portland nights : the ballad of tommy hartings

400TH AND FINAL POST!!!!! (sort of)

2011-05-24T23:15:00.000-07:00

they say "all good things must come to an end", but what do they know. this blog started shortly after i moved to portland and has gone on to inspire hundreds if not thousands of people around the globe. since starting the blog almost 5 years ago, a lot has changed. adrienne and i got married, we bought a house, we got a puppy, etc, etc...and like everything else in my life, this blog needs room to change. thus it is with great pleasure that i now direct you to a new and improved combination thomas-adrienne blog !!!

http://thomas-adrienne.tumblr.com/

its all the fun of portland nights combined with the excitement and joy of box of chocolates. i hope you'll follow us both as we start this new adventure. thanks for everything and if you ever need a sentimental walk down the life of tom 2006 -2011 trail, all these posts will remain up as long as blogger will allow it.

DUANE'S LAST DAY

2011-05-24T22:29:00.001-07:00

despite not being released yet, the basketball design team at adi got a preview of the hangover part 2. this was not the movie you're thinking of though...instead it a one man show courtesy of duane on his last day. luckily by the afternoon we convinced him to get on the court and sweat out whatever was left from the night before. in all honesty, it is really sad that duane is moving on and we're losing yet another great designer, but we're happy for him and we're all a little better off for having worked with champagne duane.

RANDOM

2011-05-16T20:43:00.000-07:00

from top to bottom

adrienne being bored

glow in the dark shoes

my trophy arrives and looks mahvahlous in front of the tv

obstructed view of the freemont bridge

our new imac...so pretty

LADYFACE

2011-05-16T20:37:00.001-07:00

silly puppy pictures

EASTER WEEKEND

2011-04-27T17:07:00.001-07:00

its not every weekend that you get to go to a throwback jersey birthday party (notice my impression of latrell sprewell), see miles of tulips with your puppy (who may or may not actually understand the idea of posing for pictures..she actually tilted her head and kissed adrienne on command for one shot), and have brunch with a few friends (and their new puppy, pandi ) and enough food to feed an army, but that was easter weekend this year and it was all very good.

DAS BOOT

2011-04-18T12:41:00.001-07:00

celebrating george's move to the originals department meant one thing...das boot. (in case you were wondering, george is the half scottish \ half italian speedo wearing jedi in the photoshop image.)

TIMBERS ARMY

2011-04-18T12:12:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loYS5Vgo5JA

last thursday, adidas sent the entire village to the home opener for our new mls team, the portland timbers. having gone to plenty of columbus crew games before, i was somewhat prepared for the level of play i was about to see. what i was not prepared for was the intensity of the timbers army. having only seen one game, i dont know if this is fair to say, but i believe these are the best fans in the country(including my buddy tony in the front row who i captured on the news thanks to tivo). i know i cannot do the fans justice with my photos, so check out the youtube link above and watch for yourself. i felt very lucky to be a part of the historic home opener for the new franchise. a 4-2 win was a great way to open jeld-wen field, and while i'll still probably be rooting for the crew when they're in town, i have no problem cheering on the timbers every other match.

HOOP SUMMIT

2011-04-12T13:37:00.001-07:00

LADY : BEFORE AND AFTER

2011-04-12T13:33:00.000-07:00

just a little trim for the puppy :)

WORK WORK WORK

2011-04-04T17:54:00.000-07:00

cereal friday - established

jenny's birthday - celebrated

duane's ncaa bracket - amazing

MOM AND DAD VISIT

2011-03-30T16:35:00.000-07:00

we won't have to eat for a month. great visit.

SHAMROCK RUN 2011

2011-03-16T18:20:00.000-07:00

WORK WORK WORK

2011-03-05T10:42:00.001-08:00

since adrienne and i have been working so much (its saturday morning, and i am at work right now), its seems like i've been letting my posting slip a bit lately. we actually have been going out a lot, but the photos just don't seem to find their way on here, so until i get to those posts, i figured i'd throw up some fun work stuff. at the top is a t shirt that i really want to make. since derrick rose's nickname from his grandmother is "pooh", i thought it was fitting to use our disney tie to make a fun illustration. i'm working on getting a few t shirts made, so hopefully this will be the first of many i will post about :) as for the ax pictures, they're of a few guys from around the office. mic looks by far the creepiest, but joe and bemnet did a nice job posing as well. a photographer was on site to help promote the start of our new mls franchise the timbers / give people images that will haunt their nightmares for weeks to come. finally, david and i got to meet nic batum in the employee store a few days ago. since we're working on shoes for him, it turned out to be a pretty good opportunity to get a couple insights from one of the really good young players, not only on the blazers, but in the nba.

ze MOTHERLAND

2011-02-17T13:45:00.000-08:00

SAN FRANCISCO

2011-02-15T16:49:00.001-08:00

MARATHON WEEKEND IN AZ

2011-01-20T10:58:00.001-08:00

ATR IS OUT

2011-01-11T16:45:00.000-08:00

part of the family is moving on. best of luck buddy, its never going to be the same around here without you :)

CITY LIQUIDATORS

2011-01-07T18:16:00.001-08:00

if you need a whole lot of random crap...have i got a place for you. city liquidators has the biggest supply of random nonsense for at least a thousand mile radius. i didnt buy anything this time, but keep checking the blog, because its really only a matter of time before i make a bad decision and pick something up.

UNREAL

2011-01-07T17:51:00.000-08:00

while creating myself in the new game i got for christmas, i found out that my player could actually wear a shoe that i designed in real life. not only that, but you can customize colors, so in the game i actually get to wear the TRON version i first sketched that will probably never get made. speaking of which, adrienne, eric and i saw tron over christmas and if you are not familiar with the story, a "creator" gets caught in his own video game world...you see where i'm going with this. if i ever disappear, check behind the nba 2k11 video game at my office :)

(up top is the final production shoe - the pro madness - below that is my original rendering with tron inspiration images )

2010 CHRISTMAS

2011-01-07T17:21:00.000-08:00

home for the holidays :)

HOLIDAY PARTY

2010-12-14T17:10:00.001-08:00

its nice to have a break from all the stress of drawing shoes and taking ski trips. so, the holiday party returned this year after a 3 year break, and was a smashing success. highlight of the night had to be seeing david cin without a hat, glasses, or wind pants...unbelievable.

REASON #143 WHY MY JOB IS BETTER THAN YOURS

2010-12-10T16:44:00.000-08:00

free ski trip with open bar... simply amazing

SNOW !!!!!

2010-12-02T15:06:00.001-08:00

THANKSGIVING BREAK

2010-12-02T15:00:00.001-08:00

PHOTO FUN

2010-11-18T19:57:00.000-08:00

i have not been great about keeping track of what ive been doing, but i've dominated taking random photos, so here we go. everything from squirrels to bridges, signs, dead birds, double rainbows and of course lady. if you have time, come up with your own story for each of these photos and email it to me for a chance to win 1 million dollars. ok, i can't back that up, but using your imagination is fun, so come up with the stories anyhow.

NEW TOY FOR MY BDAY !!!

2010-11-18T19:45:00.000-08:00

adrienne once again went waaay above and beyond for my bday and got me this new canon s95. it is probably the best point and shoot ever (seriously, its that good.) anyways, as soon as i can get everything set up, the photos you see on this blog should be even better than now!!!! i know, hard to imagine :)

SUPERLADY !

2010-11-18T19:42:00.001-08:00

protecting the backyard from evil squirrels and birds.

TRACK SUIT DAY

2010-11-05T16:10:00.000-07:00

its so much fun being idiots.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

2010-11-02T08:36:00.001-07:00

SAMURAI PUPPY LIKES RIDING IN THE FRONT SEAT.

2010-10-23T21:04:00.000-07:00

MARIO KART

2010-10-23T21:01:00.001-07:00

jenny from work is probably the best mario kart player ever. if you're wondering what we were doing playing mario kart at work, you wouldnt be alone. we actually hooked up the wii to play the new nba jam, as that is in some way research for our job, but the mario kart was a nice bonus to help us relax from all that "research". yes, my job is amazing...i am aware of this.

THANKS FOR WATCHING!

2010-10-23T20:50:00.000-07:00

it was a lot of fun seeing ourselves on tv, but it was way more fun hearing what everyone else had to say about the show. we hope you all enjoyed it, and that you didnt find too many things to make fun of the next time you see us. RACECAR BEDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UO v. UCLA

2010-10-23T20:21:00.000-07:00

last thursday after a half day at work a group of us went down to eugene to watch the ducks take on the bruins. at first i thought everyone was giving us bad looks because we had so many people in ucla gear, but now that i see the pictures, i think they were just worried that adrian was going to murder them :) the game ended in a close 60-13 finish, but despite the lopsided score, the game was a blast, and it was a lot of fun to hang out with everyone outside of work.

WORK STUFF

2010-10-23T19:58:00.000-07:00

in order to celebrate the new "fast don't lie" campaign at work, they brought in a pop a shot, money grab machine and other fun ridiculous props. i have no idea what david was doing, but huge tmac jerseys and sandals dont lie either.

VISIT FROM JOHN

2010-10-10T20:16:00.000-07:00

thanks to the supernanny(john was doing video work for the show and they were in portland), i got a visit from my old high school buddy and his girlfriend courtney. it was great catching up and eating some excellent food, and with any luck, pdx will have made a good enough impression that we could be seeing john and courtney a whole lot more.

LADY ORNAMENT

2010-10-10T20:07:00.000-07:00

even though it required a little paint to make it match perfectly, hallmark helped us out by releasing a pretty cute ornament resembling lady. (yes i know its only october, but i'm already excited for christmas)

I LIKE IT OUTSIDE

2010-10-07T18:15:00.001-07:00

portland has been beautiful lately. unfortunately i havent had much time to get out and take pics, but here are some of the shots of the outside. *note for adrienne - i know you dont like spider pictures, but this one was super tiny and pretty cool looking so i had to post it.

LADY IS FIXED

2010-10-07T18:13:00.001-07:00

no puppies for you!

FANTASY BASEBALL CHAMPION

2010-10-07T17:58:00.000-07:00

in my first attempt at fantasy baseball, i earned my first fantasy baseball title. its sort of like adding an expansion team that wins the world series its first season. highly unlikely, but not impossible. as you can see from the graph above my trophy (trophy not actually real ..yet..i will have a real one soon according to commish rick) i pretty much dominated the entire year. i did have a little scare at the end of the season as will came storming back to take the lead for a day. in the end, my holy cows came through and gave me enough points to secure the win. it was a long season but i'm proud of my imaginary team and their imaginary efforts to win me this imaginary accomplishment :)

ADRIENNE IS 26!

2010-10-07T17:42:00.001-07:00

october 6th was adrienne's birthday, and even though she left on a redeye for ohio that night, we still had time to eat a little chinese and berry tort. the bling she's got on was a gift from her adoring husband...unfortunately she couldnt open it on her birthday because she is very impatient and sneaky. despite those flaws, i still love her very much and can't wait till she's back in portland.

THE BIG SHOW

2010-09-29T23:32:00.000-07:00

OCT 13th 2010

8:30 PM

adrienne and tom's television debut!

hide your kids, hide your wife.

BASKETBALL NIGHT

2010-09-29T23:19:00.001-07:00

as design season gets more involved, my posts get fewer and farther between. thanks to adrienne though, i do have a few pictures of our basketball team. right now "team adidas" is 4-2 and we're starting to play a little better as a team. more importantly than our record, i get to post more pictures of tyler, who, if you remember - helped me go 9 and 0 in yard games - giving us an overall record of 13 and 2...not bad at all.

FOOTBALL PARTY

2010-09-18T11:45:00.001-07:00

an ohio state win

lots of booze

9-0 in yard games with tyler (see close up that i thought i was going to be in too, but clearly had lost control of the zoom on my camera)

good food

lady dressed as a football

football party = great success

MY SHOES

2010-09-08T21:58:00.000-07:00

sixth element (team chemistry edition - matt hartings exclusive)

sixth element (china exclusive)

thriller

adidas team color

pro madness

3 series 2010

rapid bounce

floater 08

dynamo formotion (china exclusive)

elemental formotion (china exclusive)

adizero bash (japan exclusive)

its been a little while since i've posted any of the shoes that i've designed the past few seasons. this isnt all of them, but its a pretty good sample of what i've been up to. a couple of models are only availble in china or japan, but if you're over there, feel free to pick up a pair and let me know how they work out for you :)

MORE LADY PICTURES

2010-09-04T08:00:00.001-07:00

in addition to lots of walks, completing puppy training class, and a little time at the playground, lady had to hang out with henry (brian and michelle's puppy) for a weekened, and while henry wasnt really crazy about hanging out with lady- i think they'll learn to like each other...eventually.

WHATS GOING ON AT WORK

2010-09-04T07:38:00.000-07:00

highlights of the last few weeks were as follows

1. derrick favors and wes johnson showed up at the village to sign autographs and show off why they were 2 of the top picks in this years draft.

2. .david cin started a money printing operation that is going to make us all rich

3. jenny and i replaced the face of lemarcus Aldridge near boom's desk with his other favorite justin beiber....boom still hasn't noticed

TAKE IT EASY EVERYONE!

2010-08-26T21:12:00.000-07:00

my apologies to everyone who reads this blog and thought that adrienne and i had a baby. while i would have no problem claiming jack as my own, he is a nephew, and belongs to my brother matt and his wife erika. in the future i will be sure to be a little clearer with my posts :)

MATTANDERIKAHADABABYITSABOY!

2010-08-20T08:40:00.000-07:00

july 25th 2010
jack alexander hartings

to future jack who will be able to read this on some sort of irobot-ish floating screen - i apologize for the late posting of your arrival. i promise to do everything in my power to make it up to you, probably mostly through shoes and ridiculous stories about your dad which will allow you to make fun of him for many years to come.
hooray jack! good work on the tan as well, you look mahhhvelous :)

LADY IN THE WATER

2010-08-18T22:22:00.001-07:00

CHICAGO

2010-08-18T20:53:00.000-07:00

JO JO AND KYLE VISIT

2010-08-03T00:21:00.001-07:00

following up on the wildly successful mom and dad visit, we hosted jo jo and kyle for a weekend of fun and lots of food. with trips to the coast, waterfalls and east side, we worked up pretty healthy appetites. after eating at portland city grille, jo bar, russell street, bahgdad theatre, and a number of other fine establishments, i'm not really sure if i will ever need to eat again. it was sooo much fun having jo jo and kyle around for the weekend, and as soon as they/ we win the lottery, we'll be hanging out even more. :)

MOM AND DAD VISIT : PART 2

2010-08-02T23:54:00.000-07:00

ok, so i didnt post all the photos of the improvements, but here is a list of the accomplishments of the weekend:

new bathroom flooring in both bathrooms (pictured)

both bathrooms painted

office painted

fireplace and lighting fixtures painted

garage cleaned out

tools i needed - bought

new kitchen faucet - installed

thousands of blueberries - picked

pies - baked

jam- made

ankles - twisted and sprained

MOM AND DAD VISIT PORTLAND

2010-08-02T23:32:00.000-07:00

i will add more pics soon, but i have been falling behind on posts, so i wanted to make sure i got this one started. next post will include photos of all the amazing upgrades that mom and dad made while vacationing in pdx. of course they didnt just work, and we had a lot of fun as well. the beer fest, abby bach festival, mirror lake hiking, and gustav's were just a few of the highlights, but again, i will post more very soon. until then, i will just say, adrienne and i cannot thank mom and dad enough for making this one of the most fun and clearly the most productive weeks we've spent in our new house since we've moved in :)

SPAIN WINS THE WORLD CUP

2010-07-11T21:12:00.001-07:00

david garcia can rest easy, spain is the world cup champion 2010.

the 1-0 defeat came on a goal in the 118th minute, and gave the spaniards in courthouse square plenty of reason to celebrate.thanks to adidas for providing the ladies with matching shirts to keep them warm at b-w's.

LADY UPDATES

2010-07-11T20:31:00.000-07:00

as you can see from from the pics, lady is doing well, and has not been acting up at all ;) unfortunately being so hot, we had to get lady her first haircut, and she is not quite the fluffy mess that we've been getting used to, but she's still pretty cute, and i'm sure the fluff will be back soon :)

BEHIND DOOR #2...A NEW CAR !!!!

2010-07-11T19:34:00.000-07:00

ok, so i didnt win this car on a gameshow, but i was still pretty excited when the dealer accepted our offer. i've always loved the design of the 350z, so hopefully now that we have one, i'll enjoy driving it just as much.

4TH OF JULY

2010-07-11T19:16:00.001-07:00

i do promise that our first 4th of july party had more going on than just puppies playing, cornhole, and friends dressing the same, but thats about all i got photos of. david cin was the official photographer for the day, so i'll try to post his pics soon. until then, thanks to everyone that showed up and made the holiday so much fun for the whole group.

also, if anyone is interested, a double cheesburger with no veggies is now known as the tomburger.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME....

2010-06-30T22:20:00.001-07:00

DRIVING CROSS COUNTRY

2010-06-30T20:40:00.000-07:00

in a quick snapshot, this is america. ok, so i missed a whole bunch of stuff, but this was matt and my journey from l.a. over to joshua tree, then on to phoenix (thank you jo jo and kyle for the amazing hospitality and wonderful road candy and cookies. my pictures from that night are on my other camera, so i'll have to post those later), next to the grand canyon, and then the long drive to kansas city. if you're wondering why there arent many photos from that portion of the trip, don't. that area is not worth photos. not even digital photos. ok, there was this one place called "topless country" that was somewhere in new mexico, but it was only worth taking a picture to prove that even in an area without people for hundreds of miles, a topless bar can still exist. who are these people??? anyways, k.c. was full of great food, beer, and of course pete and julie. despite the u.s. exiting the world cup in disappointing fashion, we had a great time and pete's new place and were quite impressed with his handy man skills. after that, we hit the home stretch to piqua and a delicous cassanos pizza. there is obviously much more that i could write about this fantastic voyage, but i'll leave you with two simple questions. "do you like cereal?" and "what is better than a round of golf?" if you can answer these both correctly, you had a great time driving through the u.s.a with your brother.

BOYS WEEKEND AT THE LAKE

2010-06-30T20:15:00.000-07:00

the 4th edition of boys weekend was an amazing adventure on portage lake near akron, ohio. filled with world cup fun, fifa madness, grilling, speeding around the lake at 9.4 mph, and of course kaiser puppy, the boys of 2153 were in rare form. i always wish that the weekend would last a little longer, but for now, i'll have to settle for a countdown to next year.....possibly in vegas???? to be continued..... :)

HEY LADY!

2010-06-18T07:41:00.000-07:00

PLAYING CATCH UP

2010-05-30T21:57:00.000-07:00

its been a little while since i've got a chance to post, so i thought i'd catch everyone up on whats new in oregon. first,as you can see from above, the alero hit the 150k mile mark. its still looking pretty good, but i am in the market for something new. so, if you have any good suggestions, let me know, and you may see a photo of my new car in a few weeks. second, boom and rob did...whatever boom and rob were doing in that photo. we were all on adidas roof enjoying the 1 dollar beer "thirsty thursday" that runs the next few weeks. finally, we have a few photos of our new puppy. we will officially become puppy parents in june (at which point i'll probably post a few hundred more puppy pics), but for now, enjoy the few photos of lady that we do have. if you're trying to find her in the group photo, she's the pleasently plump puppy on the right :)

BACK FROM CHINA

2010-05-17T10:30:00.000-07:00

now that i'm back in u.s. where the gov't can't control my blog, i'm finally able to let everyone see the photos from our trip. there are almost too many stories to get into one post, but the highlights are definitely worth mentioning.

1. nugget night with david cin. i've never seen so many scared mcdonalds workers as this. i believe one actually screamed when we walked in the door. honestly though, i can't really blame her. we did finish 130 nuggets between 5 guys, and that was only because we couldnt figure out how to order more. it was truly disgusting in a delicous way.

2. maria's birthday bash at the thai restaurant. in addition to a cake and flowers, maria almost got a face full of icing from dragon brother. luckily, she is a trained flower fighter and used her bouquet of lilys to keep her distance.

3. seeing the hong kong skyline from the water and the top of the city. its one of the most amazing cities in the world, and i feel extremely lucky to visit everytime i go.

4. duane is nuts. whether it was being classy in the lounge, starting new hat fashion trends in fuzhou (to adrian's delight), singing his own amazing lyrics in ktv, ( or backing drew up on his 12 baby clap version of a song that used to be sung 1, 2 baby clap), falling asleep in the lobby, creating a camelsaurus rex to eat maria's smiley face guy...who also went after an unsuspecting m.s.), creating the best asian alias for anyone ever, ( in this case it was chris who will now only be known as bobby u. facebook), giving the security at fuzhou airport the thrill of their life ( one girl actually yelled "oh my god!" when she saw his passport - in fairness to her, i think i had the same reaction..he did sort of look like coolio), or just generally making adrian look cooler no matter where he went, duane was a hilarious addition to the trip.

5. kohei setting up the first annual reebok v. adidas basketball tournament. unfortunately this year we struggled a little bit without much height, but we feel good about our future, and it was awesome meeting the team from reebok. kohei was clearly a popular guy over there, and i dont see any reason why the same won't be true at adi.

6. there are so many more stories, and events that made this trip great, but i guess if you want to hear those, you'll have to call me and have a bunch of free time to kill. china was very good to us this trip, but you can never beat the feeling of being home.

SOME OTHER STUFF YOU MISSED

2010-04-25T20:32:00.000-07:00

from top to bottom

1. i had to go to jury duty last week. it was a lot of fun, and even though i didnt get called into a trial, i still passed judgement on everyone there.

2. the car hood of a woman i would consider letting take care of my pets if it wasnt for the iguana living in her hair, and the fact that she's insane.

3. a giant rabbit along t.v. highway that is now apparently rooting for the blazers
4. the best wife ever.

5. the best bill walton crocheted doll i've ever seen. also the only bill walton crocheted doll i've ever seen.

SPRING IS HERE..AND IT BROUGHT YARD WORK

2010-04-25T20:15:00.001-07:00

here are a few of the pretty things around our yard that we would like to keep alive. despite not knowing exactly what to do with all the plants we have, we are going to do our best to keep them happy so that we can enjoy colors like for as long as we own this house.
(rob and nozomi's party was so good that i've decided to put them in every post from now on..ok, actually they just came over to watch the blazer game, but it was a really good party.)

I LOVE THE 90'S

2010-04-25T19:40:00.000-07:00

over the weekend, rob d., a.k.a. "white jesus" (check out the i.d. card) hosted an amazing 90's party, complete with some of the best music ever recorded and the most delicous snacks ever assembled. as you can see from above, i chose to attend as dad's favorite las vegas airport celebrity flavor flav. to my surprise, the helmet was quite comfortable, and i may begin wearing it on a regular basis..but that is neither here nor there...what is important, is that rob and nozomi are awesome, and they definitely know how to throw an amazing costume party.

EASTER WEEKEND IN SURPRISE

2010-04-11T19:22:00.000-07:00

as you can tell by the number of pictures, the weekend was packed full of fun and excitement. while the easter egg hunt, spa day, birthday fun, and baseball game were all wonderful, i think the highlight of the weekend (other than jesus of course) might have been b dubs. not only did team gutz tj put on the most amazing trivia performance of all time, matt also managed to claw a green bunny out of the prize time machine at the front of the restaurant. unfortunately, as adrienne's photo proves, all good things must come to an end, and we had to make our way back to portland. thank goodness for digital cameras though, because between dad, matt, jo jo and myself all taking pictures, i think we can pretty much relive the entire weekend frame by frame if we want to :)

AUF WIEDERSEHEN ULISSE

2010-03-23T20:15:00.000-07:00

over the last three days we've been saying goodbye to our german friend ulisse. he's been interning at adi for the last 6 months, and will be a full time employee in herzo very shortly. so, while we are sad to lose him, we're happy we'll still be able to keep tabs on him. over the last few days, we watched a little march madness, had a goodbye dinner at matador, and the cherry on top - a short shorts basketball game. there were too many great moments to really capture them in one post, but i think its obvious from these pics that everyone loved having ulisee around, and we will all be looking forward to his return :)

SHAMROCK RUN

2010-03-14T21:21:00.000-07:00

today i participated in my second shamrock run. to my surprise, the sun was actually shining this morning ( a morning cut short by the springing forward of time which robbed me of sleep from 2-3 a.m.). the 5k was just far enough for me to remember why i dont run all that often, and my time reflected that lack of training. that being said, we all knew the best part of the day was going to be the after race meeting at thirsty lion. with boddington's on draught and fantastic pub pretzels, its always a good choice if you're downtown.

* a special thanks go out to thomas coxon for supplying me with the most comfortable socks i've ever run in.

thanks also go out to drew oling for rocking the mobile, alabama leprechaun t shirt that i made him last year.( and practicing that facial expression for months in preperation for that picture.)

GOING GREEN

2010-03-06T18:43:00.000-08:00

in an attempt to bring a little bit of the outside in, we are putting a few coats of a brighter green in the dining and living rooms. since adrienne has been waiting months to paint, we've been making pretty quick work of things, but we still have quite a few more rooms to do, so if anyone wants to visit and lend a hand we'll be happy to leave a wall blank for you.

LI NING OPENS STORE IN PORTLAND : TOM HARTINGS SIGHTING!

2010-02-21T16:30:00.000-08:00

recently li ning, the chinese footwear brand, opened a store in downtown pdx. chris padilla and i went to check out the new competition. while checking out the goods, a photographer snapped the pic of me for sole collector.com (despite my best effort to stay hidden in camo). the store itself is pretty small, but its good to see that new brands are still popping up and causing a stir. the picture at top is the new shoe and "beardman" logo (for li ning athlete baron davis) which i still contend gilbert arenas came up with in his impossible is nothing commercial years earlier.

GOOD WEEKEND TO BE OUTSIDE

2010-02-21T15:39:00.000-08:00

portland has been graced with a little springtime weather in february which meant that i finally got outside to mow the yard for the first time....the yard itself doesnt look that great yet, so i chose to show one of the trees that is looking good. regardless, the old superstars got a nice coat of green that i think suits them just fine.

A VERY FUN VISIT

2010-02-12T18:32:00.000-08:00

last weekend, matt, erika, kaitlyn, and claire came up from cali to visit pdx and see the new house. after a quick tour, we gave the park down the street a test run. the next day we packed skyline breakfast, the portland children's museum, naps, mt. tabor, iorio, and pix all in...well, we almost got pix in...but a little bit of it ended up back out ;) sunday, matt and i took the little girls to see some waterfalls and do a little hiking before the super bowl and pizza. monday, i went back to the real world of working, but adrienne took off and brought everyone to the zoo. it was great having the whole crew in town, and we'll be looking forward to the next time we get everyone together.

DONKEY BASKETBALL ??

2010-02-12T18:19:00.001-08:00

i was unaware that donkeys or "dunkeys" as mom would say, even knew what basketball was..but apparently they do. while there was a bit of chaos, dunkey basketball did not exactly live up to our crazy expectations, and everyone walked away relatively healthy. none the less, it was a good time, and it raised money for members of our armed forces, so i suppose it was worth the trip to the salem fairgrounds.

...WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS

2010-01-24T21:22:00.001-08:00

this weekend jo jo and kyle met us in las vegas for a little fun and nonsense. despite the fact that it was actually cooler in vegas then portland, we made the most of our 2 days in the desert. the trump definitely lived up to its 5 star rating..i'm still recovering from the buffet we ate at..the eyelashes that everyones heard so much about looked great (even as a mustache / nosehair / unibrow ) , tao was pretty baller (especially since we didnt have to pay cover due to our wonderful concierge at the trump) , and we even came out ahead of the casinos (see adrienne's ticket with her big winnings). all in all, it was a fantastic weekend that may have to become a yearly tradition :)

BACK TO L.A.

2010-01-24T21:03:00.000-08:00

for the second time in two weeks, i was in l.a....this trip was with the adidas basketball team, and was a nice break from the solid week of work that i had put in for 2010. actually it was a great trip that helped plan out our next few seasons and bring our team quite a bit closer. i guess spending a whole night together where you go to 9 clubs (but only get in 1 for all of 12 minutes before the lights come on and they kick you out into the street where a fight ensues that makes you fear for your life), will tend to do that.

VACATION FUN CONTINUED...

2010-01-24T20:48:00.001-08:00

WHAT I DID ON MY XMAS VACATION

2010-01-07T22:01:00.001-08:00

OLD MAN HARTINGS' CURVE ALMOST CLAIMS ANOTHER VICTIM

2009-12-19T08:46:00.001-08:00

after returning from a lovely night at the moose with rick, kelty, joni, and some of sidney's finest, i was challenged with my first snow driving in years. of course i handled everything with the skill of a seasoned nascar veteran, but that stretch of road is legendary. having lived on that curve for the better part of my life, i have seen what can happen if you don't respect its awesome power. with that in mind, i still almost fell victim to this infamous byway. as you can see from the photo above, i escaped sure disaster by hugging the inside lane and slingshotting into the driveway. it was an extremely eye opening experience and one that i wish to pass on to you. drive safe everyone :)

NATIVITY SCENE SET UP : YEAR 16

2009-12-19T08:21:00.000-08:00

(top) st. peter's basillica - rome, italy

(above) st. patricks cathedral - nyc

(below) st. mary's - piqua

here are some photos of what is now my 16th consecutive year of helping dad put up the nativity scene at church. ( a new saint mary's record ) we were a little short handed this year, what with matt slacking off in california, andy burner coming up with lame excuses about his daughter's basketball games, dave seifring backing out last minute, and mike bertke falling off the face of the earth. luckily the holtvogt's had a little piqua pride left and helped big bob, little lois, and i assemble what may be the best looking nativity in the tri state area. i might go so far as to say this is the best looking set in the entire u.s.a. and we'll be going after the world title next year. (challenge to pope benedict - you win, i'll be good for a whole year, and i'll help you take your scene down after the new year... but if you lose, i get to be pope for a day and dad gets to wear your hat to work for a week.)
GAME ON.

NYC

2009-12-19T07:39:00.000-08:00

here are a few of the images from my last work trip to new york. luckily, in addition to our work related stuff, i obviously had time to get out and see some of the touristy stuff as well. for my own personal use, i am going to leave a few notes for the next time i'm in nyc, but they may be helpful for some of you as well :

1. don't try to pay your cab driver with american express if you make him drive you to the middle of brooklyn where it smells like mushrooms and everyone looks like they want to hurt you

2. see something at the upright citizens brigade theatre : but don't stay for the free after show. there is a reason the people that perform then do not get paid

3. go back to moma and the metropolitan museum of art...you can go a thousand times and you won't see everything
4. bring gloves.

5. the bar at the empire hotel charges 8 dollars for a corona, ergo, do not buy it

6. wear comfy shoes

7. go to "the woods" in brooklyn and visit linda and david's friend jeanie if she's still bartending there :)

8. if you see chewing gum on the street, don't pick it up, it isnt free candy

9. if you see a sign that says peep show, that doesnt mean they're letting you look at all the new toys before christmas

10. there are like 30 ray's pizza's, and they all claim to be the original, but the real one is on 11th

STAY-CATION

2009-11-28T17:18:00.000-08:00

adrienne and i just returned from our stay-cation downtown, but technically since its only saturday, its still part of the "trip", so i'll just let everyone enjoy the pics and decide who and what they are about on their own.

AND THE BUCKEYES WIN AGAIN !!!!

2009-11-23T20:56:00.000-08:00

in what i have to admit were pretty sweet throwback uni's(darn you nike), the buckyes handed michigan another loss in our rivalry's long history. as you can see from the crystal clear picture from our new flat screen (helpful for watching games that are on at 9 in the morning!!!!) this was our 6th consecutive win against the wolverines, which would be pretty impressive, but they are awful. tate forcier was a clear mvp for the buckeyes with his gift fumble in his own end zone and 4 interceptions. not our most impressive victory, but still a great way to go into the rose bowl.

THE SPORTS GUY IN BEAVERTON

2009-11-23T20:43:00.001-08:00

this past week i stood in line with a bunch of other basketball loving oregonians to meet bill simmons and get our basketball books signed. in order to keep things civil, the borders workers handed out colored wrist bands which allowed you to know when it was your turn to line up..since i was in the second to last group, i chose to jump in line and pray that no one was checking wristbands towards the end of the line. luckily i was correct, and i was spared the embarrassment of being kicked out of borders in front of bill simmons. all in all, i dont really know if getting the book signed was worth the wait, but at least i got a picture of some guy getting his book signed who looks enough like me that i can post it on my blog and say that its a picture of me in a tiny hat getting my copy signed :)

JUST A LITTLE LATE

2009-11-17T21:48:00.001-08:00

its so far past halloween that i almost didnt make this post, but then i thought about how sad it would be to deprive everyone of the fun we have at adidas. my favorite part of these costumes was that we had students from art center presenting their work to us the day everyone dressed up. there is nothing funnier than a crazy person (mike bui) trying to give a serious critique of a students work..priceless.

RAMBO GARCIA

2009-11-17T21:36:00.001-08:00

dav-eed is starting a small malitia to begin his own version of "red dawn" in portland. if you have not seen that movie, stop reading now and go buy it, or rent it, and watch it. nothing i write will come close to being as entertaining as what awaits you.

BUY IKEA STOCK

2009-11-17T21:25:00.001-08:00

adrienne and i have been very frequent visitors to our local ikea. luckily, because they make you put everything together yourself, you save a little extra money...unfortunately because they make you put everything together, adrienne and i have not had a weekend free of assembly since we bought our house. in any case, we still have a few rooms to go, so if you're looking for a good investment, we should be keeping the stock prices rising for at least the next few weeks :)

MORE HOUSE STUFF

2009-11-08T16:36:00.001-08:00

here are a few extra pics from the neighborhood and a few highlights of the move in day...including our first trick or treat-ers, our giant tv, and some garden goodies left behind by the last owners :)

OUR FIRST PLACE :)

2009-11-08T15:37:00.000-08:00

(pictures above this point are from our filming day....the furniture is the previous owners. we have replaced their decor with a lovely 52" tv which you see below, and a whole bunch of boxes)

so i am obviously waaaayy behind on posting, but moving everything you own, having your wife start a new job, making multiple trips to ikea, and having to bring both cars into the mechanic in the span of a week seriously cuts into the blogging time! anyways, i'll try to post more soon, but this should give everyone a good idea of what the new place looks like :)

10005 SW Marjorie Lane Beaverton, OR 97008

LOLA'S NIGHT

2009-10-18T21:04:00.001-07:00

in celebration of adrienne turning a quarter century old, the whole crew went to lola's for 80's night. what followed was probably the most epic night of dancing any of us had ever experienced. a combination of booze, work deadlines, birthday fun, and 80's clothes united to create the perfect atmosphere for a dancing extravaganza. for anyone interested in visting the northwest in the near future, i have one piece of advice....... bring parachute pants :)

KRUEGER'S FARM

2009-10-18T20:48:00.000-07:00

along with shane maria and our german intern ulisse, adrienne and i drove out to sauvie island for a little fall fun. there were hay rides, a pumpkin patch, corn maze, and even a bonfire that helped take a bit of the chill out of the air. since its only 10 minutes outside of the city, i feel like we'll be making a few more trips to krueger farm before the winter sets in.