- Author: Wendy Powers
I'm ahead of schedule! Don't get too excited; it's just in a very small part of my scope of responsibilities. Nonetheless, if we want to get into the habit of celebrating tiny victories, we can break out the champagne. My goal was that by tonight only 25 dossiers would remain for a first review; I am ending the night with only 21 remaining! But here's where everything falls apart. For some reason, I planned to review 14 dossiers the week of May 6. That is not possible; it is Program Council week followed by a couple of county visits (I haven't made those in a while). And, while May 10 looks promising to get a few done, the reality is that not only will the calendar fill, but 4 is about my limit during work hours, plus 1 more in the evening. I need to readjust my plans to make the deadlines. The reality is that by tomorrow I will be, at best, on schedule. Regardless, for now we celebrate.
Reggie Rivers talked about celebrating the small wins. As part of his keynote address, he described that in the NFL you celebrate every 5-yard gain. He was surprised then when he went into the business sector to find that celebrations we rare events. I wonder why it is that we don't celebrate our progress along the way to our goals.
This week we celebrate our new UC ANR members at the Programmatic Orientation meeting down at the Kearney REC. Mark Bell and Mark Lagrimini have been busy working with the planning team to develop a fun program that is full of useful information for newer academics. Wednesday is a tour that will provide a good overview of the breadth of UC ANR programs and provide networking opportunities. There's a nice mix of CE Advisors, CE Specialists, and Academic Coordinators registered for the event.
Take some time to celebrate Earth Day by enjoying our great weather this week!
- Author: Wendy Powers
This is a strange week – I'm looking forward to Saturday while simultaneously finding the week to be flying by. I've spent the bulk of the last 3 days with a group of new academics at the Programmatic Orientation. I don't know about the group of participants but it appeared to me as a whole lot of information to absorb. I suspect one could attend a couple of times and get something different out of the event each time. I suspect the most valued part of the time was the networking with others. And the tour was great – despite having such short time to line things up and prepare due to a change in venue at the last minute. Kudos to the Program Support Unit for their efforts!
One of the tour stops was a visit with Susie Kocher #UCSierraforest. She talked to us about a 2014 fire and the current reforestation effort in the area. The big excitement was the helicopter that was onsite in case a fire broke out. The chopper carried 5 to 7 persons to deploy them to the fire area and 260 gallons of water to put out small grass fires. It was a beautiful view. Our new fire Advisor Kate Wilkins and new forestry Specialist Jodi Axelson had quite a bit to contribute to the conversation as well.
Next we visited Apple Hill in El Dorado County. Lynn Wunderlich talked about how she started her program 17 years ago and the value of long-time collaborations with producers like the one she has with Ron from Gold Bud Mountain Fruit (seated next to her in the photo). One of the things that really impressed me was how many of the new Advisors, like Luke Milliron, and Specialists, including Houston Wilson, that Lyn already knew. I'm glad even those outside of orchard and vineyard expertise had a chance to learn a few things from Lyn.
Our lunch stop included a tour of Sherwood Demonstration Gardens in Placerville where Master Gardener Coordinator Tracy Celio showed us around, talked about the history of the garden and the breadth of programming that takes place. We had a chance to meet some of the hardworking volunteers.
After lunch we were at UC Davis where we met Katherine Pope at the UC Plant Pathology farm, Sam Sandoval and Jeff Mitchell at Russell Ranch, and Margaret Lloyd at the Center for Land Based Learning. It was a long and informative day.
I think the session most enjoyed by participants today was a panel of Advisors and Specialists that provided career tips. Leslie Roche #UCDRange, Dorina Espinoza, David Doll, Andrew Sutherland, David Lewis and Sam Sandoval did a great job sharing their experiences and wisdom with the group. David Lewis shared that Steven Covey's 7 Habits and David Allen's Getting Things Done have turned out to be important reads for him. I'm going to check out David Allen's ideas and see if I can pick up a few things to help me. Maybe he has a TED Talk so that I can save time from reading it.