Despite some disappointing bowl games, I hope everyone is well rested and eager to be back at work. While last week wasn't exactly restful for me, I am glad to be back in California and ready to get to work. Admittedly, it's nice that this week is a bit slow yet so that those of us who were away can slowly get back up to speed. Others were tending to plots and projects and may not need to make an effort to get back in the groove. Still, others were gearing up to start their careers with UC and UC ANR. This week we welcome some new hires!

• Robert York started January 1, 2019, as a CE Specialist at UC Berkeley, specializing in Forest Ecology, Silviculture, Giant Sequoia restoration, and ecology.
• Also at UC Berkeley, Albert Ruhi started January 1 as an AES faculty, specializing in understanding how freshwater communities of food webs respond to global change, with an emphasis on the effects of hydrologic alteration and drought.
• Yu Meng starts today as a CE YFC Advisor, based in Holtville, CA, with programmatic responsibilities in Imperial County. I look forward to meeting Yu when I am in Holtville next week.
• Giuliano Galdi also starts today as a CE Agronomy Advisor, based in Yreka, CA, with programmatic responsibilities in Siskiyou County.
• Finally, it appears I am delinquent in welcoming Trevor Keenan. Trevor started on July 1 as an AES faculty at UC Berkeley, specializing in understanding the response of terrestrial ecosystems to climate variability and long-term change, as well as related feedbacks to the atmosphere through ecosystem carbon cycling and water use.

Please take a few moments to welcome our new colleagues and help them settle in and feel a part of the team. It's nice to know that numbers are increasing a bit, even beyond that slow growth we saw last quarter.

Today's a light day of meetings. That should allow me time to prepare for a meeting on Thursday which requires travel beforehand. Friday is a full day of meetings, starting with the monthly REC Director call followed by the monthly County Director call and then some random calls throughout the afternoon. I need to do some preparation for next week's meeting of strategic plan goal owners. I remain hopeful this won't end up as weekend homework, but it is certainly likely. We'll see how the week plays out.