Time For a Change

It's time for a change
I'm tired of that same ol' same
The same ol' words the same ol' lines
The same ol' tricks and the same ol' rhymes

Days precious days
Roll in and out like waves
I got boards to bend I got planks to nail
I got charts to make I got seas to sail

I'm gonna build me a boat
With these two hands
It’ll be a fair curve
From a noble plan
Let the chips fall where they will
'Cause I've got boats to build

From "Boats to Build" by Guy Clark and Verlon Thompson

I've been thinking about (and singing) this song a lot lately. It's one I've liked for years, but it resonates a lot lately. About a month ago, my employer terminated my position due to COVID-19: I got laid off. First time ever, which is a pretty good record, as long as I've been working. But in one form or another, that last job lasted about fifteen years, so whatever happens, it will be a pretty big change.

One of the ideas that's been percolating in my brain for a while is that I have a couple of projects I've been wanting to work on: personal programming projects. I have no idea whether either/any of them could actually be commercial products. One I'm pretty sure could not. Another...maybe. What I know is both mean a lot to me, and I've felt for a while that I couldn't spend the time on them. So here's an opportunity. Might as well at least dip my toe in the water.

Another great thing about this song is that it makes me think of my dad. He was an electronics engineer, with a career that spanned some of the most interesting times in the industry, starting with designing test equipment based on vacuum tubes in the 1950s, ranging through telemetry for the Space Program in the 1960s, desktop calculators as the 1970s rolled around, and then just getting into the start of the microprocessor revolution as the 1980s dawned. Throughout, he showed a real knack for design: clever, but both functional and elegant. He made me appreciate the art and craftsmanship that went into his work, where most people would only see technology. I know I carry some of that with me, though my work is entirely in software, where craftsmanship is relatively rare.

Two things about that, which I plan to elaborate on later:

1. I used to work for a company where "Software Craftsmanship" was actually one of our tag lines
2. Dad actually did build a boat

But for now, suffice it to say that as I'm heading in a new direction, I've decided I want to write again. I miss the fun I had with my little theater blog, but it took a lot of time and effort to write those little "reviews", and as I got less reliable about my posting I lost most of my audience. Besides, there's this global pandemic, so no theater to write about.

So I will head off and see where I go, and share some thoughts here along the way. "Let the chips fall where they will", indeed.