The tribute to Mother's Day, two local boys earn college degrees and some really good - and poor - customer service at Valley Plaza

 * ... FOREVER YOUNG: The best of all of us was on display on Mother's Day, when folks took to Facebook and other social media to pay tribute to their mothers. So many pictures, many old photos

in black and white taken in the war years of the 1940s, showing our mothers in their prime, smiling and seemingly unaware of the fleeting aspect of life. Though perhaps gone, our mothers live with us in our memories, an image freeze frozen in our minds when life without a mother would have seemed impossible. So here is to my own mother, the late Julia Jean Swysgood, born in Ohio and taken from us five years ago in Arizona, a victim of cancer. Never was there a more joyful, and hopeful, person.

* … ACHIEVERS: Hats off to my friends Ray and Lisa Karpe who are on the road living the dream of most parents: they headed east to attend the college graduations of their two boys. Robert Karpe graduated from the University of South Carolina this past Sunday, and a week  later brother Adam will graduate from the University of Arizona. Both boys are products of Garces Memorial High School. Well done, lads.

 * … SPOTTED: Today's gem from Twitter: "When I was little, I used to sing in the shower. Now I make life decisions in there."

 * ... VALLEY PLAZA: There's no better service in town than the folks who work behind the "Genius Bar" at the local Apple Store at Valley Plaza. There is normally a wait, but the young people behind the counter could not be nicer or more technically skilled. On the downside, try to stay out of the public restrooms at the mall's food court: broken doors, broken hand dryers, no towels, an altogether forgettable experience. Two good examples of how to treat customers, and how to ignore them.

 * ... ART: If you think art among young people is dead, you should have headed over to Metro Galleries for the 34th Annual Congressional Art Competition-An Artistic Discovery. More than 240 entries from high school students throughout the congressional district were hanging, some of them showing remarkable artistry. Congressman Kevin McCarthy holds this event each year and was on hand at Metro Friday evening to meet all the students an present the awards. The best of show entry will hang in the U.S. Capitol for the next year.

 * … DOWNTOWN: Judy Wert wrote to to remind everyone about the First Presbyterian Church on 17th Street downtown. "We have occupied the same location for over 100 years, maintaining the historic elegant beauty of our buildings. A portion of our land was given to us by the widow of Colonel Thomas Baker, after whom the city is named. We host and support numerous activities that appeal to various groups and people who populate downtown. Pastor Jeff Chandler, along with the entire staff, are dedicated to being a beacon of hope to our community."

 * ... THEATERS: At least a dozen folks responded to Ronal Reynier's request trying to identify and old Bakersfield theater. His response: "Readers submitted good guesses on my quest to locate which theater in Bakersfield had trellises down its side aisles. They were the Granada, Rex and the Rialto; all are wrong. These three were known as 'shoebox' theaters and were too narrow. I lived across the street from the Granada in 1943-45 and enjoyed movies there before it was remodeled. While in
high school I worked at the Tejon and pulled some shifts at the Granada. The Rialto was even less than a 'shoebox' and I also went to movies there. In my feeble mind is the first theater I can remember going to... the Californian."

Is an Apple Store headed to Bakersfield? And Westchester is hit with a rash of car and truck thefts

 * ... APPLE STORE: It looks like Bakersfield may finally get an Apple Store after all.  Apple has yet to announce it and no word on where it will locate, but it seems clear Apple is coming. Local attorney Mike Abril tipped me to a job posting on the networking site LinkedIn advertising for employees for a new Apple Store coming to Bakersfield. And Abril told me an employee of an Apple Store in Los Angeles confirmed that the company is indeed opening a new outlet here. One commercial real estate broker speculated Apple might end up in Valley Plaza.

* ... THEFTS: The downtown and Westchester neighborhoods have been hit with a rash of auto thefts, no less than a half dozen stolen in the last week. In one case, a woman who cares for rescued dogs awoke to find her 2004 Silverado pickup, hooked up to a rental trailer with 1,600 pounds of donated dog food, gone along with her black 2004 black Saab. Both cars were alarmed, which tells me this isn't the work of amateurs.

 * ... RUBIO: Join me Monday on Californian Radio KERN 1180 when I will be chatting with state Sen. Michael Rubio about the recent elections and what that means going forward. The show runs from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.

* ... OVERHEARD: A local businessman talking to a friend: "She wants to take me out to lunch for my birthday but she's so broke she has to borrow money from me to do it!"


 * ... BIKE PATH: Longtime KERO TV anchor Jackie Parks has two young children and she shared with me her frustration over how some folks use the bike path. "I'm concerned and frustrated by the number of parents who use the bike path as an outing for toddlers. A few weeks ago I almost ran over a child who was learning to walk near the side of the path. And today the rider in front of me had to slam on his brakes to avoid hitting a child who was walking IN FRONT OF HIS OWN STROLLER. Shouldn't there be some rule about this since parental common sense doesn't seem to be enough?"

  * ... PREFIXES: Irene Randolph poses a question I cannot answer: "Regarding Bakersfield telephone prefixes, wasn't Oildale's [EX] for EXport?  And another east Bakersfield prefix was Triangle?"

 * ... MORE PREFIXES: Gene Bonas added this thought to the discussion on prefixes: "I thoroughly enjoyed reminiscing about the phone prefixes that I knew growing up in east Bakersfield.  It also reminded me of a game a group of us would play called 'play the busy signal.'  Several neighborhood guys would get together and dial our own number.  When we got the busy signal, between buzzes you could talk to others playing the busy signal.  We'd give out our phone number and wait.  In a few minutes a girl would call and a conversation would ensue.  We met a lot of girls this way... Often they attended the same schools we did.  When we met, we usually met at the miniature golf course by the Green Frog Market on Alta Vista.  The golf course is no longer there, but playing the busy signal was some fun."