macking on the chassis.

i'm in a coffee shop right now and there is a college student - looks like a freshman or sophomore - who is mercilessly flirting with two girls at the same time. he told the one on the right that she looks flaming good today. i'm assuming because she is wearing orange. the other (the one on the left) he is teasing "only beacuse he loves her." both of these comments were followed by a long pause and a telling glance between the girls that essentially said, "this guy is all up in our Kool-Aid."

also his fly is down. poor guy.

-ap.

spring training is here!

ouch. rough start fellas. good thing it's only spring training.

SCORE UPDATE:

courtesy of olivo and jacobs homers.

39 days, 20 hours and 40 minutes til opening day.
cannot wait.

-ap.

maybe this is a new happy gilmore.

i've edited the layout of my blog for the first time since switching to blogspot in december 2006. albeit ever so subtle, it's a step i've never taken before. chances are if i hadn't said anything you never would have noticed. hmph.

maybe one of these days i'll give it a complete makeover. baby steps.

-ap.

one of my all time favorite photos.

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please don't stop buying coffee.

when i went to guatemala a year ago i got to have a conversation with a coffee farmer there. he was talking about the long hours he works farming on the mountains and how it barely is enough to provide the bare minimum for his family. i started to feel guilty about drinking his coffee every day and not appreciating it. i told him this and he said,

"whatever you do, don't stop drinking it. we count on americans to buy our coffee. it's the only way we can survive."

so i made a sort of convenant with this gentleman that i would drink guatemalan coffee whenever i had the chance, and if it wasn't an option i would support the next-closest coffee geographically.

something occurred to me when i took a sip of my bolivian coffee today though - with the economy tanking in the united states, people are cutting back on the ways they're spending money. and almost every "ways to save money during the recession" list i come across suggests removing the $3 cappuccino/latte from your daily spending.

i agree that $3 a day for a year is a large sum of money (over $1000), and saving that sure would be swell for our wallets here in the US, but i have to beg americans to please not remove coffee from your life enirely. instead, please turn to black coffee. it uses the same amount of ground coffee per cup as an expensive latte, but it is half the cost. you'll get your caffeine fix, you'll save some money, and you'll continue to support the lives of coffee farmers and their families everywhere.

even better: buy a bag of regional coffee and brew it yourself. it's even cheaper for you and it's the same number of beans sold. let's do the math over two weeks - cause that's about how long a bag lasts (at least for me):

cappuccino/latte = $3 x 10 working days = $30
black coffee = $1.50 x $10 working days = $15
bag of fairly traded regional coffee = $10

so please. don't eliminate coffee from your daily routine. coffee farmers across the globe need our business. thanks.

-ap.

so the oscars happened.

i always feel the need to write something new and profound on this mother.

instead of writing "the oscars were neat/slumdog won a bunch/queen latifah was lip syncing over a previously recorded track/halle berry and alicia keys were all sorts of hubba hubba" i end up trying so hard to come up with something more interesting than that. but that should be enough. this thing is about my thoughts...not the thoughts i wish i could come up with upon extended thought and pondering.

so my oscar/somewhat related to the oscars thoughts are as follows:

1. "jai ho" is maybe the only song that has the power to thwart "put a ring on it" out of my head. that song pumps me up like ac/dc never could. then again, hoku pumps me up like ac/dc never could. so maybe i should write something like "that song is boss" instead. the performance of it (with john legend joining in) during the oscars last night was awesome. a highlight for sure.

2. steve martin nearly made me pee my pants for the first time in at least a week. i rented "the jerk" last weekendish and can finally appreciate his comedy to the fullest. his screenplay presentations were a riot. a highlight for sure.

3. the little kiddos in slumdog are both awesome and adorable. the two little boys in their slick tuxes?! the little girl in her beautiful dress and tiara?! freaking awesome. i was fist pumping like steve weibe throughout the best picture acceptance speech. also, did you hear how awesome their payment for this movie is?! instead of writing the little kids a check, they get the money in small installments until they graduate school and then they get their massive payload. since they really are children out of the slums of mumbai, if the companies wrote them a fat check then they'd probably be kidnapped and held for ransom overnight. so this method ensures their safety and still rewards them with an incredible life in the future. slumdog is changing real lives. a highlight for sure.

4. i need to see man on wire so badly. karlie and i have been debating it for a while, and absolutely bonkers acceptance of the dude who stood on the wire between the twin towers was more than enough to prod me to rent it immediately.

5. the oscars were surprisingly cross-cultural and cross-generational - i guess they're always cross-generational because actors keep getting older and movies continue to be extremely popular - but the cross-cultural aspect was really neat. most of you would say "well, of course it was ap! slumdog was about india and it won best picture! the only real/non-dubbed/non-humorous musical rendition throughout the oscars was in hindi and there were tribal drums and indian dancers everywhere." i would say yes...but robert downey jr. played an australian man playing a black man in tropic thunder. can you get any more cross-cultural? i submit that you cannot. a highlight for sure.

6. christopher walken is such a weirdo. asbolutely love it. just seeing him = a highlight for sure.

7. WILL SMITH SAID BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE AT THE OSCARS. watch it here. original here. there is absolutely nothing funnier in the world. name something in the world. no, seriously, try it. it wont be funnier.

8. speaking of boom goes the dyno...alicia keys and halle berry. goodness gracious ladies. God must've spent a little more time on you two. and here's probably what happened: God was so busy putting a little more time and effort into you guys that he totally forgot about sophia loren over the last 10 years and let her wither quickly into a leathery monster. yeah. thats probably it. also kate winslet and penelope cruz. highlights for sure.

thats a quick list of my thoughts - without trying to find anything profoud or meaningful or touching. cause lets be honest, usually i'm none of those things.

now i'm going to go play geosense.

beat it. i dare you.

-ap.

just so no one forgets.

07/17/09. five months and four days.

i have chills.

-ap.

musical worship: what am i connecting with?

one thing i've become increasingly cautious of: connecting with music and writing it off as connecting with God. sometimes it's a gray area for me. am i worshiping God through this music or am i simply enjoying the musical atmosphere? i lot of times i think - and i can only speak for myself here - that there is very little, if any, difference between my emotional and spiritual connection with worship music and popular/dance/non-worship* music.

* - i've intentionally avoided the word "secular" here. for some reason that word really bugs me. probably for the same reason that "christian" coffee shops bug me - oh, i'm not a christian, so i'll go on down the street to the not-so-christian coffee shop. or probably because the only people that i hear use the word "secular" are christians like myself who need a constant reminder that we dont associate with secularism, but that we're better than that. i find that offensive and ugly. buy anyway.

i find that music can evoke a feeling of excitement and emotional pleasure regardless the type - i'll be the first to admit that i often feel happier listening to daft punk, kanye, gnarls barkley, and al green (although, he is a reverend) than i do during intentional worship times.

my first step to address this was to carefully consider my motives in singing during church. am i singing because (insert worship song here) has a funky beat or because i am truly feeling and connecting with God? because i belt out ace of base, jimmy eat world and the rocket summer in my car and feel very similar. what about this situation is making me belt out the lyrics? is it for God? or is it cause i'm too funky for myself and can't help but sing/dance/clap along?

the step i arrived at next was understanding and implementing other forms of worship. connecting with God through things other than music. this isn't a new thought for anyone probably - dedicationg to the Bible and to prayer - but also worshiping through observing God's creation (both in nature and in humans). these are ways in which we can all intentionally connect with the Father. and those are great, but they don't solve the discomfort and uncertainty that comes with some music. regardless my worship experiences outside of music, the question during musical worship remains - what am i connecting with?

in the end, i'm not really sure how i feel about connecting with music - i certainly wouldn't go as far as to say that God can't be found in non-worship songs (on the contrary, i think it is often more likely to find Jesus outside of the church than inside) and music is certainly not evil*.

* - the only thing i find "evil" about it is when recording artists make hundreds of thousands of dollars and turn into Mr. GQ by exploiting psalms and adding chord progressions. i won't point fingers at anyone in particular, but i can't help but raise an eyebrow when artists accompany their worship with cute jeans and trendy caps whilst maintaining a consistant two-day scruff.

i guess what i'm really wondering/questioning is the authenticity of musical worship - specifically mine - and whether it's for God or not. it probably boils down to disgretion and varies in each situation - deliberating what it is about a certain moment that is causing the joy and happiness. i'm also not suggesting that moments of musical happiness that aren't devoted to God are bad things - not at all - only that sometimes i find myself thinking "man, God really moved me" when the reality is "man, that song really pumped me up."

just thoughts. feel free to comment. i don't have a tumblr so that's still an option...zing.

-ap.

wikipedia at its finest.

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quick thoughts on chiefs hiring todd haley.

1. good.

2. our defense is still gonna suck.

3. coming from arizona, todd haley will look normal wearing red on the chiefs' sideline.

4. will haley have the approval of tony gonzales so TG won't whine all season?

5. will haley sign/draft a QB?

6. will haley - a WR coach for a decade and an offensive coordinator for the last 3 years - draft michael crabtree with the chiefs #3 overall pick? oooooooo a sexy question indeed.

-ap.

it's free movie month and ap needs your help!

last wednesday the k-state collegian came with a coupon insert. it had a page of taco bell discounts on one side and blockbuster on the other - initially this was annoying to me because if i used any of the taco bell coupons then i couldn't use the blockbuster ones and vice versa - but upon further review it wasn't a serious issue because the taco bell deals weren't terrific*.

but i flipped the coupons over to the blockbuster side and saw maybe the greatest coupon to ever exist: "FREE MOVIE RENTAL - no purchase necessary - one coupon per customer per day - valid through 2/28/09". booyah. my roommates and i (one of which works for the collegian) snatched up as many coupon sheets as we could...i haven't counted, but i'd guess we have about 60 of them stacked on our coffee table.

therefore, blockbuster has declared february "Free Movie Month" on elaine drive.

i spent the first couple days of february in tampa, so i got a slow start**, but since then i have watched 4 movies in 4 days and paid zero dollars and zero cents. talk about the greatest deal ever. i'm hoping to make it well into double digits with this deal - maybe 20 movies? 21? 22? i've pretty much picked through the new releases (although i still feel a slight tug to watch Semi-Pro - Will Ferrell and ANDRE 3000?!?!), but i need some guidance on some movies that people feel i ought to watch during the next 22 days. i grew up without much movie knowledge - i saw Jurrasic Park for the first time just last year - but i feel that this is my chance to make a slight comeback so i can hold my own in SceneIt and become a part of many more cinematic conversations.

so any suggestions on what i should see next? i get this sense that those who frequent my blog have wonderful taste in movies. so please help a brother out.

heck. if you're lucky you might get an end-of-the-month list complete with some sort of ranking system - actually you're likely to get that anyway. my blogging is not contingent on my frequenters actions.

-ap.

* - the best one they had to offer was 6 crunchy tacos for 3.99 - but i already can get 2 burritos and 2 crunchy tacos for 1.99 with my local radio station discount card (QCard), so i could get 4 burritos and 4 crunchy tacos - 8 items - for the same price as 6 crunchy tacos. i choose the QCard. because 8 > 6. it's science.

** - this "set back" is not a bad thing. i'm perfectly fine with missing a couple days of movies because i'm busy going to the superbowl with the girl i love. there are worse things that could've delayed me. love > the superbowl > free movie month...this is also science.

i went to the superbowl.

whenever something ridiculously huge happens in my life, i always find myself really struggling to blog about it. i know that my writing and words cannot do the experience justice - i just can't put down words that can convey the utter thrill and excitement accompanied with certain events.

such is the case with Superbowl XLIII.

yes. i was there. i was sitting 21st row at the 50 yardline...no, not CLOSE to the 50 yardline. AT the 50 yardline - seat 1. if i leaned to the right, then the NFL logo at midfield was on my left, and if i leaned to the left, the NFL logo was on my right. we're talking dead center. somehow my life went from struggling poor college student scrapping for rent money to VIP member at the West Bungalo pregame extravaganza.

i could bore everyone with highlights from the game, but i'm going to focus on the things that people might not know just watching it on tv. ready break.

1. there was like a 4:1 steelers to cardinals fan ratio. the terrible towels were out constantly. it might as well have been a home game for pittsburgh - which makes sense - pittsburgh actually has a history of success and something to cheer for, the cardinals...not so much. so people paid the dough and drove down the east coast to watch their team win the lombardi trophy. all the cardinals fans were people like me who just happened to be in the right place at the right time and needed someone to root for - so they chose the underdog because everyone likes a cinderella story (go relish). as rick reilly put it: "most arizona fans you met in tampa had been lifelong cardinals fans for a least three weeks."

2. when i go watch games in person as opposed to on television i've always been so surprised at how small everything seems. 100 yards is not that big and 10 yards for a first down looks so simple. but on tv when i hear "3rd and 15" it seems like the most impossible task in the world. i expected it to be "bigger" than it was, but in reality it was just normal sized. it wasn't disappointing or anything, just a strange observation.

3. raymond james stadium isn't anything special. they've got a neat little pirate ship in the stands of one endzone but it's not even that impressive, but the sound system suuuucks. they only have speakers on one end of the stadium and since there were so many raucous steelers fans i dont know if i ever heard the referee make a call clearly.

4. the end of the game was completely anticlimactic - at least for anyone hoping the cardinals would drive down and score again. warner gets sacked and fumbles the ball. it was extremely questionable whether it was a forward pass or a fumble. in the NFL, under two minutes there is ALWAYS a booth review about anything questionable. so warner fumbles and the steelers recover and pitt sends out its offense as fast as they can to kneel the ball. everyone in the stands and on the field - excluding the pittsburgh offense - is standing around waiting for a booth review. but the whistle never came and the review never happened and everyone was just puzzled. it wasn't a moment of jubilation and fist-pumping madness - it was a moment of curiosity and uncertainty. arizona had about 26 guys out on the field when the ball was snapped to end the game. the confetti started coming down and it just seemed...really uncomfortable. i dont know if you guys got that sense at home, but the game ended in a not-so-triumphant fashion.

5. okay i said i wasn't going to say anything about the actual game itself, but there are two large mistakes that the cardinals made that led to their loss. let me mention them now:

- they won the coin toss and chose to kick. when your offense is your strength and you're the underdog in the game, you need to employ your strength to gain momentum early. instead they choose to kick to start the game so they can recieve in the second half. the cardinals should never have chosen to kick it away. they needed to start the game off in their control, but instead you got a steelers crowd pumped up for their offense and it was an uphill battle the entire game.

- moments before the harrison interception for a TD that ended the first half - the cardinals made a huge mistake. 1st and Goal at the 1 yardline with 18 seconds on the clock - arizona calls their final timeout of the half. this is where they blew it. they no longer had a chance to run the ball or kick a field goal at that point. had they spiked the ball on first down they could have taken two shots at the endzone - a quick fade to fitzgerald in the corner on second down, a run up the middle on third down - called timeout - and kicked a field goal if they both failed. but instead, the cardinals panicked and used their timeout on first down. so now they dont have the option to run so the steelers drop back in goal line coverage instead of pounding the line. and wouldn't you know if james harrison wasn't staring down kurt warner and jumps the route for an INT and runs it 100 yards for an TD. bad decision on the part of coach wiz and todd haley.

anyway. if i write anymore then no one will read it. it's already too long probably. just ask me about it if you want to know more and i'll probably tell you. one of the biggest experiences of my life, and i'm sorry if my words can't convey that truth.

also, did anyone tape it or tivo it? cause i want to see if i got on tv. and i want to see that warner fumble played back in slow-mo.

-ap.

yikes. crossies.

-ap.