimate feat of gluttony.

Columbus couldn't have been much more intimidated  when he stared out at the Atlantic ocean before his journey.

To be honest, we were pretty cocky and thought it would be like eating a Little Caesar's Pizza each.

We tried different tactics including the pizza burrito,

and the pizza sandwich.

But in the end we were humbled for our arrogance.

We were so so wrong; she proved to be a formidable opponent indeed.

We knew we needed to draw upon each other's strengths.

Thunder Cats, Ho!

And so began the final charge. Phil chose to double fist his final two slices.

Ever stalwart.

The final bites.  Pure bliss.

One hero had crossed the finish line, but there is no "I" in team.

This mighty warrior was inspired by choruses of "America the Beautiful" that penetrated every nook and cranny of the restaurant.  Team America would not falter on this one. 

Bringing it home baby.  No man left behind.

The final bite be being nursed down by the nectar of life while celebratory preparations were made.

Victory. Oh the joy.

Victory. Oh the pain.  

We finished this three hours ago and just now left the fetal position.

Easter Egg Hunt: P&A Style

This past Easter we had the greatest Easter egg hunting experience ever known to man. Imagine Elmer Fudd crossed with Clint Eastwood; that was Phil and Alex. Next imagine an innocent version of the Easter bunny that had to wise up quick styles; that was Hayley.

Twas the night before Easter and Alex and I went out for adventure while Hayley was at a wedding reception. We decided to see what St. George had to offer, but ended up at Wal-Mart. Irony? Perhaps.

While in Wal-Mart we purchased an Easter basket for Hayley, some candy, some plastic eggs and three dart-shotguns. One was a double barreled model that we both already own. We've affectionately named it "the gospel."

"Ya got one barrel of justice and one barrel of mercy. Pick yer barrel pilgram!"

The other two were matching, clip fed, lever action beauties that we named "the Dukes of Hazard." We also picked up a couple of bandannas and went back to Hayley's to rendezvous with her.

On our way back Alex called Hayley and instructed her to shut herself in her room; we had a surprise for her. We arrived, hid a bunch of eggs around the house, tested our new toys and then went to Hayley's room to give her a few supplies and instructions. We strode into her domain carrying an Easter basket, a bandanna, and "the gospel." Our instructions were as follows:

"Here's a bandanna; put it on. We've hidden several eggs throughout the house. One of them is a golden egg. When you find the golden egg the hunt is over. It's like your golden snitch. Here's the shotgun. Her name is "the gospel." Treat her well and she'll treat you well. Count to forty and come on out."

Somewhat bewildered, but definitely on to us Hayley began counting. We ran out, cowboyed up, and waited for her to come out. As soon as she came out we lit her up like Christmas morning!

The hunt lasted for a good 10-15 minutes. A few shots were exchanged, but the majority of the hunt was just us blasting her. She got crafty and started stuffing the darts in places where our hands could not go, but we managed to keep up the onslaught with a depleted supply of ammunition. To those of you who think we are heartless and messed up... Well, you may be right, but Hayley was a great sport, and she was laughing the whole time. Plus she got to keep all the candy. Eventually she found the golden egg and the hunt ended. She stopped hunting eggs and we stopped hunting her.

Alex and I have decided that we are going to do this with our kids every year. Only we are going to invest in fully automatic Nerf guns and will probably end up constructing a battle zone that would make the designers of American Gladiator wet at the mouth. We're thinking hunt on Saturday, get some R&R (Rest and Repentance) on Sunday.

Here's to a good memory.

Now reach for the sky pilgrim!

(Please note what a B.A. Alex is. He has just shot a dart which is about to hit the camera.)

The Tuesday that is now a Friday

After seeing an inspirational tribute to Rebecca Black's timeless classic, "Friday," by the awesome mullet guy, Phil and Alex decided they could do that too.

If you'd like to book Phil and Alex to play at your wedding, birthday, CEO promotion or inauguration ceremony please contact them by leaving a comment on the most recent post of spitshake.blogspot.com.

If you're not a follower of the blog you won't be considered.

Thanks and Enjoy!

p.s.

We've got a few more gems from this recent trip coming up soon.

Just got to make sure the school work gets done first.

Arcade Fire

I just got home from seeing the Arcade Fire live. I already posted a facebook status about it, but it is just not enough. I need to herald from every venue possible how utterly incredible the show was.

I was exhausted going into the show, but every extremity of my body was filled with adrenaline as I jumped, sang, shouted, screamed, clapped and let the music embrace and engulf me. It was incredible.

The only thing I can think to compare it to was the first time I heard the Funeral album all the way through. Just being blown away, song after song. The effect was compounded by the flawless, audio/visual, live performance. This video doesn't even begin to do them justice, but I've got to post something.

A You Tube Hero

We've watched these video's hundreds of times.

I laugh every time.

Hayley, we owe you big time for introducing us to this doctrine.

You're a real American.

That's just a sample.

A Blog For Our Passions...

Every now and then, something comes along that completely represents the passions of both Phil and myself. Thanks to NPR, we have a new discovery that takes something I love, takes something Phil loves, and puts them together in a beautiful mix of awesomeness. This discovery is a blog by the name of "Law and the Multiverse." This blog discusses the legal ramifications of superheroes. Issues such as "are there different privacy laws on Krypton if everyone has x-ray vision" and "would a superhero be liable for a bullet deflected off of him/her that hit an innocent bystander." They provide these legal answers and more. As a self-proclaimed superhero geek (Alex) and as a future student of the law (Phil), this blog is everything we could hope for.

Visit this site and enjoy. http://lawandthemultiverse.com/

Phil and Alex discover they can Skype with each other.

We've found a new way to handle the distance.

We're not gay, but you could be fooled.

"Hobo Joe": The Memoir

I was in Buckeye, Arizona this weekend. When I saw this I was overwhelmed. A cry of pure joy leapt from my breast. I knew had to get some photos.

I am at a loss for words.

It's not everyday you see a 20+ foot high, fiberglass statue of a homeless man.

It's even rarer to see such a tender inscription.

Yes, I embraced his leg. It was a spiritual experience.

I'll let the photos do the rest of the talking.

God bless America.

An Ode to the Cynic

I love despair.com. Those guys crack me up every time I go on their website. Honestly, I would love to work for them.

One of the treats that they have provided is a chance to make your own demotivational poster.

Now those of you who know me know that I'm about two things:

Freedom and Mocking.

And not necessarily in that order either.

So tonight I made a few demotivators mocking myself and my roommates.

Enjoy.

This is my roommate James. He has a hard time making decisions. If you know him then this poster will go a long way.

This is me. The caption says it all.

This is Travis. He can only see in 2-D.

Some people say I over-work myself. This is my witty response.

A hard learned lesson.

God Bless America.

And no one else.

THUGGIN' IT

So if you've already seen the video you may be thinking, "Where did that come from?"

If you know us really well, then you are probably thinking, "Yeah, they would."

But let me tell you the story of how this all came to be.

Last year I decided to put together an album that I would mail out to family and friends for Christmas. It was terribly last minute and my good friends Chris Smith and JP were kind enough to play bass and drums for me despite having almost no warning. The three of us only practiced together twice outside of actual recording time.

One day we were wrapping up our recording session in Nate's studio room, and I started playing the guitar riff from "Thuggin' It." They just started playing along; we all stopped and laughed when I tried to start rapping. I asked rather jokingly, "You guys wanna do a rap song?" and everyone responded in the affirmative.

So we laid down a quick track, and Nate spliced it together for us. I went home, wrote the rap, came in the next day and rapped it in the studio room. We put some finishing touches on it and boom in about 24 hours "Thuggin' It" was born.

Fast-forward six months.

I was up in Utah to visit my recently returned mission president. I was sleeping on couches by night and hanging out with Alex, Max, Austin and several other old friends by day. I asked them if they wanted to make a rap video in a similar fashion to the recording. You can guess what the response was. So we got together, shot some footage for a few hours, had a ton of laughs and called it good.

Fast-forward six months.

I grabbed all the video clips on the Phil and Alex Winter 2010 Adventure, edited and now we've got the video. It was the longest last minute project of my life, but some how I managed to keep on "Thuggin' It."