Whew, what a month. It's not over, yet. It may never be over. This may be The Everlasting Month that Sucks the Life Out of Me.

On June 1, I'm moving to another part of Cincinnati because the house I'm renting is being sold. It's a good thing I'm self employed and can free up time to focus on preparation. I'm selling a lot of furniture and appliances; there's not as much space in my next place, nor do I want to keep everything I have.

I, I, I. That's also taking getting used to. I'm no longer married. My wife and I separated during the last month, and it becomes legal very soon. It's the best thing for us. We love each other enough to realize we shouldn't stay together, that our best chance at happiness is pursuing different paths. How many couples who separate do so out of profound love? We had a very good marriage. And, ultimately, we have an excellent relationship where we balance helping ourself and the other person. If you've never met Sara, I promise you've missed out on spending time with a remarkable lady.

So, what next? Well, my business needs building. If anyone out there knows someone who wants a database developer for contract or to consult, point them to my business site, Software Meadows. That site needs an overhaul. I feel like the cobbler's son. (You know, "the cobbler's son has the worst shoes.")

Are you moving soon, too? Here are my FlattTips!

• Get boxes that are all the same size. Major bookstores will often let you pick up their empty warehouse-size boxes if you schedule with them. They recyle dozens each week.
• Pack everything you can into boxes. Don't worry about efficiency too much. It's more important to not have a lot of loose things. The worst experience is to be packing on the day of your move. Your friends who are helping you will be unhappy.
• Invest in good tape gun.
• Invest in bubble wrap, unless you have lots of newspaper. Invest in bubble wrap for fragile items, and newspaper for filling in big spaces in boxes. I only use packing peanuts for really delicate items.
• Label your boxes, either by what's inside or by room. Make it clear if it's Fragile.
• Try to pack like items together, and do this first. For example, I pack all my books first, because that takes up about 40 boxes. I pack them by size (all hard covers together, etc.).
• When finished packing like items, pack by room.
• The little items ("the little crap") will take as long as the major items. Don't get too caught up in organizing them.
• Be merciless in throwing out stuff. Go to a hardware store and buy Contractor Bags, which are 3 mil garbage bags.
• If you're throwing out lots of stuff, put on gloves and help the garbage people on garbage day.
• Work at being 90% packed up two weeks before moving. You can do without your stuff for a couple of weeks.

Well. That's plenty.

I just realized my last posting was exactly a month ago. A lot has happened in that time, all personal, and nothing I want to discuss in a web log. I do plan to continue the Development as Theater series. I've also been working on a little project management application that some of you may be interested in.

Until next time, when hopefully I can get off my butt and write more. . . .

You should expect this and other posts in this "series" to change as I refine my thoughts. I've been toying for some time with comparing software development to theater. Specifically, what are the similarities and differences between releasing an application and opening a play? Can the theater production experience benefit the developer?

The genesis for these questions began when I appeared in a small, local production. I have a long background in the arts, more so in classical music. It struck me that most plays are successfully "released" on time and reasonably on budget. The quality may be questionable, but the product arrives. Why is that? Why are so many software projects late and over budget, when so many amateur and professional groups hit their marks?

First, here are some similarities between theater and software development:

1. Both have a deadline. In a play, it's opening night. For software, it's the release date.
2. Normally, a team of people are coordinating to achieve an end result.
3. Both release their product to a set of users.
4. A customer (producer, board of directors) pays for the development, with hopes that the users (employees, patrons) will bring return on the investment.
5. The final product is assembled from multiple parts. In a play, it's the set, costuming, acting, sound, lights, etc. In software, it's the various modules, documentation, training, etc.

That's a good start. I'll save the differences for the next post, but one important difference is worth mentioning. In most cases, a play is produced with an existing script. Most software is created from scratch. The best comparison to software would be a play being produced from a commissioned playwrite, and I'll attempt to discuss that. I will also try to talk about that very experience with some theater people I know.

Coming up: some thoughts about why plays finish on time, why software doesn't, and a discussion I had with a software engineer about complexity.