global_jdJohn Dowdell's journal of studying Chinese and more in San Francisco.Spinning rope- May 31, 2008 I've written this post half-a-dozen times the last six weeks, but haven't figured how to start talking about it. To cut to the chase: lately, I've been fascinated by rope. It grew out of the cane. Every day I twirl...http://jdowdell.typepad.com/global_jd/2008/05/spinning-rope.html Progress report, 053008- May 31, 2008 Studying Modern Standard Chinese, every day, making progress. It's a long path, but I see progress each day. I started New Practical Chinese Reader 3 in February, and after listening to each lesson about a hundred times (according to iTunes),...http://jdowdell.typepad.com/global_jd/2008/05/progress-report-053008.html Tips on a monkeyfist- May 19, 2008 Google has plenty of results on how to tie a monkeyfist knot at the end of a rope, but it still took me awhile to figure how to do it. Here are some tips I didn't quite see in the...http://jdowdell.typepad.com/global_jd/2008/05/tips-on-a-monke.html Sidewalkology- May 3, 2008 One of the difficult parts of walking down a sidewalk is figuring out what other people will do, handling the different things they end up doing. Last year I reinjured a quadricep muscle, and I've relearned a lot about trying...http://jdowdell.typepad.com/global_jd/2008/05/sidewalkology.html |