Some days do turn out right as rain

I can't say I was surprised by a piece about the growing "luxury goods" tourists coming to Europe from China. They want quality, they've got the money, they'll go to the source. Personally, I'm planning to head to the Temple Street Night Market in Hong Kong at the very end of my ten days in China to find an especially interesting fake watch or three. For this guy, quality isn't really the point. I'm talking character. Somewhat different is the consideration I made earlier today in terms of gifts to bring with me to China. Just in case, I'm thinking. I've read a bit on gift-giving etiquette and I thought I had the right idea. Nothing too extravagant. Maybe something with a story attached. So I thought - small writing journals. I then thought - made here in the good ol' US of A. Not to be obsessed about it, but handing someone in China a lit'l something that turns out was actually made in their own country seems, well, about as special as a kiss from your sister. At the University Bookstore near U-Dub, I found the perfect brand. Made in Tacoma, designed to be used outside in the rain. Named "Rite in the Rain" with yellow - or YELL-ow! - covers on a full spectrum of notebook styles. As someone who's always found the Reporter's Notebook to be a simply-awesome, surely-dated-but-who-cares tool, I've found my new favorite Washington State gifts producer. The Chinese can have their Louis Vuitton runs through Paris. I'll take my paper chase right here in the (general) 'hood. I'll keep you posted on whether those I give these puppies to feel the same way. Trust me - they're awesome.

Until the next page turns...may your little soccer player follow practice by consuming a monster dinner, washing her hair, reading you a book and turning out the light without complaint on your last night before a big trip. I'm a very lucky Dad, indeed.

Who knew "Happy Days" was actually, um, interesting?

I still listen to "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" as a podcast. This morning during a gorgeous run I buzzed through yesterday's show, in which the celebrity interview once more put me in the way back machine. Henry Winkler as the Fonz on "Happy Days" was an icon who struggled mightily to find other roles after the show originated the term "jump the shark" in the 70s. But after being generally quite entertained by the interview with Henry (the dude was on fire), I looked for the actual details. It started simply with checking that the "shark" episode aired in September of 1977 - as the premiere episode in just the fifth season of "Happy Days". Amazingly, the show went on for another seven seasons. You think you know a show - actually I was pretty sure I'd soaked up every possible detail of that seminal Wisconsin show I grew up watching like homestate homework - and then a random connection after all these years gets a guy Googling. To a disorienting effect. Do you remember Fonzie's struggles with his family history - that he was possibly Jewish on the show (I've long since known that Winkler's proudly Jewish in real life)? But beyond that, Mickey Dolenz would have gotten the role if he'd not been so tall (Winkler was cast because he was more on the level with the other actors)? Or that the censors originally denied him a leather jacket because he would look like a "hoodlum" (that sounds like the 1950s, not the 1970s)? Maybe I'm just an easy mark today. Still, consider my mind duly blown.

Until the next page turns...may your own daughter's first soccer league gameday feature a 7 to 1 thumping delivered not received. Not that any of us parents are supposed to be paying attention.

Which NFL authentic jersey would you wear to Fashion Week?

I've never been to Fashion Week. Any of them, anywhere - New York, Milan, Paris, Dubuque, Ulan Bator. Not that I'm unfashionable. I'll happily brag that my wife relies heavily upon me to make the call between prospective outfits she's contemplating. My skills are largely those of a fashion idiot savant, with the equivalent assurance of any former speechwriter currently working as a pundit for FOX News. But I'm now paying more attention thanks to my research for Pelting Out. Would I have gone to Anna Wintour's brainchild shoppanal - Fashion's Night Out 2011 - last night in NYC? Yes, I think I would have braved the crowds. Not for the Bieber, mind you. For the actual nuts and bolts of the fashion. It would have given me at least a slightly more hands-on sense of what may be tried on at China's equivalent Fall fashion features later this month. Oddly enough, I expect to see some of that public rendering when I head to the Far East a week from today. Because the only thing more fascinating but way out of my comfort zone than going to some gala fashion soirees in New York or Europe is to do so in a rapidly developing nation. Add in some of tangential thinking I've been doing, thanks in part to a NYTimes piece on China's appetite for collecting Western art and you've got a case of cultural consumption leapfrog that's wonderfully mind-boggling. If you're intrigued by what this might all mean and what I might bring to bear on the discussion, check back. Real observations - not just these hints of what might be upcoming - are promised in easy to consume chunks of cheese on an unpretentious platter.

Until the next page turns...may your own daughter's new soccer season's schedule not parallel your own NFL team's broadcast schedule.