So I have admitted to being a bad blogger and that is a fact. Another fact is that I have not had a lot to say. My first blog (Post-Genfast Nation) was started just after my employment at Genfast (formerly Stelco Forging and Fastener) came to an end with the company filing bankruptcy and closing. I checked the PGN blog a while back and there was a comment by a co-blogger who ran our employee centre for the Steelworkers here and he mentioned that at the time I set up the site there was no Facebook or Twitter and blogging was not such a big thing either. It served it's purpose by allowing me to blow off steam about our MP and MPP. It served a better purpose by allowing Brian to communicate with the former Genfast employees and keep them informed about the action centre. Move ahead a year and I was in a robotics course when I found out about co-working and the movement around the world for these sites where people could for a small fee, have a work place to work at their own business yet have the community and "water cooler" experiences that help in a normal work place. Not everyone wants to work alone at home or in the busy environment of a coffee shop so I became enamoured by the idea of opening a centre like this with a group of like minded people. At that point I started this site to track the progress of the idea which failed to take off because I took the easy route and just got a 'JOB'. About the same time I started a blog about books hoping to do something in that direction but again I had the 'JOB'. So what am I blowing air about here? Here it is. The 'JOB' went south. I'm out of work again and this time I'm taking a serious stab at a business through O.S.E.B. which will, if I qualify, help me to get a viable business off the ground and running. I am going to blog about this a little at this site because it sort of fits with the original intention of this page although the title comes from a past venture, I hope to ride this into the future. Oh! And maybe become a better blogger! ..........................................dave

I have a confession. I am a bad blogger.

lost notebook

I was checking out the post genfast nation blog today. Not a lot happening there although it appears that Brian is still trying to track down some of the employees that have lost touch since Genfast closed. I remembered that this blog was still out there. I misplaced the title a couple of computer crashes ago but there it was in my dashboard! If I misplaced an important note book that contained personal stuff, I wonder how long I'd let that slide before looking for it. I haven't posted here in two years. Just letting time slide by at my replacement job, waiting to "retire". I need an energy boost to climb out of the doldrums and get excited about possibilities again.

later................dave

Changing Times

The last time I wrote anything here I was still at school studying Industrial Robotics Programming and I started this blog as a place for my own expression. My first blog was Post Genfast Nation, which was meant as a communication point for the former employees of our defunct company.
I took the opportunity on the Nation blog to rail at the local politicians a bit and then turned it over to Brian VanTilborg who was our local NDP candidate in the last election and is also running the Action Centre for the former Genfast people. Brian is doing a great job along with those helping out there.
I myself have been in a bit of a limbo. Unemployed and looking but fully aware of the state that the manufacturing segment is in. I have to consider that at this time there is a pressure to get 'a job' and yet there is a need to escape from the control over my future that 'a job' gives someone else.
I've had two plants close out under me with a third former employer gone down the drain this year as well. I have former co-workers that have been through five and even six closures of major businesses. So what do we do? The sad thing is that many of the people that I worked with were very committed employees. Twenty to thirty and some with forty years of service. These people devoted a major portion of their lives to a company and contributed meaningfully to the economic base of the city only to be told 'too bad, so sad'. Nothing can be done and your employment insurance that you paid into for all those years will still run out before you get a job and all the available training is geared for minimum wage, entry level jobs back in the same sector that just killed your future. Oh, and welcome to temp services, your twenty-first century sweat-shops.

Do I sound down? I guess I do. I guess I'll have to do something about that. Time to find that project that I started this blog for. Time to pick up my tired backside and get it into motion.

Stay tuned !

later......................dave

Welcome to the CyberSpace Nexis

This post is just to hold the space for a while until the project gets under way.
Greetings to any former Genfast people who find their way here.
Brantford will rise again, lets make it happen.