Bakersfield.com

How Cool Am I?
Not yet rated
View All | Rate Me!

Graduated from Roosevelt Elementary, Emerson Junior High, BHS and CSUB.  BA in English from Cal State in '79.  My US Army service took me to Europe for 2+ years, and eventually to Vietnam.  I worked for over twenty-five years as a Human Resources manager and Director of Labor Relations for Getty Oil, then Unocal 76, Del Monte, and Kraft Foods. 

I retired a couple of years ago and moved with my dog and two cats to Magalia, a small town in the Butte County mountains near Paradise and Chico.  This is a great place if you like big trees and four seasons.  It's still almost as hot as Bakersfield in the summer, but a lot wetter (100" of rain) and we get snow in the winter.

I spend time trying to be as eccentric as I can be.  I read a lot, garden, cook, and tinker.  I've recently finished building a drift boat from scratch, and I restore antique, obsolete motorcycles.  I enjoy theater, movies, music and spending time in Chico where there are good restaurants, concerts in the park, a wonderful park (Bidwell) that is still a safe place to stroll, jog, or bike.

I still have a fondness for what Bakersfield was, and could be again.  I'm not terribly fond of the idea that Bakersfield appears to be evolving into communities resembling suburban LA / Orange County, mixed with South Central / Boyle Heights.  I miss the concerts on a summer evening in Beale Park, and being able to spend a Saturday, peacefully, at Hart Park.  I miss the Bakersfield where we all lived, worked and played, peacefully, together.

When not in my mountain retreat, I can be found in Sacramento, the Bay Area or somewhere on the Mendocino Coast.

User Name:interceptor
Email:john.rutledge@sbcglobal.net
Member Since:March 14, 2006
Last Signed In:June 15, 2008
Profile Views:158
Blog Views: