Graeme’s Musings

Japanese resources

Graeme Blake — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 01:24:14 +0000

I’m learning Japanese, on day 44. Here are the resources I’m using. At this point I know: An excellent, excellent audio program. I’ve used this to learn Italian and Portuguese, and it’s going well for Japanese so far. There are 120 lessons, which is great – Pimsleur normally just has 90. I’ll note I’ve had to do many lessons twice in a day – the other languages were easier because I…

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The Best Sherlock Holmes Edition, with Sidney Paget Illustrations

Graeme Blake — Sat, 22 Feb 2014 17:04:28 +0000

As a longtime fan of Sherlock Holmes, I was intrigued by the image of the man himself. Sherlock has seen countless representations over the years. The original stories were published in the Strand magazine, and illustrated by Sidney Paget. I had read the original stories, but longed to see the illustrations that accompanied them. Little did I know that an edition exists which contains all the…

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The importance of taking breaks + varying your work

Graeme Blake — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 01:48:53 +0000

I was away all August, and upon returning found I had an email backlog, and a messy house. I was also doing a lot of consulting, so I found it hard to find the time to take care of these things. I just finished a very busy weekend where I taught a course in another city. I returned today, and found both of these weighed me down. But, I was completely unable to deal with the email.

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How To Take A Cold Shower (Or Do Anything You Don’t Want To Do)

Graeme Blake — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 16:34:46 +0000

I’ve gotten into the habit of taking cold showers. You feel instantly alert, and whenever I take regular cold showers, I lose fat. They’re really not bad once you’re in them. So it must be easy for me to do, right? I’ve been doing this for a while now. No! Getting into a cold shower is miserable. I hate it. Let me clarify. I don’t mind cold showers, once I”m in them. But I can’t convince…

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Minimal Wallet (Stuff I like)

Graeme Blake — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 04:05:22 +0000

If you’re like most guys, you probably have a lot of stuff in your pockets. And unfortunately, it’s not wads of cash. It’s plastic, and coins. Modern wallets are huge. You’ve got coins, bills, credit cards, debit cards, membership cards, etc. Following my brother’s lead, I got rid of the coins, and never looked back. I bought a wallet that only carried cards and money. It was good…

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