The Audio Blog of Steven Sirski

How was Chinese class? What does HSK 5 really mean? Watching another YouTube channel In Chinese, this lady I guess used to live in UAE and taught Chinese to kids. Does all of her videos in comprehensible Chinese. Mentioned 去有风的地方 “Meet Yourself” TV show. Up and out in the morning, chest day today. No run. Recorded another component of the online course. Thinking of uploading allll of my trav...

Up early and out the door! Trying to get back into running in the morning. Leg day today. Yesterday did 7km “around the block”, today was 3km to the gym, 3.5km back. Is this sustainable? And when do I move? Did we go to BreadFest in Beijing? NO! 39 RMB for a ticket?? We could buy lots of bread on our own! Qingfeng Park for the flowers… boy was it peaceful. Sorting the books, which ones stay, which...

Up early and out the door! Jet lag hits! Out for a run, 7 km in 59.16, then off to the breakfast place for a small feed, and then the gym for an easy back day. Spent the day recording the basics of my course. One didn’t record the audio! Grrr! And it’s getting green out there! Catkins are here! Donate to the show! PayPal link below! https://www.paypal.me/stevensirski?locale.x=en_CA *** Show notes...

Cold and rainy, but back at it and into the gym! Light workout to get back into the swing of things. Spent the day troubleshooting VPNs! The life in China! Do all those people on the socials proclaiming the advancements of China (especially on Threads) actually live in China? Or do they only post about it? Cause I tried ShadowRocket, LetsVPN, Mullvad, and ended up going back to Astrill. Also looke...

Made it to China! How is it? How was it? The flight! Productive, some bumps along the way. First food was good, breakfast not so good. Paid for in-flight internet and WELL WORTH IT! Paid with points… or I tried to. Contacted customer service and they ended up giving me a promo code for the flight! Free internet! Got some things done and research did. Vietnam, Canada, Argentina, and where else to d...

Here we are at YVR! Importing donuts to see how many survive the trip! How has it been so far? Mostly eventless, though no WIFI on the YWG to YVR flight. Pretzels were good. And free wine and beer on a domestic flight?! (Didn’t have anything.) Sorry about yesterday’s episode, I was falling asleep while posting it! Thirteen hours to Beijing, here we go! Donate to the show! PayPal link below! https:...

OMG I’m at YWG! On the way to Beijing, weee! Am I excited? I have a confession to make. How was security? How long will it take? And how was Easter? Did you go to liturgy? YES! 7.30 am! And stuff is going out the door! Donate to the show! PayPal link below! https://www.paypal.me/stevensirski?locale.x=en_CA *** Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com And on Notion: https://stevensirski.notion.si...

Good day and Good Friday! Or Great Friday as they say in the Ukrainian-Greek Orthodox faith. First time here for Easter since before the pandemic. Off to Starbucks in the morning (using up my points), the city seems pretty open. Off to church for the afternoon service! Very different from when I was a kid. -All in English except for one song -New shroud -No clackers -Cross with thorns was there, b...

Steve, where are you? Have you registered in China yet? Send me your new passport! I guess there’s an inspection going on in the run up to the Trump-Xi summit next month. Pysanka making done! First time in a long time! No workouts in, should I be watching what I eat? And tomorrow’s Good Friday, would you do a complete fast? Donate to the show! PayPal link below! https://www.paypal.me/stevensirski?...

New month! New day! April Fool’s! Not here! THREE HOURS to post a video to Youtube?! Posted yet another YouTube Short and it took just about THREE HOURS from script to screen to edit to publish to get it all done. Why? Had a dream I found my AirPods! In my jacket pocket of all things. Problem is… the jacket in the dream is currently in China. MAKE no more! The price of the coffee business. And we...

End of the month already and the last of the workouts! Where should I go next? What will I do?? Looking for a haircut! Where? When? With who? And what next? Success with Google Sheets! Easy translations! Just because something can be automated, does it mean it SHOULD be? Loza bie, from yesterday’s Ukrainian quote, loza is “vine” or “willow”, so old school Ukrainian. And Star Wars movie props sell...

«Не я б’ю — верба б’є, за тиждень Великдень.» (Ne ya b’yu — verba b’ye, za tyzhden Velykden.) (Mom says “lo za bie, ne ya biu, vid neni za tizden buda valekden”.) And so the saying goes for Palm Sunday. Lent is over, Holy Week is here, Easter is on Sunday. Friday is Good Friday (where the plastchanischya is brought out.) Steve, when are you going back?? (Tickets are even cheaper now!) OIL overboug...

Off to the gym nice n early, hardly anyone there! Not feeling the strength but got it in anyway. Front desk lady changing jobs. Ryan Reynolds has a donut at Tims… why? It was good, but still just a donut. It’s like beer companies sponsoring sports matches. Thinking, advertising for the new site… posters in the libraries?? Off to a talent show! Not sure I’d want to be back in junior high… nor work...

Bought shoes! Aren’t New Balance for old people? $25 for socks? No thanks! Can’t justify the cost, ever? $75 for shorts?? What if I just went to Decathlon? Winnipeg doesn’t have a Decathlon. Realllllyyy? But Uniqlo is about to open! The Airpods… it’s like that airplane taking off feeling… as if your ears are about to pop but don’t. Finished The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, thi...

A new donation! Yey! Thank you! I’ll sending through a signed title card and a little digital package! Bye bye Sora! Hardly knew ya! “The ChatGPT maker and Walt Disney Co. are also winding down their partnership, which had centered on Sora, OpenAI said Tuesday. Disney had previously agreed to license iconic characters including Mickey Mouse and Cinderella to OpenAI for use on Sora and to take a US...

Failed at Gemini! Can’t analyze, transcribe, or tokenize! Hitting a wall of sorts. OF owner Leo Radvinsky dead at 43! Podcasters giving up! What about me? (Could I be one of the longest running podcasts? New tag line! One of Winnipeg’s LONGEST RUNNING PODCASTS! 1250 episodes so far!) https://www.wsj.com/business/media/the-veteran-podcasters-hanging-up-their-headphones-0b1070e1 Why are they giving...

End of an era as Chuck Norris passes away! Did you read the comments? Potholes all over the place! Where do our tax dollars go? Do I even owe tax in Canada?! Gaining weight but is it all bad? Is it muscle gain or just fat? Thanks Reeses… and donuts… and cookies… and everything else. Bought the Airpods! Lost my nail clippers! Seventeen years! No haircut just yet! And Mom to the rescue! Joey’s Only...

Thirty days! The expiry date has arrived! Is it off?! Is it off??!! The hair that is. And the beard? No. Not yet. FOUR HOURS WASTED! Was it? Trying to move files from Wordpress to Google Drive… but where’s the AI? Gemini? Claude or OpenAI? how to make this work? Workout in! Leg day-ish, complete with a decent 25-minute run. Market route continues! When will it end?? From yesterday: GOLD getting CR...

Workout in sans supplements! But got some more at the store just in case. How much? Milk Thistle, zinc and magnesium were on sale. How do I even test for this stuff? Could these supplements just be placebos that enable me to THINK of doing something? And could that then lead me to DEVELOP the abilities, techniques and mindsets? Went to the Apple Store to get my AirPods aaaaand… didn’t get anything...

Demo website done! And it includes a game! Ha! Workout in! Feeling strong enough. How much am I paying per month? $100 vs other people’s $40 a month?!?! How? Why? Library closed! How do you work at home?? Got the gift cards! And I forgot to mention… Team Canada lost again… to the United States… in Paralympics hockey! Final score was 6-2, FFS! Donate to the show! PayPal link below! https://www.payp...

Happy St. Patty’s Day! There are Irish pubs, but no real need to go. Lunch with one of the nieces was good enough Workout in but feeling sluggish! Off Maca, Ashwaganda, Collagen and just about everything. Why? Not working? Or… just need to find my points card?! How’s cleaning going? I’ve got some annual reports to go through. Does this bring you joy? In order to know, you must handle it yourself....

Gemini FAIL! Seemed soo simple and yet… nothing. Back to the drawing board. Maybe it can’t be automated? ChatGPT? Manually? Shopping with Air Miles? Is it worth it?? New pair of Air Pods? Why not? Workout in, feeling heavy, but hitting the chest and getting the run in on the treadmill. Have to! I gained weight! THREE POUNDS! TOO MANY DONUTS! And the state of the market drop, is it done yet? In 202...

One week till the cut off begins! Am I ready?? Big talk, little problems — does OpenClaw actually solve anything? You still gotta program it yourself! Workout in! Mostly legs and some chest. Does YouTube have eye tracing technology? Does the Apple alarm go off earlier? Got a credit card refund! So easy! And yet another reason to go to the office: cat puke! Donate to the show! PayPal link below! ht...

OpenClaw restricted in China? No shhhht. I honestly haven’t looked at this very much. Apparently there ARE multi-platform publishing sites in China… but they’re all in Chinese and all require WeChat login. Safe much? Workout in, not much of a circuit workout, but enough to go around a few times. Market correction underway, only down by 5% or so. How did you like the latest Substack article? That w...

Workout in! But in between visits! Back workout done today, will do my circuit workout tomorrow or Friday. Out early this morning to meet up with one of my Uncles and Aunts, they just got back from Puerto Vallarta. Off to a dance competition… 8am to 10pm?? Five days in a row?? During the WORK WEEK!?! How do you even?? Walking around Downtown Winnipeg, what’s it like? Oh Doughnuts kitchen closes at...