DOUG'S WORLD

Playing with AI

As a young software developer, I was intrigued by artificial intelligence research. I spent long hours reading the books of people like Pamela McCorduck, Douglas Hofstadter, Daniel Dennet, Joseph Weizenbaum and others, and for a while I thought I might want to find a way to work in this growing

My brand new 7-year-old camera

After many years of carrying big heavy DSLR cameras and lenses on hikes, dog walks, vacations, and business trips all over the world, I've decided to try embracing a smaller lighter option. I love the photos I can get with my Nikon D850 and a fast high-quality

Knee plan coming into focus

In the last 36 hours I've driven the 1200-mile round trip to visit my friends at Proliance Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine in Issaquah, and I now have a pretty good sense of what to expect over the next couple of months. And most importantly, I feel like

Quick knee update

For anyone curious about the status of my knee, I recorded a 5-minute overview of the latest details. Short version: I'm doing fine for now, and looking forward to meeting with an orthopedic surgeon soon who will help decide whether surgery is needed. More info below ...

Books I've enjoyed lately

Retirement has been great for reading more books than ever before. And recovering from two knee surgeries last year gave me even more reading time, so I've read a lot of books in the 18 months since I last did a book reviews blog post. I've

Sunday afternoon knee update

FYI, this post is an update regarding the situation I posted about in Struck by lightning twice. We won't have any answers on the big questions yet (such as whether I'll be heading back into surgery for my knee infection), but for right now my knee

knee

Struck by lightning twice

Well, I've gone and done it again: my replaced knee has the exact same sort of infection it had almost exactly a year ago. We don't have all the answers yet, but I've put this post together to let friends and family know a

Restored hope chest

I finished today a project I've been planning for some time: setting up a cedar chest in the parlor for Megan to store quilts she's been making. Cedar is the wood of choice for that sort of thing, because its odor deters moths and other insects,

Halfway to Table Mountain

We can see several mountains from our backyard deck, and the highest one is Table Mountain, 10,223 feet sea level. It's the highest point in the Highland Mountains, and also the highest point in our county, Butte-Silver Bow county. I've always wanted to hike

Viewing fireworks from a drone

Butte has a longstanding tradition of a massive fireworks show above Uptown on July 3rd and then a 4th of July parade down Harrison Avenue at noon on the 4th. In recent years, Town Pump – one of the largest businesses in Butte – has sponsored the fireworks show, and for 2026

Acquiring an action camera

The action camera product category has been growing and evolving for over 20 years, and after being tempted many times, I've finally acquired one. Last month, I picked up a DJI Osmo Action 6. This post is a few first thoughts and reactions after a month of using

20th anniversary photos

To celebrate 20 years of marriage, Megan and I decided to spend a few days in Seattle at the beginning of May. It was the first time we've visited Seattle without the dogs (thanks to Aaron for taking care of them!), and we kept a low profile and

Lost dogs, found dogs

Everyone loves a happy ending. What an incredible week we've had! Shortly after the above photo, I let the dogs off leash to run in an alpine meadow at 8200 feet elevation. Nancy is sometimes hard to get back when she's off-leash, but she had

Photos of Tom

It's still hard to believe my friend Tom is gone. Just a month ago, I had texted him some thoughts on things we could do on his planned visit to Butte – he was scheduled to arrive this Saturday – and his last words to me were a text about

Pounding those keys

I've been told many times that I type unusually loudly. I'm not sure how much of that is because I started writing back in the 1970s on manual typewriters, and how much is due to years of playing pianos and keyboards with stiff action. (My Fender

travel

Traveling with Mom

“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” – Dr. Seuss In the spring of 1999, Mom and I took a 5-week trip to Cambodia, Nepal, and India. This post and the others linked below cover that trip in more detail than I&

Cocaine, caffeine, and carbs

After a year of knee surgery recoveries, I feel like that's pretty much under control now and I've shifted my focus to working on losing some weight for summer hiking season. I decided to put my goal in writing here to add to my motivation, and

Timelines of Blood Meridian

"The man who believes that the secrets of this world are forever hidden lives in mystery and fear. Superstition will drag him down. The rain will erode the deeds of his life. But that man who sets himself the task of singling out the thread of order from the

Sunrise at Big Butte

Today was a milestone on my recovery from infection cleanout surgery: I hiked up Big Butte, for the first time since last summer. I took it slowly (especially on the way down), and all went well. This is Day 128 since the infection cleanout surgery, and for comparison, after total

2025 photos and videos

It's that time of year when I often do a blog post looking back on the year in photos. In recent years, that usually that meant travel photos or photos of hiking with the dogs in Southwest Montana, but this year has been different because of my two

knee

My knee in 2025

Last week I started putting together a "the year in photos" blog post as I usually do in late December, and as I looked back over my photos it was clear that my replaced right knee had dominated the year. I took fewer photos in 2025 than I

social media

New website

I'm generally an upbeat guy, but my last post (F*ck Facebook) was definitely an angry rant. After getting that off my chest, I spent a bunch of time (and a small amount of money) setting up a new website where I can post photos of our dogs

F*ck Facebook

Happy Monday morning! Ever since I retired, Mondays aren't much different from any other day for me, but today I awoke to an experience reminiscent of starting the work week with an annoying email – the first thing I saw online this morning was Facebook notifying me that my

Doc Lynde

Beginning in 1939, Reader's Digest magazine had a recurring feature entitled "The Most Unforgettable Character I've Ever Met," in which a writer would tell the story of an unforgettable person they'd known who had a big impact on their life. From the

knee

Struck by lightning

This week hasn't gone as planned. Well, Monday went as planned – Nancy and I took the spectacular hike up to Highland Lookout – but that evening things started heading in an unexpected direction that led to me posting this from Saint James Hospital five days later. This post is