The Audio Blog of Steven Sirski

End of the week, and the middle of the break! Back to Chinese classes, they’re much easier this time round! Re-recorded SLV Episode 59, this one was far better. Workouts in! 7.51km in 46.17 in the morning, weights in the afternoon - 105 pull ups, 210 push ups, 315 squats. Used 5 kg for the middle portion, 10 kg for a couple rounds (10 or 20 pull ups total?), then rows, shoulders and back. Then… ou...

Wow is it quiet around here. Some fireworks yesterday at 8 am, but not much… not that I’m looking. Is that AI agent course worth it? Another WSJ article says… it’s just another course capitalizing on the trend. (But finished my latest homework assignment already.) 1. “Maybe you’re learning how to work more efficiently with the aid of ChatGPT and its robotic brethren. Perhaps you’re taking one of t...

New month! Happy China Day!? 5,000 years of history but today is China Day. Liked today’s hotel breakfast! Will it last? They had ham at breakfast this morning, and goodie bags for kids! (They gave me one). Gotta be careful how much I eat because then I’m just lethargic after! Workouts in! First kilometer was in 8.39, restarted the watch ,next 6.15km was in 33.34. Kilometer 5 was run in 5 minutes,...

End of the month! My how time flies! Work done for the next eight days! Lots to get done. New vlog recorded, editing soon! Maybe I should just re-do the other ones? Workout in, a token effort. Accessory work + 4.01 km run in 36.19. ESL podcasts - they’re talking about things that have been done that I’m just discovering! Or have we all known for a while? AI chatbots, teachers and technology, pros...

A walk around Changping at night, what did I find? Xi’an Small Snacks BiangBiang Mian (𰻞𰻞面)… apparently the character wasn’t able to be printed on screen until 2020. A happy discovery: how to connect my laptop to the school computer AND to my iPad! (Why wasn’t I doing this before?) National Day coming up, when do I leave the breakfasts? GOLD to pull back? Zeal says so.https://zealllc.com/2025/g...

Workouts in! 3.52km in 24.27, then hit the gym for my pull up rounds, took 39 min 49 sec to get 105 weighted pull ups in, push ups, squats, then did some rows and shoulder work. Then back out for another 4.51km run in 30.38. Get it done while I can. And yes, I did a work out on Wednesday as well. (7.32km run in 47.34 in the morning, then hit the gym after the work meeting for legs and chest day.)...

Learning all about APIs… remember what I said about Granola being a “wrapper” for ChatGPT? Well, using an API key would be how you would build such a program. LOL, coming across “On this day last year” memes on TikTok! Back when I was posting regularly. (And yes, still doing outreach.) Edited SLV Episode 58. It might be that I just get these podcasts out later cause I’m having trouble finding the...

Mosquitoes in the room! How did it go with your hotel neighbours the other day? Quite fine. I think they moved apartments. Called the front desk, told them the situation, front desk asked if I wanted to move and I said no cause I’ve been living here. Knocked on the wall (gently, not aggressively). I don’t think they heard me the first time but the second time they did. And then it went quiet and I...

New SLV Episode recorded, thinking, should I continue? How is the AI course? Is it really going to change anything? Learning N8n and need to get an OpenAI API key. No workout today, find myself slowing down. Only one week until National Day, anything planned? How was Granola… the APP? Donate to the show! PayPal link below! https://www.paypal.me/stevensirski?locale.x=en_CA ***Show notes n tracks up...

Yup, don’t like the neighbour! But now I have new neighbours at the hotel! FKD UP the return journey to the hotel! Tried to catch the 45, but it only runs every 30 minutes, so ended up finding a sharebike in the ditch which had puke in its basket. Into the AI bootcamp I go! What do I need to do?-Four agents-Need to complete THREE out of FOUR assignments to get a certificate of completion. (What’s...

End of the week and a busy day! SLV Episode 57 is up and out! Workouts in! Run from the uni to hotel: 3.51km in 24.43 (a bit slow), 105 pull ups, 210 push ups, 315 squats using body weight, 5 kg and 10 kg weights. Changed them up throughout cause I wasn’t sure if I could only do 10kg. Then back out for another 4.51km run in 27.48. 12 or 13 more weeks to go, gotta find something to do with these ki...

What other skills do I have? Even after fifteen years of living and working overseas, what other skills do I have? Only really done two or three different types of jobs: teaching ESL, working on farms, and kinda trying to work online. Sales funnels and lead generations, how do you do all of this on your own? A curious thing about learning Chinese: you only learn about China. Learning English or Fr...

Hey, Steve! Are you forgetting things?! (yes) What about that gym? (It closed, but it has two other locations, one nearby in Dawanglu.) And your neighbour? (Smoking outside my apartment door on Saturday night, WTF? Is he/she/it trying to get at me? Or did they simply not know? And how to deal with this?) And the podcast?! (Forgot to clean up the storage before recording so it cut out several times...

SLV podcast recorded! But made some mistakes. Every time I sit down to read Chinese, I fall asleep. Workout in, no run. Waiting for the sign up for this AI course, but… a word of warning if you’re thinking of building your own APP. SaaStr Episode 820 https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-official-saastr-podcast-saas-founders-investors/id1089973241?i=1000726456214 The reality of AI-built APPs:...

Enjoy your boredom! It only lasts for so long! Episode Number 1115? I don’t even know. Did I get my charger? Yes. It was in the classroom. How was the bus ride? Not bad… took it both ways! Will make a video about this. Workouts in! From uni to the hotel 3.52km in 20.47, then into the gym for weights, then back out for another 5.00km in 31.55 JUST IN time before it poured. And my gym closed in Shua...

Another week done, 13 more to go! But who’s counting?! 1501 subscribers on YouTube! Told some students about my channel. Looking into Perplexity, looks like a good AI agent builder. I like the idea of scheduling tasks and doing things automatically… maybe editing articles for clarity? Workouts in! In between classes!-3.51km in 25.49-100 pull ups, 200 push ups, 300 squats w 5kg + rows, shoulders, d...

I hope it’s still there! I think (and hope) I forgot my laptop charger in one of the classrooms. Feeling a bit knackered, all this running around. Making me think… to get to the next spot, what do I have to change now? SLV 56 up and out! Got an idea for this membership program. No workout today as I spent most of the day editing the SLV podcast. Also forgot to take my fish oil and I will say that...

Another sun spin, hard to admit! New Apple products, is the new iPhone worth it? Not really. Better camera but still same same. But new Airpods Pro? Built in translation?? The end of language learning as we know it? SLV podcast in the works, recorded, edited, gotta finesse then publish. Should be up soon. Workouts in! Gym for legs and chest, then outside for a 7.16km run in 44.04… then back to the...

Is it allergies or something else? What a thunderstorm! Big! Tried to record SLV podcast, didn’t happen, but NEW VIDEO up! Workout in! A bit of full body weights, then a 4.05 km run in 27.59. (In an effort to quell the allergies.) Gotta remember: tomorrow I have an APP-building class. Donate to the show! PayPal link below! https://www.paypal.me/stevensirski?locale.x=en_CA ***Show notes n tracks up...

My big problem with teaching in front of a class, or at all: I don’t know what’s going to work. Back in the Changping. Is this the new schedule? Seems like a burnout schedule to me. Workouts in! 3.58km in 24.51, then to the gym for some weights, then back out from another 4.52km in 29.30. Weights was a full body workout. They were burning things this weekend in Shuanjing, another one of those cere...

So ends the first week! Fourteen more to go! Who’s counting? SLV podcast up and out! Episode 55. Thinking, how can I change this up a little? Workouts in! Need a new plan and I think I have one: work in the morning, run back, do the workout, shower n get ready, then back at it. Today: 105 pull ups, 210 push ups, 315 squats, 7.13km run in 44 min 33 sec, tried to run a little quicker today (even tho...

So close to getting SLV Episode 55 done! It should be published by the time you listen to this episode. MaLaXiangGuo for dinner, missed this dish! Another discovery call! And another scheduled but… no show again. So why bother? Wondering: here I am trying to build up these young people’s lives while trying to keep mine together. How much can you tell them? Just stick to the script, Steve! GOLD pop...

Don’t blame the kids, Steve! It’s your fault! The air con is the most likely candidate. Parade done and over, what will they do for National Day? SLV podcast recorded but gotta edit n publish tomorrow. Just ran out of time. But there is a new video up: walking through GuoMao. Workouts in! To the gym for a full body workout, focusing on legs and chest, then a 7.11km run done in 46.35. And what is a...

How are the classes going? How is the hotel? How is the weather? Big parade tomorrow, and so? We just work. TikTok and cold outreach, still no conversions, is this normal? What if… class online? A little disappointed I can’t do as much of my language studies any more, maybe hopefully this is just growing pains. And what was that idea to generate more writing for Substack? (Descript-remove filler w...

Back in the Ping of Chang, and into the room of class. Argumentative essays on tap. The cookie shop lady remembered me. What would I do if I knew I was going to quit in four months? Good question. Cause that’s where I was last year at this time. Grinding to get that last Australian video out, same with a Beijing-based video I shot on Saturday. SLV podcast to be shot tomorrow, need to work on anoth...