I spent the day in Riverside, working with Eta to talk with Supervisors and their Chiefs of Staff. It was an education to learn what our County partners know about us and the partnership. Overall, today was a good day. I left with some ideas and a reminder to myself that sometimes we need to go beyond what we think we need to do to ensure we've done all that we can to secure our desired outcome.

While we were in the County building Eta and I had a chance to view the art on display as part of the Riverside County Artscape. There were beautiful pieces of photography, painting, and art quilts, each made by a local artist and purchased by a Supervisor. And look what we found – the inner artist in one of our colleagues! The talent is of no surprise, but it is fun to see, firsthand, what results from one's creative outlets.

Riverside County Artscape

And the artist is...

Tomorrow I only have a couple of calls. I believe I am supposed to get several merit and promotion reviews completed and uploaded. I suspect that while I will get a few done, I am likely to spend a fair bit of time reviewing a policy, drafting an MOU that is long past due, and considering a list of documents that CDs regularly sign in hopes of reducing the length of that list. While it may be a 'short week' I have a long list of things to complete.

Thursday I'm in Irvine to attend a systemwide meeting on cannabis research. UC ANR isn't the only unit that has a keen interest in research in this area, though our motivation is a bit different than some of the campuses in that our attention is in providing agricultural support to growers rather than conducting post-production research.

Friday I am in Davis for a day of meetings. My first meeting is with our new CE Specialist at UC Santa Cruz. Many within UC ANR already know Joji Muramoto, but for those who don't, he starts on Wednesday as the Organic Production Specialist. Joji already has a recognized program at UC Santa Cruz supporting commercial organic agriculture. Please welcome Joji to UC ANR!