- Author: Wendy Powers
I missed the Budweiser commercial with the Clydesdales. Was there one? I was busy doing other things, including enjoying the weather, and I forgot to stay on top of the commercials. I did like the one with Steven Tyler, a Yellow Tail commercial with a party kangaroo, and the Crocodile Dundee commercial. My favorite was the Jack in the Box commercial with Martha Stewart. I left for a bit during half time so I'm not sure if Pink stayed home with the flu or performed. Either way, the real highlight was the final score.
I'm in town all this week – Oakland and Davis, that is. It will be nice to not have to check into a hotel or remember where I am headed. Program Council is only meeting Tuesday afternoon so that frees up some time. And the California Farm Demonstration Network is having a partners meeting on Tuesday. Today and Wednesday I have some work to do to prepare for submitting budget requests that are due next week.
At the end of this week I start ‘annual review' meetings. Due to a couple vacancies, I will have far more meetings this year than what, I hope, will be customary. It's been difficult to schedule much else for the next month or so. Over the weekend I received a jury summons for the week of March 12. That entire week is booked with annual review meetings so I'm glad I was able to reschedule it to mid-April though it will mean needing to reschedule an all-day budget meeting. I'm surprised I have been summoned already – less than 8 months living in the county! Sadly, criminals are everywhere.
A couple weeks ago my flight was delayed because there were more passengers on the plane than there were checked in. As we waited, fully loaded, at the gate, we each had to show our ID. I've only recently heard about people sneaking onto planes but unfortunately, not everyone is trustworthy. It took a while to check everyone's ID and, as you can imagine, several people were concerned about their connections. One of the flight attendants was a former law enforcement officer so he was able to deploy his skills to calm passengers and diffuse the situation. Honing or building those skills seems like a good continuous improvement opportunity, even for those who consider themselves talented in that area.
About 2 months ago I shared with a colleague the personal statement I submitted when I applied for my current position. I read through it and recalled that as I was writing it I questioned whether it was the right place to address my personal core values. I'm fortunate that the three I shared in that personal statement happen to appear in the 2016 UC ANR Strategic Plan. What is unfortunate is that not everyone shares these values or behaves in a manner that is consistent with the values. Some choose to cheat, whether it be on their taxes or the football field, while others do unspeakable things to hundreds of kids, and yet others cover up poor or criminal behavior. As a result, we have jury duty and ID checks.
Here's hoping the Olympics reflect strong values, from the athletes, to the trainers and physicians, to the judges, and the fans as well.