About Doug

I wasn't the smartest kid in school. At least that's what everyone—including me—thought for a long time.

I read very slowly, so school was frustrating. I learned early that it was easier to get thrown out of class than to suffer through reading aloud. Teachers thought I was lazy. The truth was they didn't yet understand dyslexia. Neither did I.

Fortunately, my dad demanded that I work, and I discovered I loved it. Digging ditches, driving tractors, building things, pouring concrete—if it involved solving a real problem with my hands, I was all in. More importantly, I learned the value of working beside people who already knew what they were doing and were willing to teach me.

Digging a ditch with a shovel is something any bozo can do. Watch most people try it and it looks like a circus. But Manual, who ran my dad's pig farm, was el maestro de la pala—the shovel master. Watching him work was like watching an artist. He wasn't just digging a ditch. He was teaching efficiency, rhythm, pride, and craftsmanship.

For the first time in my life, I could be good at something and be rewarded for my effort.

The workers in my dad's feed and seed store became my teachers. Carlos, Sara, Joe, and many others taught me farm mechanics, rigging, unorthodox uses of tools and equipment, confidence, and creative problem solving. Even Aldape, who couldn't read Spanish or English, taught me workarounds to compensate.

Those weren't just jobs.

They were courses in creative problem solving.

The satisfaction of solving real problems eventually led me into computer programming. I discovered that programming wasn't really about computers—it was about solving puzzles. FORTRAN got out of the way and let me solve them. That opened the door to a career: first programming, then teaching, and finally Oracle databases. But I never stopped learning the same way I always had—put something together, try it, and improve on it.

I also continued to choose jobs based on who I would be working beside. Who will be sitting next to me, and what can I learn from them? became just as important as How much does the job pay?

Oracle Database Jeff and Unix Shell Bill became mentors. Every job became another apprenticeship.

I never lost my love of working with my hands, so I mixed problem solving with the physical world. That eventually led to homebuilt submarines, foundries, machine tools, propellers, sailing, ocean research, and finally a life aboard Seeker.

People often ask me how I learned to do all these things.

The answer is simple.

I got ideas from people I admired, then I learned by doing.

Sometimes I succeeded. Often I failed. Every failure taught me something the next attempt needed.

I failed my way forward.

If there's one thing I hope people take away from Seeker, it isn't that they should build a steel boat.

It's that ordinary people are capable of extraordinary things when they're willing to dream big, work hard, keep learning, and refuse to let fear make their decisions.

Everything on this site is simply the record of one person's journey trying to do exactly that.