Eye of Bakersfield - eyeofbakersfield's Blog - Bakersfield.com

Eye of Bakersfield - eyeofbakersfield's Blog - Bakersfield.com http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/eyeofbakersfield en-us Relay for Life -- Bakersfield a leader http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/eyeofbakersfield/26041 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/eyeofbakersfield/26041 <p>I want to note that out of more than 300 Relay for Life events in California, Bakersfield is #1. </p> <p>Out of thousands in the nation, Bakersfield is #2 behind a suburb of Atlanta.</p> <p>There were 1,500 survivors, including my wife and I, who walked a lap Saturday at Cal State Bakersfield.</p> <p>More than $1.7 million was raised for cancer research.</p> <p>You can add this to the list of reasons to be proud of Bakersfield.</p> <p><i>Posted by Steve E. Swenson</i></p> Lay off the old people, you NFL bruisers http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/eyeofbakersfield/20644 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/eyeofbakersfield/20644 <p>Turns out the huge and powerful <a href="http://www.bakersfield.com/hourly_news/story/350590.html">National Football League pounced on a group of old people </a>in southwest Bakersfield.</p> <p>The Greens at Seven Oaks, a gated 404-home, 55-and-older community, was advertising a Super Bowl party, asking for $6.50 to help pay for food and drink.</p> <p>Well, the NFL has a trademark on "Super Bowl" and it doesn't think kindly of people using that term for commercial gain.</p> <p>So it informed these Seven Oakers they were violating various mandates. The old folks, no match for the monolithic NFL, caved in immediately.</p> <p>They are now calling their party a "football viewing gathering."</p> <p>Betty Moore, a resident of the Greens at Seven Oaks, said, "This is just a bunch of old folks wanting to watch a football game, for crying out loud. And the NFL gets involved. You'd think they'd have bigger fish to fry than with us."</p> <p>Amen, Betty. Have a great time at your football viewing event.</p> <p> </p> <p><i>Posted by Steve E. Swenson</i></p> Scratching and rubbing, good feelings http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/eyeofbakersfield/20564 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/eyeofbakersfield/20564 <p>Don't resist the <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/PainManagement/Story?id=4221631&page=1">urge to scratch</a>. It sends a good feeling message to your brain.</p> <p>And so is rubbing, which can even tone down the soreness of an owie.</p> <p>I'm so glad people study these things. </p> <p>I was attracted to the above-linked story because I'm been doing a lot of scratching lately. Turns out cancer cranks out a lot of itches along the way.</p> <p>But both scratching and rubbing send good signals to the brain. Relieves the itch and relieves some of the pain.</p> <p>Now you know. </p> <p>Just go out and get someone to rub you where you hurt. Or you can even rub yourself.</p> <p>To the tune of rub it in, rub it in.</p> <p><i>Posted by Steve E. Swenson</i></p> Female-only buses in Mexico City, but not Bakersfield http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/eyeofbakersfield/20257 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/eyeofbakersfield/20257 <p>I was surprised this morning to read about the <a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gpJafdrYvdUJdSR0FejJ_GuGpvWAD8UCF85G0">female-only buses that have begun in Mexico City  </a>because of extensive groping and verbal harassment of women on the regular buses.</p> <p>The problem had to be so bad that extra buses had to be engaged to protect the women.</p> <p>The city's subway system has long had women-only cars during rush hour.</p> <p><i>Associated Press</i> has reported that  women-only buses or subways have been rolling for years in India, Brazil, Japan and other countries.</p> <p>I asked whether GET buses in Bakersfield have had similar complaints. Marketing Manager Gina Hayden said there have been virtually no problems. </p> <p>The complaint person at GET reports maybe one or two complaints a year and none in the last six months. "It's not an issue here," Hayden said.</p> <p>Well, that's good. But it still amazes me that too many men in other places disrespect women in such intolerable ways.</p> <p><i>Posted by Steve E. Swenson</i></p> A $200,000 ride to space, how nice http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/eyeofbakersfield/20174 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/eyeofbakersfield/20174 <p>Out there in our aerospace center of the Mojave Desert, Burt Rutan and his crew is building <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7250882">SpaceShipTwo,</a> a plane that can carry six over-the-top rich people into orbit.</p> <p>For only $200,000 a trip.</p> <p>That's a little out of my Travelocity budget, but about 200 prospective passengers from 30 countries have made reservations and put up the cash.</p> <p>During the ride they can experience weightlessness for about 4 minutes.</p> <p>From their vantage point 62 miles above the earth, they'll get a view of our emerald planet that they can treasure for a lifetime.</p> <p>I hope they share pictures. </p> <p>Because I won't get to go. I'm saving a few thousand dollars to get a fishing boat. It will take me places I don't normally get to go. </p> <p>We just do what we can with what we have.</p> <p><i>Posted by Steve E. Swenson</i></p> <p> </p>

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getAsset.jpeg eyeofbakersfield How healthy are your dogs? http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/eyeofbakersfield/20152 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/eyeofbakersfield/20152 <p>Over the course of the last five decades, I've had a variety of dogs with virtually no health problems throughout their lives.</p> <p>As a young boy, I had Skippy (a mutt). I gave my parents Liebshen (Dachshund and the name means dear one), her daughter, Samantha; Gulley,  a black lab, Freckles (a cocker spaniel) and Sugar (a cocker mix).</p> <p>None of them had any health problems. We got them shots and that was it. (Well, Gulley, which was short for Gulliver's Travels and he broke out of our fence 14 times, and broke his leg once, but that was a hit by a car issue). Except for the dachshunds, all were outside dogs.</p> <p>When I got married a couple years ago, I inherited two dogs — an Australian Shepherd named Brooke and a Bearded Collie named Sebastian.</p> <p>I refer to Brooke as psycho dog and Sebastian as fat dog. (Oddly enough, they get fed the same amount per day). They are inside dogs.</p> <p>Our psycho dog shivers with fear at sounds sometimes she's the only one who can hear, and we regularly give her prescription tranquilizers. She has gone crazy, chewing up clothes, knocking over ceramic things, tearing up bedspreads and more.</p> <p>Our fat dog has the endurance of a 400-pound obese person. He walks six blocks and he's done.  He also gets up very slowly and awkwardly.</p> <p>This is new ground for me. How about your dogs. Are they healthy or does your vet see you as a regular customer?</p> <p> </p> <p><i>Posted by Steve E. Swenson<br /> </i></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> Mother gives up newborn to Bakersfield fire station http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/eyeofbakersfield/19910 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/eyeofbakersfield/19910 I want to applaud the <a href="http://www.bakersfield.com/hourly_news/story/338758.html">mother who brought her 3-hour-old newborn to a southwest Bakersfield fire station </a>under the state's Safely Surrendered Baby Law.<br /> <br /> It's an obviously painful decision. Parents have two weeks to reclaim the baby.<br /> <br /> But it comes after we've written far too many stories about babies dumped in trash cans or fields to die when this option was available.<br /> <br /> Bakersfield Fire Battalion Chief Garth Milam said the baby was dropped off at 3:30 a.m. Friday at Fire Station 15, 1415 Buena Vista Road. <br /> <br /> The Bakersfield Fire Department gets safely surrendered babies about twice a year, Milam said. <p>“Most of the time the woman is in such distress that it’s good to get the child to professional care,” he said.</p> This newborn now has a better chance at a happy and fulfilling life thanks to the courage of this mother to put the baby's needs first.<br /> <br /> <em>Posted by Steve E. Swenson</em><br /> <p> </p> <p><br /> </p> A $2,000 puppy stolen in Oildale http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/eyeofbakersfield/19786 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/eyeofbakersfield/19786 I have always obtained my pet dogs from the pound for less than $50 so it is hard for me to wrap my head around a $2,000 puppy.<br /> <br /> But that's what Jean Percival was selling an <a href="http://www.bakersfield.com/hourly_news/story/335967.html">English bulldog nicknamed Runt for when two men stole the dog.</a><br /> <br /> If you look in the classifieds, you can see this breed selling for $3,000 or $4,000. That's more than I used to pay for 750 cc, full-dress motorcycles.<br /> <br /> I feel sad for Ms. Percival's loss.<br /> <br /> But can someone explain to me why anyone would pay that much for a dog?<br /> <br /> <em>Posted by Steve E. Swenson</em> How much of a hassle are fog delays? http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/eyeofbakersfield/19746 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/eyeofbakersfield/19746 Nothing interrupts a morning routine like a fog delay.<br /> <br /> My kids used to love them, and it seems that we used to have more of them 7 or more years ago when they were in school.<br /> <br /> But my question is -- how do you handle fog delays? <br /> <br /> Do you drive your kids to school so you can get to work? Or do you call in late for work?<br /> <br /> Or do you leave them alone for a couple hours until the bus comes?<br /> <br /> Or do your kids go to Catholic schools where there is no such thing as a fog delay?<br /> <br /> Should everyone just tough it out and drive in the fog?<br /> <br /> <em>Posted by Steve E. Swenson</em><br /> Fog, the thing I like least about Bakersfield http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/eyeofbakersfield/19563 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/eyeofbakersfield/19563 People rag on Bakersfield for all sorts of things, not the least of which is this alleged heat in the summer and the hick town reputation.<br /> <br /> But as I was driving to work this morning, I realized what I like least about this town is the fog. As for the heat, that is why God invented swimming pools and rivers.<br /> <br /> When we get the tule fog it is more than a pain the drive in, and it chills you to the bone.<br /> <br /> So far we haven't had bad fog this year, but I'm sure it's coming.<br /> <br /> And school kids love the fog because it gets them out of school. That too is a pain for parents.<br /> <br /> But I'm saying if I wanted to dump on Bakersfield, I would dump the fog.<br /> <br /> <em>Posted by Steve E. Swenson</em>