I mentioned in my last post that I only write blogs when something out of the ordinary happens. Well today I lost my best friend, I guess that qualifies. Scott David Turnbull passed away yesterday, presumably due to complications from Diabetes. I could tell you all kinds of facts about Scott, but that would never do him justice. Being that this is my blog and is meant to be more of a catharsis for me than it is an obituary, I'll just talk about the kind of guy he was and why he meant so much to me.
Scott was a very emotional and passionate person, he was almost completely right brained. He had a tendency to live for the moment, which of course may help explain his resistance to taking care of his Diabetes.
I first met Scott while singing with the Washtenaw County Friends of the Chord, a barbershop chorus. We were casual friends and I didn't really know him that well yet. One day he showed up to the chorus with three other guys from college. They called themselves "The Ivy League" I was enamored with them immediately. In conversation I mentioned to him that I would love to be in a quartet like his some day. As it turned out I got the chance the next fall. Some of the happiest moments of my life was when I was with those guys. We sang together for the next 9 years. I grew to love all the guys in the quartet, but Scott and I seemed to have a special bond. We wound up as roomies his last year of college and I always roomed with him on quartet gigs. We usually wound up talking and laughing till all hours of the morning. In retrospect, I try to figure out why I was so close to Scott. Those of you that knew Scott can attest to the fact that it wasn't alway fun or pleasant to be in his company. Scott's emotions ran strong in both directions, I guess I can leave it at that. I think the reason I loved Scott so much was because with Scott, you always got the real deal. He was never afraid to tell you what he really thought,good or bad. And he was the one guy in my life that I could be absolutely honest with, and never worried about being judged. Here is a quote from the show Boston Legal that can pretty much sum up mine and Scotts relationship. If you aren't familiar with the show, Denny Crane and Alan Shore are best friends and they always have a scene on the balcony at the end of the show.
Denny: There are many ways that men go dead as they age. One way ... they start incorporating all the learned politically-correct behavior and thoughts into who they are, in the process deny what they are.
Alan: What are we?
Denny: Animals.
Denny: Today's evolved men talk to each other about politics, kids and education. They talk about anything and everything, yet they are profoundly lonely. Why? Because they are ashamed to share their most base instinct.
Denny: You and I aren't like that. When we're 90, we'll be sitting on a park bench, pretty girl go by, and we'll say "look at the rack on that one". You and I will never be lonely.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Boston_Legal"
Nobody that really knows me will be shocked by this, well maybe some people from my church....no, they won't either. That is the kind of relationship that Scott and I had, and I never felt that kind of lonliness with Scott because I could be who I really am, or I could at least release that part of my personality. Yes, through the years I have tried to evolve into a more respectable version of myself, but it was always nice to have that one guy that I could revert to my inner beast with. I hope that none of my other friends take this as saying that I don't enjoy or treasure their friendship because they may not see that side of me. That is simply not the case, I have a lot of truly great friends and I cherish them all. Maybe it's not good to allow that side of me so much air. I just know that I will miss every thing about Scott. I am thankfull to God for every second of my life that I spent with him and I'll miss him for the rest of my days.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Long Overdue
Bless me Father for I have sinned. It's been 6 months since my last blog. I guess you can tell now that I grew up Catholic.
This blog is for the handfull of people I know that don't have a Facebook. Ok, really, you need to get one. My Grandpa, who turns 90 this year, has one. Of course I set it up for him, but Grandpa and Grandma both like to check it everyday. There are a lot of great things you can do there, like post videos and photo's, write notes, chat. It's a great way to keep in touch with and actually re-connect with friends and family all over the world. When I post a story, video or picture, my girls (meaning daughter and exchgange students) in Tennessee, Germany, Switzerland, and Tailand can see them immediately. So get hip and get a Facebook.
I haven't written a blog lately because I'm only inspired to write a blog when something out of the ordinary is going on. Really, the last six months I have tried to catch up on things that I'm behind on instead of taking on a lot of new things.
Can you believe I am still working on the "Shout" project? I've been mixing that thing on and off for six months, and it still isn't perfect. I think we are just going to have to go ahead and release it, and not worry about the fact that we don't sound like Rockapella. I think we are learning that we should just record our projects and then give them to someone else to mix. It will actually get done that way. Look for it soon....I mean it this time.
My baby girl Kathy is graduating from high school this year. I can't believe it! I do have a lot of work to do to get ready for her party. Of course I will be doing a video like I did for Kelly, I guess I had better get started on that soon. I also have a commemorative video in the works for my Grandpa Kelly, who as I mentioned above will be turning 90 this year. I'm looking forward to that because he has led a very interesting life. He's a bit video camera shy, so I am going to audio record him and Grandma as they go through the pictures of their lives. They have a lot of great stories that need to be recorded for future generations to hear. Grandpa is a WWII veteran, almost everytime I see him, he tells me something about his time in Germany. I think it's important that these stories are preservered, because, God willing, I doubt that we will fight a war of that magnitude again.
Like most manufacturing in this country, business at United Brass has slowed to to a crawl. We are only operating our machines 36 hours a week right now. As it is, a lot of people here are doing things other than making parts. A slow down is sometimes good for a while, it allows you to catch up on things that have been put off. If any company can survive this recesion, we can. United Brass doesn't borrow money, and they do have a rainy day fund for times like these. My Dad has stepped down as manager and is currently on a 30 hour workweek. That puts Dan and I in charge of things. I haven't really noticed a big change from what I was doing before, I have been involved in the decision making around here for quite some time. I just have to sign a few more papers now and play referee once in a while. I have a lot of big plans for the future and do plan on moving forward with the way things are done here. I have discovered that managing a plant this size is more like steering an aircraft carrier than it is steering a fishing boat. As much as I would like to change things all in one day, people can only deal with so much change at a time. I've come up with a good decision making process that also allows me to stick with whatever I am working on at the time. If someone asks me what I should do about....blah blah, I ask them what they think I should do. When they tell me, I stare for while as if I'm really thinking about it, and then say, that sounds like a great idea, can you take care of it for me? I'm a little tied up with this for a while. So far it's been working good for me, unless their idea is terrible, then I have to come up with an alternate plan. Management is easy.
I am still training for triathlons. I haven't signed up for any yet because I haven't quite planned my summer out yet. I will probably do at least four of them again this year. So far I'm a little more banged up than I was last year, probably because I'm pushing it a little harder. When you are this age, if you push a little too hard, your body lets you know right away.
I will be taking a couple of trips to Tennessee this summer to get Kelly back and forth so she can take some classes here over the summer. I have a whole week off in early August that happens to coinside with one of the trips. I'm going to take advantage of that time to explore some of the trout streams in the area. It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it.
That's all for now, see you on Facebook....right?
This blog is for the handfull of people I know that don't have a Facebook. Ok, really, you need to get one. My Grandpa, who turns 90 this year, has one. Of course I set it up for him, but Grandpa and Grandma both like to check it everyday. There are a lot of great things you can do there, like post videos and photo's, write notes, chat. It's a great way to keep in touch with and actually re-connect with friends and family all over the world. When I post a story, video or picture, my girls (meaning daughter and exchgange students) in Tennessee, Germany, Switzerland, and Tailand can see them immediately. So get hip and get a Facebook.
I haven't written a blog lately because I'm only inspired to write a blog when something out of the ordinary is going on. Really, the last six months I have tried to catch up on things that I'm behind on instead of taking on a lot of new things.
Can you believe I am still working on the "Shout" project? I've been mixing that thing on and off for six months, and it still isn't perfect. I think we are just going to have to go ahead and release it, and not worry about the fact that we don't sound like Rockapella. I think we are learning that we should just record our projects and then give them to someone else to mix. It will actually get done that way. Look for it soon....I mean it this time.
My baby girl Kathy is graduating from high school this year. I can't believe it! I do have a lot of work to do to get ready for her party. Of course I will be doing a video like I did for Kelly, I guess I had better get started on that soon. I also have a commemorative video in the works for my Grandpa Kelly, who as I mentioned above will be turning 90 this year. I'm looking forward to that because he has led a very interesting life. He's a bit video camera shy, so I am going to audio record him and Grandma as they go through the pictures of their lives. They have a lot of great stories that need to be recorded for future generations to hear. Grandpa is a WWII veteran, almost everytime I see him, he tells me something about his time in Germany. I think it's important that these stories are preservered, because, God willing, I doubt that we will fight a war of that magnitude again.
Like most manufacturing in this country, business at United Brass has slowed to to a crawl. We are only operating our machines 36 hours a week right now. As it is, a lot of people here are doing things other than making parts. A slow down is sometimes good for a while, it allows you to catch up on things that have been put off. If any company can survive this recesion, we can. United Brass doesn't borrow money, and they do have a rainy day fund for times like these. My Dad has stepped down as manager and is currently on a 30 hour workweek. That puts Dan and I in charge of things. I haven't really noticed a big change from what I was doing before, I have been involved in the decision making around here for quite some time. I just have to sign a few more papers now and play referee once in a while. I have a lot of big plans for the future and do plan on moving forward with the way things are done here. I have discovered that managing a plant this size is more like steering an aircraft carrier than it is steering a fishing boat. As much as I would like to change things all in one day, people can only deal with so much change at a time. I've come up with a good decision making process that also allows me to stick with whatever I am working on at the time. If someone asks me what I should do about....blah blah, I ask them what they think I should do. When they tell me, I stare for while as if I'm really thinking about it, and then say, that sounds like a great idea, can you take care of it for me? I'm a little tied up with this for a while. So far it's been working good for me, unless their idea is terrible, then I have to come up with an alternate plan. Management is easy.
I am still training for triathlons. I haven't signed up for any yet because I haven't quite planned my summer out yet. I will probably do at least four of them again this year. So far I'm a little more banged up than I was last year, probably because I'm pushing it a little harder. When you are this age, if you push a little too hard, your body lets you know right away.
I will be taking a couple of trips to Tennessee this summer to get Kelly back and forth so she can take some classes here over the summer. I have a whole week off in early August that happens to coinside with one of the trips. I'm going to take advantage of that time to explore some of the trout streams in the area. It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it.
That's all for now, see you on Facebook....right?
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