Like every year, I make a note. In short, a challenging year, but nothing terrible. Lots of experiences.
Theme of the year
Artificial intelligence is here. Pandora’s box was opened. So far it’s a better next word whisperer and image combiner, but development is moving forward super fast.
It doesn’t seem like it, but I started on language models 2014 (10 years ago? it flies) with word2vec . Which was a vectorization of the language space that is used for classification in SEO. It stuck with me continuously, I played a bit with GPT-2 . I jumped on chatGPT on the first day and use it +- daily. I like Bing Chat the most, where I mostly solve complex questions that Google wouldn’t answer in a search. I’m continuously testing multiple models and while I believe the Google Gemini still falls short of GPT4.5 quality, it’s a step in the right direction. However, I still think that Google still needs another 2-3 years to catch up with OpenAI. Now he can do something almost as good, and he needs a lot of time to do something better.
I’m not worried about work, I don’t think that AI would significantly change anything about it. The only thing that happens is that I write documentation better.
AI is a friend that will increase your productivity. The only one who can take your work is a colleague/competitor who will use AI and as a result do more work or increase the quality of outputs. I don’t expect sudden changes within two years, but rather a slow evolution within 5-10 years.
Podcasts
The final number from the podcast application is 647 episodes with a duration of 20 days and 10 hours.
In reality, it is many times more, because I listen to Radio Zeitung Live and then there is no need to watch it offline. Also PPC podcast and CZpodcast on the web, Lex and Standard deviation podcast via Youtube. A realistic estimate will be around 30 days.
From the statistics, it can be seen that I had fun with Chumelenica for a while and even had it prepaid for a few months, but I already have the feeling that they have worn out.
I really enjoyed Factoid .
Books
18 books , most probably from the Warhammer 40k world , I recommend Eisenhorn and Horus’ Heresy
Years later, I returned to paper even for a while. I discovered the Municipal Library of Prague for myself and the fact that they contain a lot of works that cannot be found in an ebook. I also dabbled in comics for a while. On the other hand, I skipped a bit with the audiobook because I wasn’t able to find anything good, so I only heard Andy Wier – Hail Marry.
Serials
The Bear
2 series. The series is about what it’s like to cook and run a real restaurant. Terribly drawn characters, deep, great camera and sound and a theme that is close to the heart.
Two scenes that really resonated with me.
The first is to be first and perfect and then to throw away the ego:
The second scene about the service.
Of the others, only Loki was good , the rest of the MCU and DCU was a big disappointment. Severance and Gen V (spinoff of The Boys) were also good .
Movies
Only Barbieheimer was the only one I actually saw and remembered more. Each of these films had its own. I appreciated the great originality of Barbie and even though it’s not my type of movie, I have to admit that the movie/advertisement is super well done.
Cooking
I still bake bread and pizza.
There’s not much development here, I’ve got it figured out and I’m just tweaking the details. Sometimes you stop doing a detail and then it stops working and you have to realize again that it was a really important detail. I am probably moved the most by watching professional bakers on Youtube like ProofBread , where there are exactly the small details and why and a ton of experience.
Steak
For a special occasion I had a5 wagyu steak which was great and also reduced my beef consumption as I realized that regular beef is not enough for me very often. In addition, I have the feeling that the quality of steaks in butcher shops has deteriorated over the past 3 years.
At the end of the year, I also exceptionally honed my sweet tooth and researched several pastry shops.
I also discovered good quality balsamic vinegar and started adding it to everything.
Otherwise, I still cook the cuisine of Italy and Asia.
Hell froze over and the tea maker started drinking coffee.
So 1x a week 🙂 . I make it in an aeropress u, lower temperature, super quality fresh coffee and suddenly it turns out to be a very tasty drink. I don’t drink it for the caffeine, but for the taste.
According to James Hoffmann:
Products of the year
Airfryer
For me, a great thing for quick cooking for one. Rather not for a family, but it would probably work with a really big airfryer. I didn’t really go to anything expensive, just a bit from Lidl, I wanted to test it out.
Brilliant on chicken, especially wings. American potatoes are the best, especially when they are made several times. You can also make a perfectly crispy belly / smoked knee there. The main advantage is that you throw it in there and you don’t have to worry about it and it has a great result. After 10 minutes, stir a little by rattling the basket and that’s it. Minimal fat, lots of flavor.
Air conditioning
The hottest year ever forced me to go to the mobile air conditioner and it definitely increased my comfort, I got more work done. It used to be really hard for me to work during the summer, the high temperatures make me terribly numb. For me, the klimoška is great and I know that when I arrange my own place, I want it there 100%.
Logitech MX vertical
I felt a little carpal, so I’ve been using this mouse for about a year now and I’m very satisfied. I recommend it to everyone who spends all day on a PC. For me, it’s a great prevention.
Travel
I still go to Measure camps in Europe. Typically 4-8 days in a given location. I will visit the galleries, taste the local cuisine and walk around the city. In general, it’s great to meet new people, find out how life works elsewhere. From the analyst’s point of view, I am mainly looking for people on measurecamps who have exceptional knowledge, but do not write articles in English. Currently, I tend to attend smaller events where there is more space to chat with people.
Helsinki – Bigger, cleaner Brno with the smell of fresh fish. I didn’t catch the Northern Lights, even though it was evening.
Munich – I could easily imagine living here. It even surpassed my favorite Copenhagen. For me, nice cities with everything like in Prague. Living there would probably be such an easy way to experience a little abroad, but not too much 😉 .
Bratislava – equivalent in size to Brno. I drive it to work and to events. Mostly it’s mainly about people.
Warsaw – It’s cheap there, but the city as such is pretty much nothing. Even the Poles recommended other cities to me. Generally worse English.
Vienna – Architecture of Brno, only there are more galleries and it is many times more expensive. Very clean.
Health
The leg I broke last year is now on the mend, so I have successfully returned to walking my daily steps and walking with my friends.
I also had minor major health complications after the holidays, which turned out well in the end, it just took 2 months of stress out of me and then I also took 2x vacations for a week without opening my work email.
I am very well at the moment. I am planning laser eye surgery.
Investing
It was very successful, I outperformed the market many times over, because I had previously bought large technology companies for a long time, which were more successful. I invest quite safely and smartly, so I am in the red with all purchases over the past few years and have managed to do 3-4 times a few times. Gradually, I gave up on ETFs a little and now I rather take individual shares from companies that have the potential to be around even in 20 years.
The best investment is to keep improving your life / the world around you a little bit every day.
At work
I still have my regular clients and I am happy with them. I already have trained programmers, trained designers and UXers. There’s still plenty to do and have fun with GA4 here, thanks to the range I don’t have time to get bored. I managed to get a great analyst/colleague for Slovakia, so I untied my hands a bit and supported substitutability. Plus, I’ve handed over some responsibilities to teams so I have more time for the more fun, harder stuff.
I once helped a friend with a project and also did a few implementations for non-profits. Which were such relaxation projects, let’s call them leisure activities 😉 . I still keep some free hours for development and life. I’ve already learned that without them you can’t have the right balance.
There are still no free capacities for sale and it looks like there won’t be again this year either. There are plenty of offers, but the day is not inflatable.
I will rather write a separate post about web analytics for 2023 and beyond.
Internally
I dropped my ego a bit again. He saw a little again in that work will wait, but life will not. Especially in my field, there are so many changes and so many things that you just can’t have things perfect all the time. The paradigm is changing and you can’t stress about it internally. The desire for perfection remains, but I only have 24 hours in a day. Traveling gave me new perspectives. I am also aware of a little internal framing of information that I have a positive attitude towards the future and that my surroundings are generally positive, which helps me stay in this mode. I’ve been opening up to people more in the last 5 years and that’s good.
Plans for 2024?
Nothing special, go to a few more MeasureCamps. Still gently looking after one’s own home. Enjoy life sensibly.