God Bless My Uncle Gene

Yesterday morning, my father called a call from his sister-in-law, Cheryl Edstrom to tell him the very sad news that my uncle Gene, my dad's youngest brother, lost his battle with cancer.

Gene was loved by all and had a fantastic sense of humor.  My mother told us a story last night that I had ever heard before.  When my grandmother told her sons, my father John and his brother Luverne, thye had a brother, she asked them what they should name the fourth son.  Merle, the other brother, apparently was not there at the time.  What was there response?  "How about Roy Rogers or Gene Autry?"   Dorothy and Kenneth Edstrom (their parents) decided on Gene Arthur.

I am closest to Gene's oldest son, Chris, who is a true American hero.  Chris has been in Iraq two times and Afghanistan two times as well.

When I was very young, Gene used to kid me about the Air Force because he was in the Army.  He used to say stuff like, "you know David, the Army planes and pilots are much better than the Air Force pilots."  My father was both a pilot and later an air traffic controller, so that naturally got me going as a little kid.

My memories of Gene go back to the family farm in Randolph, Minnesota where Gene gave me some rides on his snowmobile.  I also remember when Gene came down to visit us in Trenton, Illinois.  He came down in a brand new Oldsmobile 442 that was a very, very cool car.  My sister, father and I played catch every day and Gene left his glove back in Minnesota.  I remember he just went out and bought a new glove.  I remember thinking, "wow, he can buy a brand new car and just buys a new glove whenever he needs one!"

When I turned 18, I happened to be back in Minnesota during that time - 1977.  My uncle Gene, Uncle Luverne and Uncle Merle decided to take the oldest grandson of Kenneth and Dorothy Edstrom to the local bar in Randolph, Minnesota.  Randolph is small.  How small is it? Today it is 436 people.  That probably includes the nearby farms as well.   They take me to the only bar in Randolph and announce it is my 18th birthday.  It is 3pm on a Saturday and it is twenty five cents a beer.  A couple of local farmers buy me a beer.  When I find out that beers are only a quarter, I then buy two beers for every farmer there and my three uncles.  Needless to say, I got hammered.  I remember Gene keeping me upright as the road in Randolph was spinning towards me.  Gene used to always kid me about that day.

Unfortunately, my parents cannot go back as my father is still undergoing chemotherapy and the latest IVIG did not give him the energy he needs to travel and my mom is still recovering from her stroke as well.  I have great, great memories of Gene Edstrom. 

Here is the official obituary.

My god bless his soul and provide comfort to all those family and friends who he touched....

Memex Automation Engages Investor Relations Firms

We, at Memex Automation, engaged a couple of companies to help us with investor relations and shareholder communications.  These are exciting times with a world of opportunities in front of us!

 

The full press release is below:

Memex Automation Engages Investor Relations Firms

Burlington, ON, Canada – March 26, 2014 – Astrix Networks Inc. (TSX-V: OEE) operating under the trade name Memex Automation Inc. (“Memex” or the “Company”), the global leader of manufacturing M2M productivity solutions, is pleased to announce that it has engaged Investor Cubed Inc. (“Investor Cubed”) and Proactive Investors (“Proactive”), to provide investor relations and shareholder communications services effective immediately.  Both Investor Cubed and Proactive will focus on increasing investor awareness in their respective verticals, introducing Memex to its network of investment advisors, investment dealers, institutions and other financial professionals.

In connection with these engagements, Investor Cubed has been awarded a consulting contract for a term of fifteen months on a fee for services basis, $5,000 per month, and granted options to purchase 250,000 shares of Memex at a price of twenty cents per share.  Proactive subscribed for $24,500 of the previously announced private placement at 14 cents per share and has been engaged for a term of one year on a contract of the same total value.  The Investor Cubed options will vest quarterly in four batches of 62,500 each during the term of the contract starting September 19, 2014. The contract may be cancelled at the end of a quarter under certain conditions.  Any options not vested will terminate upon the cancellation of the contract.  The options are governed by the provisions of the Company’s stock option plan and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange.

“As a new public company, we’re committed to building both our core business and our public company profile at the same time,” said David McPhail, CEO. “The simultaneous appointment of Investor Cubed and Proactive enables us to reach investors, brokers, dealers and institutional investors succinctly, globally.  Whereas Investor Cubed is well positioned in Canada, Proactive gets us into New York, London and Frankfurt, Sydney and SE Asia.  Our product, MERLIN, sells and markets globally.  Now we are marketing our stock globally,” he said.

“We are very pleased to be working with “OEE” as they represent the best of manufacturing productivity in the machine to management (M2M) industrial Internet space,” said Neil Simon, Investor Cubed’s CEO.    “This company is a unique opportunity for investors in the small cap sector who are interested in the Industrial Internet and its application within manufacturing.  I see the company becoming the RedHat of the Industrial Internet,” he said.

“I find OEE to be an interesting company,” said Ian McLelland, President, Proactive Investors.  “It’s interesting because they use the Internet securely to show manufacturers how to make more production and profit with the same labor and equipment.  For example, Mazak, North America’s largest machine tool builder based in Florence, KY, within an 800,000 square foot plant, published in the March online edition of Modern Machine Shop a 17% improvement in production equipment utilization after installing the company’s solution, MERLIN.  That’s impressive.  I believe my following in New York, London, Sydney and SE Asia will understand that value,” he said.

About Investor Cubed Inc.

Investor Cubed provides specialized consulting services to a select group of leading emerging and mid-capitalization companies, with an objective of taking our clients to the next level. Investor Cubed assists these companies in gaining exposure to an established national network of financial industry professionals. This broad network includes investment advisors, bank owned investment dealers and leading independent financial firms. In addition, Investor Cubed provides traditional investor relations services including tailored national marketing and communications strategies.

About Proactive Investor Service

Proactive Investors is a leading multi-media news organization, investor portal and events management business with offices in New York, Sydney, Toronto, Frankfurt and London.

Proactive Investors operates five financial websites in four languages providing breaking news, comment and analysis on hundreds of listed companies across the globe daily. Proactive is one of the fastest growing financial media portals in the world.  The group also operates hugely successful “investor forums” where three or four companies present to an audience of high net worth sophisticated investors, fund managers, hedge funds, private client brokers and analysts.

Globally, Proactive traffic continues to race ahead as private and professional investors continue to rank the group as one of the leading free sources of breaking news, in-depth comment and analysis and CEO interviews on companies listed on stock exchanges across the globe. In March 2010, total visitors to Proactive Investors websites eclipsed 1 million.  Proactive provides content to many of the world’s largest news amalgamators, financial websites, and news tracking services, and also provides commentary to dozens of other leading specialist investor focused websites.

About Memex Automation Inc.

Memex Automation (TSX-V:OEE) is the leader of the measurement of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (“OEE”) in real-time. OEE is the measurement of plant-wide capacity utilization. MERLIN (Manufacturing Enterprise Real-time Lean Information Network) generates OEE enterprise-wide, machine by machine. Frost & Sullivan awarded MERLIN its 2013 Technology Innovation Leadership Award. In 2013, Microsoft picked MERLIN to be its mid-market ERP machine connectivity solution. Mazak, North America’s largest original equipment manufacturer of machine tools, purchased MERLIN to manage its plant and now offers it on its price list. For more information, please visit: www.memex.ca.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

For further information please contact:

Memex Automation Inc.
Thomas Smeenk
Telephone: 905-536-3138
Email: Thomas.Smeenk@Memex.ca
www.memex.ca

Investor Cubed Inc.
Neil Simon
Telephone: 647-258-3311
Email: Nsimon@investor3.ca
www.investor3.ca

Proactive Investors
Sam Kiri
Telephone: 647-342-2932
Email: Sam@proactiveinvestors.com
www.proactiveinvestors.com