Mark & Miles had their annual checkup. They are both fine and healthy, aside from Miles developing a heart murmur like his brother. He'll get a visit to a cardiologist soon.

Unfortunately, a clean bill of health doesn't stop them from irrigating any non-mobile item.

One thing they irrigated recently (before the trip to the vet: this wasn't pay-back) was my good knitted wool hat.

This hat is a souvenir from Carol and my trip to China, so I'm a little attached to it.

I bought it from a street merchant in Beijing in 2001.

At the time I spoke a little Mandarin: mostly the numbers and a couple phrases I've since forgotten.

Our guide warned us to avoid the street merchants, and only shop at the Government stores he took us to.

So, as soon as he left us alone, I went out wandering. A park near our hotel housed dozens of folks with goods spread on blankets and portable shelves: food, live animals (maybe also food), electronics, pirated CDs, clothing and more.

And one little old lady selling knitted stuff.

I'd packed light, and Beijing in December is cold. One of the items on my list and on her blanket was a hat and scarf combo.

I needed a warm hat. Tomorrow we were scheduled to visit the mountains to walk the Great Wall. It was going to be colder.

I pointed at the hat/scarf combo and the lady told me a price.

It was more than I wanted to pay, even though it was cheap by US standards. Besides, bargaining is part of the fun.

I separated the hat and scarf, pointed at the hat and offered about 1/4 what she asked for.

She put them back together and waved a baby hat - and quoted my offer back to me.

The guide had also warned us to not display how much money we had. I didn't have a lot of Yuan, but I'd folded them in order of small to large and memorized what denominations were on the outside so I could get what I wanted without taking it out of my pocket.

The guide also told us to not accept change from a street merchant for fear of getting counterfeit bills.

In retrospect, the warnings came from a government guide who took us to trustworthy Government Stores. Being truthful is not required for guides. Getting tourists to Government Stores is.

My outermost, and smallest, bill was about 3/4 of the way between my too-low offer and her too-high offer.

I pointed to the hat/scarf combo and offered that amount.

I had a hat and scarf so quickly that I know I could have gotten a better price if I'd been willing to bargain harder and accept change. Despite being able to do better, I was proud of myself for being able to bargain at all in a language I barely spoke.

And either way, I got a very nice hat/scarf combo for about 1/10 what I'd have paid in the US.

I'd like to keep wearing it.

Attending college is supposed to educational. One thing I learned was to not wash and dry knitted stuff in the machines. It's amazing how easy it is to make baby-clothes out of a brand new sweater.

After some discussion with cloth-savvy friends, I soaked the hat in water & Nature's Miracle Enzymatic Cleanser for a few hours, then rolled it in a towel, squeezed it and finally set it on a wire rack near the furnace vent to dry.

This was a success. I can't smell l'eau du chat, and the hat still fits.