Category: Planet Doug Journal – 2024

7:01 a.m. December 13, 2024 Sometimes I wonder if YouTube as a video-hosting platform is getting dangerously close to jumping the shark. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with YouTube. It’s also a huge organization and dominates the world of online video. It seems like it is too big to fail….

Today is Friday November 29th, which is also the last day in Kuala Lumpur before my flight to Jakarta. I’m mostly ready to go. I still have to fill out the online forms for the health declaration and customs declaration for Indonesia. I also have to resubmit my tax forms…

Monday, November 11, 20247:49 a.m. Room 19, Hotel MalahayatiTanjung Balai, Sumatra, Indonesia (3,842 words) The world seems a much better place this morning, and that is entirely because I managed to sleep a bit more. That always strikes me as amusing. When we aren’t feeling great, we tend to look…

Sunday, November 10, 20245:38 a.m. Room 19, Hotel MalahayatiTanjung Balai, Sumatra, Indonesia (3,820 words) I have absolutely no business being awake this early. However, I wasn’t able to sleep well. And lately, I’ve been developing this habit of just not fighting it. If I can’t sleep, then I don’t even…

Friday, November 8, 20247:16 a.m. Room 19, Hotel MalahayatiTanjung Balai, Sumatra, Indonesia (4,328 words) I guess you would call this a typical morning of late in Tanjung Balai. It’s raining outside and the roar of traffic is intense. Plus, for some reason, I feel exhausted. I’m like a bear coming…

Tuesday, November 5, 20249:39 a.m. Room 19, Hotel MalahayatiTanjung Balai, Sumatra, Indonesia (1,308 words) I had a rough night last night for some reason. I think I had too much on my mind with too many things going on, and I got no sleep at all. I ended up unable…

Monday, November 4, 20245:50 a.m. Room 19, Hotel MalahayatiTanjung Balai, Sumatra, Indonesia (3,324 words) It’s been a few days since I’ve written anything down. I’ve just been too busy with video. Last time, I was writing about my attempts to upload videos with my smartphone hidden in various places around…

Wednesday, October 30, 20248:14 a.m. Room 19, Hotel MalahayatiTanjung Balai, Sumatra, Indonesia (3,081 words) I’ve been writing quite a bit about some problems I’ve been having on this most recent trip to Sumatra. Yesterday, for example, I wrote at length about my problems with my smartphones and how my phones…

Tuesday, October 29, 20247:07 a.m. Room 19, Hotel MalahayatiTanjung Balai, Sumatra, Indonesia (4,137 words) I hardly know what to say about my small adventures of yesterday getting a SIM card. A phrase like “Hopefully, this goes well” has an unusual meaning when you are a foreigner in a place like…

Monday, October 28, 20248:02 a.m. Room 19, Hotel MalahayatiTanjung Balai, Sumatra, Indonesia (2,902 words) Today is my second full day in Sumatra and in Tanjung Balai. Yesterday was largely a rest day, and I will talk about that in a minute. And today will be a combination rest day and…