All notable changes to this “human experiment” will be documented in this file.
2026-02
Firsts
- Together with the rest of NYC, experienced the longest subzero stretch of days, jan 24 to ~feb9, around 16 days so possibly longest since either 1961 or 1881, (2026-02-09).
- First time I setup an email within a personal domain (2025-02-07).
- First time I added a setup script within chatgpt.com/codex such that actually codex can run tests, in this case, test hugo updates as opposed to me erroring out when testing locally. Taking myself out of the loop for certain cases. Really cool! (2026-02-21).
- Above was also first time my codex task had internet access, though only to install hugo (2026-02-21).
Added
- Added Giscus to the posts on my blog (2026-02-21).
- Added a guthub action automation for creating PRs to inject new updates into my brag doc (2026-02-22).
Changed
- Updated my hugo from 0.125.6 to 0.145.0, (possibly related to chatgpt.com/codex often creating updates per my tasks that do not run on my local) (2026-02-21).
2026-01
Firsts
- First try apple continuous camera for laptop-mind-phone-snap document batch scanning . Saves so much time! (2026-01-03).
- Perhaps first time I used Strava while ice skating? There was some GPS drift and I only had idea to record half way in but ended up being 2.21 miles in 29 min, so 4.6mi/hour, oddly slow haha (2026-01-04).
Changed
- This month, I’ve done more bed sleep initiations as opposed to couch sleep initiations in a long time (years?). Having a couch guest has really helped here 😅.
- Not sure if this will stick, but I started a github markdown strategy for birds eye tracking of my projects, whereas trello was only really good for tactical work (2026-01-31).
- Migrated my DNS
Logged
- Certainly not first, but logged several sub zero runs this month.
- Hooked up cloudflare AI rag-search into my hugo site (2026-01-25).
2025-12
Changed
- First time, tried making chicken soup by first roasting the chicken (450F 30min) before putting it into the soup. (2025-12-10).
Logged
- First time in New Delhi India (2025-11-28).
- First time on a wild jeep safari (2025-12-01).
- Fourth December I made the bigos, our family Xmas dish. (2025-12-22).
- Played table top monopoly first time in wow many many years . (2025-12-26).
- Pull ups, push ups in the snow. Sort of memorable 😆. First time using the outdoor equipment in my neighborhood park gym, after it snowed. 22F, but no wind and luckily the actual equipment did not have snow on it, just on ground everywhere (2025-12-27).
- Hosted a different friend of friend from Costa Rica . (2025-12-31).
Stopped
- Stopped daily Carb Manager logging during travel to India but also did not resume after returning. Discussed why here (2025-12-08) .
- Stopped my dadjests.com . And this was my last godaddy domain (2025-12-07).
Returned
- Resumed office commutes after 4 years! Because my company now has a proper office with coffee and water that doesnt require notification (2025-12-07).
First
- First time our smaller brown lipped snail fell asleep outside of their terrarium! (2025-12-19).
- First time our smaller brown lipped snail had wheel time (2025-12-31).
2025-11
Broke
- Leaned on and broke a table of my moms, 😅, though to be fair, we were both criticizing, the manufacturers crappy construction choices from the beginning (2025-11-01).
Logged
- First time I think I saw a raptor doing their bird grooming (2025-11-02)
- Received warranty-based Vornado whole room heater replacement after the heat on the previous one stopped working. Process took from emailing to help@vornado.com on 2025-11-17, just 11 days (2025-12-28).
2025-10
Updated
- Went from immich server 1.x to 2.0.1 because my phone upload mysteriously broke until I updated (2025-10-11).
Logged
- Went on our annual Warwick apple picking trip, (2025-10-04).
- Silly to even log this, 😛, rewatched the Naked Gun trilogy again after a long time. (2025-10-08).
- Hosted friend of friend from Costa Rica for a week (2025-10-09).
- First time I experienced PI Planning , eek! Writing about it (2025-10…).
Recognized
- Learned and accepted haha that probably the reason I am always simultaneously doing 10 things at a time is maybe because I have some kind of ADHD 😂😂😂(2025-10-04).
2025-09
Logged
- Not a big deal but, pushed my 1600m into a 3200m, for first time in a while today, with a not entirely embarassing 7:32min/mi pace (2025-09-02).
- My NYC apartment building got a compost bin, so I started composting. tiny wins ftw (2025-09-13)
- First crochet attempt (2025-09-21)).
- First time using a rev balance board at my brothers(2025-09-21) .
- First time using sandpaper to fix chipped broken pint glass (2025-09-28).
- First time I followed through on a travel insurance policy claim and actually managed to get a successful outcome! (2025-09-28).
- First time came back to my company’s office after probably not being there in over a year because no drinking water or coffee. Went back because new coworker who hadn’t seen it but office still has no drinking water or coffee 😆 (2025-09-26).
Changed
- From oral-b electric, to Suri 2 (2025-09-10).
Deployed
- Successfully vibe code iterated, a hugo google sheet powered timeseries chart, to encourage myself to build better habits (2025-09-28).
Started
- Started tiny experiments audio book, (2025-09-05).
Stopped
- Stopped the strawberry.me , at least for now (2025-09-24).
2025-08
Logged
- First time went to a roller skating rink. Very different from rollerblading I recall from childhood haha!
- First time used nail polish to smoothe out a few screen cracks on my iphone.
- Finished reading Genius Makers (2025-08-29).
- Shredded 6 past time block planner books. And through updates to my logseq_utils, with codex, I imported a few select scanned notes I kept, into my logseq. I happened to join someone on a Good Will errand to do my UPS shredding hehe (2025-08-24).
Changed
- From Lavazza to Kirkland espresso, for the kamira.
- From more typical dryness eye drops Ive used for a long time, to so called preservative free PF kind. (Some crazy redness went away after switching, but this was just a n=1 pre/post anececdote of course)
Started
- Started using Stage Manager on Apple macos. (2025-08-27)
- Park next to me got renovated and has a pull up bar now so I started using a normal size pull up bar again finally after a long time.
- Trying out strawberry.me coaching, (2026-08-05).
2025-07
Started
- Started this personal changelog!
- First post intended at Substack, this one
- Meditations, Marcus Aurelius, started.
- First time used sklearn-onnx to convert an older version scikit-learn pipeline to onnx and verified that it produces the same scores within a very high precision.
- First time visiting MoMa PS1, which was for their 27th season summer music series called Warm Up.
- Started Dopamine Nation workbook (2025-07-12).
Changed
- Switched from audible to libro.fm for new audio books at least (2025-07-12).
2025-06
Started
- First try of Openai Codex, merging first pr, to my tiller utils repo, helping to convert paypal csv to tiller.
- Started reading Douglas Murray’s Madness of Crowds, to have a thinker for an upcoming plane trip.
- Started using Paperlike, attaching it to my ipad the day before my eurotrip, using it to write the first draft of this post, and also to work on coding problems for fun.
Logged
- Visited friends and family in Warsaw and Barcelona, writing about a medical anecdote in Krakow too.
- First time visiting Catalonia (technically still part of Spain I am told).
2025-05
Changed
- Switched from Apple Photos to self-hosted immich for personal photo management, writing about it here yea.
- Started switching in hugo, from hyperlinks to end of page references, discussing here.
Completed
- Went through Sean Carroll’s Many Hidden Worlds of Quantum Mechanics finishing just by a hair when it evaporated from amazon prime.
2025-04
Logged
- First time visiting the Sports Illustrated Stadium in New Jersey, and first time seeing a pro women’s soccer game, going because my significant other was in the half time show. Liberty won 3 to 1. I was far from the half time show so I took a video of the jumbotron haha (2025-04-13).
Changed
- First try of VS Code, effectively switching over from macvim, in order to do a first try of prompt based code editing, Windsurf, describing my experience here.
- Returned, to cooking soup after a long pause.
- First attempt to buzz cut my own hair.
- Went back to using non-compostable trash bags again 😐️. Had tried Cleanomic compostable trash bags for many months but they are just not rugged enough yet. (2025-04-19)
2025-03
Logged
- Sleeping Giant State Park, hike with Connecticut friends (2025-03-08).
2024-11
Completed
- Finished a full year of getting daily morning outdoor sunlight (Thanks Andrew Huberman).
First
- First davidprotein.com order (2024-11-17).
- First time I reported a leaky fire hydrant, to 311, since also, living through first time of major drought warnings in NYC. (My request was closed 10 days later as no issue found so perhaps someone wrenched it shut by the time inspectors arrived) (2024-11-04).
2024-09
Logged
- First escape room experience. Have to thank my mom for organizing this ! (2025-09-24).
- Woodstock VA, perhaps furthest west I have been in Virginia so far (2024-09-17).
2024-07
First
- First successful cold plunge, learning how to stay 5+ minutes in 60 F ( TODO doubple check temp), at Standard Spa Miami Beach.
2024-06
Logged
- First time seeing the Coney Island Mermaid Parade (2024-06-24).
Started
- Started using Trello (2024-06-16).
2024-03
Changed
- Switched from orgroam to logseq on my work laptop, using this converter I wrote (2024-03-06).
Firsts
- Published my first golang orgroam2logseq, (2024-03-11).
2024-02
Changed
- Switched from built in Apple iphone keyboard to typewise.app. (2024-02-19)
2023-11
Changed
2023-09
Logged
- First time seeing the drunk shakespeare show. Wow amazingly hilarious! (2023-09-23).
Changed
- Switched to refillable deodorant, from getfussy.com, as opposed to the disposable kind.
Finished
- Wrote about here my summary from learning how to learn (2023-09-10).
2023-07
Started
- First Tesla driving (and renting) experience.
- Started Learning How to Learn Coursera.org course with Barbara Oakley (2023-07-05).
2023-01
Changed
- Switched from LastPass to BitWarden for personal password management.
2022-11
Started
- First split keyboard, the Moonlander from ZSA Technologies,
2022-08
Stopped
- Perhaps TMI, but stopped using shampoo. Just use water now for hair.
2022-07
Changed
- Switched from Roam Research to logseq (2022-07-18)
2022-04
Started
- That night guard life! (This is actually just a upper bound based on some notes but at least as early as 2022-04-10 but likely earlier )
Logged
- Built a red hat, my first game using twine, playable here.
2022-01
Logged
- First time attempted to replace laptop macbook batteries. Laptop Worked for a few days before batteries ballooned then I went to Mikey’s hookup for help haha, to replace using official and not knock-off batteries.
2021-09
Completed
- ASA 101, Basic Keelboat Sailing passed.
2021-08
Changed
- Switched from gmail.com to hey.com for my main email home.
- TMI, but, 😅. Switched from standard nail clippers for toenails to the “toe bro” tool, for dealing with ingrown toenails (2021-08-17).
2021-06
First
- First time I shelled out over $1k, on emergency tax advice, w.r.t. the phantom AMT tax trap (2021-06-03).
2021-05
Changed
2021-04
Changed
- Switched my whiteboard location to new room, also trying new drill-less anchor style.
2021-01
Started
- Started using Roam Research , (2021-01-30).
2020-12
Changed
- Updated from earlier Kindle to Kindle Oasis (2020-12-01).
2020-11
Created
- there be dragons hyperlapse video (2020-11-13).
Started
- TMI! I know, but, started that bidet life with https://hellotushy.com
- Started uploading to https://vimeo.com (2020-11-07)
2020-06
Started
- Switched to hover.com and registered this domain, michal.piekarczyk.xyz , almost thought I forgot to use WHOIS anonimization !
2018-11
Started
- Switched to “away” luggage, “The Bigger Carry-On, Asphalt”, for $245 (awaytravel.com) (2018-11-04).
2017-12
Started
- First Yamaha piano, P-115 (link the “2017-12-28 guitar center yamaha piano.pdf”)
2017-09
Logged
- Had the privilege to attend a friend’s wedding and give a speech and really appreciated the opportunity because I logged it as a 4 minute mini stand up routine celebrating my friend and showing me it is something I really enjoy doing (2017-09-25).
2024-12
Started
- Setup dadjests.com on godaddy (2014-12-07).
2014-10
Built
- Built a better cardboard chair, after first attempt back in ~1999.
2013-07
Started
- Joined as Citibike member, and took first ride.
2012-11
Stopped
- Bye bye breads, pastas, rice, sugar,
2011-02
Created
- Claymation video (2011-02-13).
2005-03
Logged
- First trip to Paris
2005-02
Logged
- First trip to UK, started a study abroad at U of Sheffield
Undated
hmm
huaraches and barefoot running
vim, (college)
emacs (evil mode), ~2021?
logseq
Tokyo
first ipad,
first iphone
first palm pilot? (tungsten second?)
first skateboard, and stopped it, from letgo.com i think
started using CarbManager
driving licenss
zipcar membership (DC)
nightguard, 2022?,3?,4?
First Clojure code in production?
First meetup.com attended?
First github repo? (2011?)
First code written? (javascript in, hmm, 1997 ishh? some webpage for boyscouts something? I wanted to make a funny animation, and was really into this tutorial by )
hung up that whiteboard, first time?
hung up cool painting Gabe found outside, in Bushwick apartment
first fast over 2 days, ( fish from can as fast breaker)
also first transpacific fast to japan.
stopped using Sleep Cycle
stopped Zero App
Started Carb Manager, stopped Noom,…
first time requested, downloaded data from Amazon for GDPR link.
logi ergonomic mouse
bustelo to lavazza? kamira?
switched from pandas to polars some time in 2024 .
first publish a Golang app
tushy bidet 2020-11 ?
apple air pods,
apple pencil , ipad ?
away luggage
pixel blue light glasses
dyson air purifier ; and also when it died ; but it died first filter function and then heat function too. two deaths.
first pro soccer game. Liberty, 2025
Post shoe goo photos for duc shoe and also air mattress!
deeplearning.ai Andrew Ng and other courses !
changed my mind / learned
- I used to think code versions should be released when you merge your code to your trunk branch (aka mmaster or main), but during 2024-2025, my colleagues at work pushed us to switch to what others in the industry do (but not all) releasing a new version on a cadence (I think colleague Jack in particular, I should check the logs) . Trying it out since the benefit proposed was stability, I wondered okay why not. I dont think we had users at the time who cared one way or another but in my mindspace, the idea grew on me because of also adopting CHANGELOG ,another idea another colleague introduced (Jack or Julia??) and those two together clicked for me , clearly since haha I also ended up creating this personal changelog for myself as well haha. something about bucketing chronologically has a weird Heart Rate Variability stability , organized chaos kind of feeling haha. ( should split this out into a micro blog post actually)