- Author: Wendy Powers
I spent much of the weekend working. Although I wasn't able to login to Project Board, I know I have many dossiers to review. For those who prepared the documents and successfully uploaded them by Friday, close of business, I suspect you may have taken the weekend off. Others may have had the login challenges I had and were unable to complete the necessary uploads. The deadline has been extended until Wednesday, pending any further difficulties. New things often present some challenges. In this case, I suspect it was the volume of users that impacted the system.
I worked on a few new agreements, getting them into draft form to share with partners and/or colleagues involved in the discussions. One of the contracts was quite simple – agree to continue discussions that will likely lead to a more detailed agreement. This one was for the University of Autonoma Baja California (UABC). Beyond the already strong relationship that Desert REC and UCCE Imperial have with UABC, I believe there is potential to expand the ties across UC ANR, both in campuses and RECs in addition to increased partnerships with personnel from across the state.
When we visited UCAB last week, we had a chance to tour the campus briefly. We didn't tour most of the labs, but we did get a chance to drive past a number of the farms. We took a tour through the milking parlor and had a chance to see the new bulk tank that was a donation from a private company. The 100 milking cows looked happy, but we heard that finding and keeping a good crew of employees to milk the cows is a challenge. While I don't think I have ever milked in anything smaller than a double 6, I can relate to the problem of keeping milkers.
A couple of the agreements I drafted over the weekend edited existing agreements with other partners and even one with a current partner where we are expanding the partnership with an improvement. I'm working on another new agreement with a campus and a private donor. This one will take some time to draft and work through. Though not hard, these agreements take time and conversation so that the result reflects each party's goals.
The rest of the weekend I spent working on a project that is not work-related. I'm not particularly fond of this project and have been procrastinating. The work isn't hard, but it takes time and attention to the details. I suppose part of my procrastination is due to knowing that to find the time needed to devote to the project it meant not doing something else. The project is not my usual type of work, so I have had to learn, then do, something new. There are many pages of instructions, and I have learned that I do need to follow the instructions. But I committed to finishing it and, like so many things, no one is going to finish it for me so if I want it done, I need to do it myself. While I may never tackle something like this again, the outcome will be a good thing. Perhaps this project is not so different than challenges we all face.
Tomorrow I am taking a tour of the UCD Animal Science Department farms. I've been to most before, but it has been decades. I can't even remember their milk parlor. Hopefully, we will see the sun before it becomes a distant memory.
