The Techman Memorial Thread

This shall remained sticked until 06/08/2008.

I will observe a minute of silence at 1200 CDST (1800 GMT) on 06/03/2008. I ask you to do the same.

Godspeed Techman. You are missed.

J.

ya big lug.

I miss you, and my late night jabs at you Techman. You and I seemingly both suffered from insomnia. I used to PM you every weekend late nights, asking silly questions. You never failed to send a PM back.

We all miss you. Hopefully you are looking down from Heaven and seeing how we still cherish your times with us.

I really do miss the cat.

He always seemed laid back and didn't give a shit what anyone thought of his views. I liked that about him.

x1000

WF hasn't been the same since he left.

http://www.wordforge.net/showpost.php?p=1257651&postcount=22

Anybody who has not repped that post yet, please do. It was Techman's final on WF.

If someone had ever made a biopic about Techman, the theme song could have been Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down,” but with the Johnny Cash cover – rough around the edges, but honest.

Someone who’s lived through several kinds of hell knows what’s important and what isn’t. Techman wasn’t shy about his service to his country and the price it exacted of him. He shared more about being a recovering alcoholic than was perhaps wise in a room full of strangers. He was a craftsman in the best sense of the word, proud of his work, convinced of its importance. If he sometimes expressed a little disdain for people who didn’t have scars on their knuckles and grease under their nails, he was entitled.

There was a wistfulness to him when he talked about family, and any mention of missmanners turned him to mush. He had a tough guy’s appreciation for cats, strong opinions about movies and books. And, yes, he knew he was eccentric with his “I’ll wait for the video to come out,” but it didn’t bother him.

He wasn’t shy about his opinions. He admitted that, given where he grew up, he hadn’t known any black people until he was in the service, and would never feel entirely comfortable around them. His thoughts about gays were unapologetic, even abrasive. But that was who he was, take it or leave it. You don’t like it? Keep walking, buddy. Nobody said you had to listen.

He took a lot of abuse from some quarters. There were those who took the bits and pieces of his personal life that he’d shared over the years and twisted them into perverse, vicious mockery. His age and his sexuality were the usual topics, and the hounding was often unrelenting. Storm even stepped in one time and lit into these hyenas, calling them out on their bullshit, and they skulked in the corners for a while, but eventually slithered back. It’s easy to forget that part now.

But when you carry physical and emotional shrapnel from real battles in the Real World, you can bang heads with these sad little pissants, knowing they’ll never know what you know, and they’ll never reach the heart of you. But you don’t back down.

So, yeah, I’ve got that song in my head tonight, thinking about a guy I never met, a guy who could call me a filthy hippie one minute – but always with a wink and a smile – and compliment me on my bonsai or recommend a book he’d just read the next. Techman, we hardly knew ye. Wish we’d had more time to try.

Techman's passing is what really made me aware of this Forum & TrekBBS's TNZ - so I just missed him. But his death lead me here. And sadly, a major hang-out of mine ( www.iidb.org / http://rantsnraves.org/ ) had lost a valued and respected & beloved family member as well: Allan "winacese"...(atheist, like Techman)
and we'll never be over that - like you'll never be "over" Tech. As it should be.

So, TO ABSENT FRIENDS.

Techman was one of reasons why i joined trekbbs.

I miss him as well. We may never have gotten along 100%, but he was always honest in his opinions and I always respected the hell out of that.

Thought about the old man while watching the Indy 500 today.

I did too.
We miss you Tom.

To Tom....

I still think of the Camo Ford Ranger from time to time.

It is very interesting looking at the list of Wordforgers who repped that post. It may be the first and last time all of us ever agreed on the same thing.

The best thing about Techman was his honesty. Right or wrong, he told us exactly what he was thinking.

He is the textbook definition of 'down to earth'.

The Danger Ranger, FTW!!!!

I wish the old codger was still with us. I wanted to visit and get a pick up him in the midget. He said he couldn't fit in those cars when he was in Holy lock Scotland, but I bet he would fit in the passenger side. I have had some big ole boys in that seat.

Gone but not forgotten!

Pardon me, have we been introduced?


mm

The legend grows at TrekBBS everytime someone asks why the is called : techman:

Mind you, that tends to consist of bitter homosexuals ranting about what a mean, scary man he apparently was.

I didn't know techman, he died shortly after I joined, but every once in a while I'll stumble across an old thread he posted in without realizing it's old, and I'll read his posts and think "this guy makes a good point!"

Then I go to rep him, and I see the name, and it's weird for a minute.

:overhead: No, I don't believe we've ever spoken before.

Saw a guy drive by my house in a camo Bronco last week and thought of him.

I spent the better part of Friday and most all day today with the guys down at my local NAPA store pouring over old dusty catalogs trying to find a yoke for my rear differential.

Not only did it take me way back to when I used do that kind of thing for a living, that big blue and yellow logo made me think of Sarge every time I saw it.

When I was at work today, I saw Target had brought back these same little bandanas again for the Fourth, which reminded me of this photo I took for Techman last year: