Inside my shoes and Chinese laces

This doesn't really have to do with anything, except I was looking at my shoes. I had taken them off because I was hot in the newsroom. (I'm always telling fellow reporter Erin Mills, who mans the thermostat on the space heater, it's like returning to the womb).

I recently designed and ordered these shoes on Nike.com.

They're pretty basic compared to a pair I designed several years ago, but I wanted something that I could wear with a variety of things. I've found the Nike Shox are great for my knees.

Anyway, when I received the order the shoestrings were white — not a big deal, you say ... well it was considering I ordered black and paid good money to get what I wanted.

So, rather than just going out and buying some black laces, I sent an e-mail requesting that they send me the black ones I had originally ordered with the shoes. So imagine my surprise when I got a package from the People's Republic of China with laces in them. Evidently, even thought the Nike Empire is based in Beaverton, they had to have my laces shipped from China.