Welcome to Kirsten Pearsons who started a career with UC ANR last week as an Assistant Cooperative Extension Small Farms Advisor, based in San Luis Obispo! It is exciting to be welcoming new members. Please take the time to send your own welcome to Kristen.

Next time you are looking for a podcast, be sure to tune into Selina Wang's interview for Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness. What a great venue to recognize Selina and the food safety research and outreach. Selina is clearly a natural for these interviews!

The Second Street office is bustling! One hears voices around and chairs are returning. After the last two years almost becoming normal, I didn't expect to be so glad to return. It has been a nice surprise. This morning there were others coming in early with me. I haven't seen that in a long time. Quickly things are changing! On Friday, occupants of the Second Street office have the first team meeting held in a long time.

As we approach the March mid-point, I remain just over a third of the way through my first read of merit and promotion packages. Thank goodness for an upcoming holiday/meeting-free day! In between I have AEs to read and AE meetings to hold. Now it is time for staff reviews. Didn't we just do all this last week? Time flies when one isn't bored.

The horrific madness overseas continues. Let's keep all those impacted in our thoughts as we conduct our daily work. How fortunate we are to worry about hectic schedules and high gas prices.