Patrick Smith:  

America West delcared bankruptcy and left Bakersfield in '91 I went to work for Uniglobe Travel where I was a travel agent/network administrator (yes, weird combination) for over ten years. After Mr. Bin-Laden had his way with the World Trade Center in 2001 the Travel Industry took a downturn. I figured that was as good a time as any to leave Uniglobe and pursue my interests in Computers. Paramount Farms in Lost Hills was my professional home for the next 4 years where I was Technical Services Coordinator (basically, Help Desk Manager) starting in March 2002. In January, 2006, I hurt my sciatic nerve fighting a windstorm for custody of my backyard fence (I lost) and was unable to continue making the daily 130 mile round trip to Lost Hills. So I had to leave Paramount. I miss that job more than any other. I had some super people working for me and to this day I regret having to depart. For 9 months from April 2007 until January 2008 I helped one of Brenda's fellow supervisors at the crime lab by working as Temporary Help at the Crime Lab. What sort of exciting, crime fighting task did I perform you may ask? I worked in "collections". Technically, what I collected was "evidence". Unfortunately, the evidence I collected was urine from either probationers convicted of breaking drug laws or people under suspicion by CPS of using drugs. Either way, my job was to make sure the fine gentlemen giving samples of urine did not cheat. Please don't ask me how that was accomplished. It's not one of my proudest claims to fame. I only did it to help our friend who supervised the Prop 36 program and who at the time was desperately in need of employees. I can't imagine why it's so difficult to find people willing to watch people urinate into cups and then pour the results into test tubes! Woohoo! In September, 2008 a friend of mine asked me to go work for him at Acromedia Construction. Acromedia installed sound and video systems in large venues such as Staples Center in Downtown Los Abgeles and Galen Center at USC. I was project estimator. Some of the thrills of working at this job were going to the job sites. One day might have found me at Galen Center watching the girls volleyball team practice or taking supplies to our installation team in the Press Box at Dodger Stadium. Of course the down side was bidding jobs in Palm Desert or Blythe, CA. But overall the job was interesting and it was good to spend time outside of the Central Valley where the hideous air quality plays havoc with my allergies. Sadly, Acromedia became a victim of the bad economy and shut its doors. I received my final paycheck 3 years later. So now I am a proud stay at home dad. Kaitlin is starting her sophomore year at Bakersfield High School. We are still in Highland's district but almost half the kids in Kaitlin's class at Downtown Elementary are attending BHS so we got a transfer and Kait become a Driller! Kait' loves BHS and I can certainly appreciate a school that has so much local history. We had a BLAST attending football games during Katilin's freshman year when The Drillers won the championship! Money is tight for us right now. I would love to get a part time job, but our priority is for me to be around when Kaitlin gets out of school at 2:30p. It's proven difficult to get work in this awful Obama Economy too. Hopefully we will get a change in the leadership in our government and the jobs outlook in our country will improve! Brenda and I had an incredible time at the Class of '78 30th Reunion back in 2008! We hope another reunion happens soon.