California’s winter season off to a dry start, officials say

PHILLIPS STATION, Calif. — Winter storms have blanketed California's Sierra Nevada in snow, but the drought-prone state is still off to another drier-than-normal start to the crucial wet season, state officials said Thursday.

California water managers said Thursday the Sierra snowpack is only 67 percent of normal in this winter's first manual measurement. The amount of snow is measured monthly through the winter at more than 260 locations to help water managers plan for how much they can deliver to customers later in the year.

As snow in the Sierra melts in the spring and summer, it flows into reservoirs for storage and provides drinking and agricultural water for much of California. The snowpack supplies about 30 percent of the state's water needs, according to the Water Resources department.

Precipitation has bounced up and down as the state continues to recover from a devastating drought that led to tight water restrictions for residents and farmers. Persistent drought has also dried out trees and brush, contributing to severe wildfires.

Gov. Jerry Brown declared a formal end to a three-year drought emergency in 2017, but said water conservation efforts must continue.

"The last few years have shown how variable California's climate truly is and what a profound impact climate change has on our water resources," Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources, said in a statement.

More than 92 percent of California is considered abnormally dry, or in moderate, severe or extreme drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, a project of several federal agencies and University of Nebraska-Lincoln. That's up from 56 percent a year ago.

California typically gets about two-thirds of its annual rainfall between December and March.

A storm is expected to drop snow and rain on much of Northern California, including the Sierra, this weekend and into next week, the National Weather Service said Thursday.

At Phillips Station, a water measurement site near Lake Tahoe, officials on Thursday measured 25.5 inches of snow and a snow water equivalent of 9 inches — about 80 percent of average for the early January survey.

"We still have three wet season months ahead of us, so there's time for the snowpack to build and improve before it begins to melt, which usually starts happening around April 1," Michael Anderson, climatologist for the water department, said in a statement.

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Roger Federer enjoys impressive start to new season

[unable to retrieve full-text content]"This was a great start but obviously a long way to go here and in Melbourne," Federer said. "It's nice that I'm feeling as good as I am and played a wonderful match against Cameron." Federer started ...

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Dominant start

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UNM's Aisia Robertson (15) takes the ball to the basket against Air Force's Riley Snyder on Wednesday night during New Mexico's victory in the MWC season opener in the Pit. JIM THOMPSON/JOURNAL

The new year started much like 2018 ended for the UNM women's basketball team – with a win.

Despite looking a bit rusty on offense, the Lobos started Mountain West Conference play with a convincing 78-57 victory over Air Force at Dreamstyle Arena on Wednesday night. UNM (11-1, 1-0) extended its winning streak to 10 games on the strength of a defense that came up with 19 steals, forced 30 turnovers and registered nine blocks.

"Defensively we were good," Lobo coach Mike Bradbury said. "Air Force is a hard team to guard. They run a ton of different sets and they're well-coached and physical. We had a few breakdowns but overall I thought we did a nice job following the plan."

Jayla Everett paced UNM's offense with 19 points, nearly all of them scored on drives to the basket. Aisia Robertson added 15 points, and Jaedyn De La Cerda chipped in 11 off the bench.

The Lobos, who had not played since Dec. 20, had some highlight-reel baskets but were erratic on the offensive end. UNM was just 2 for 15 from 3-point range and turned the ball over 19 times, with the majority of those giveaways unforced.

But an extended holiday break did not appear to hamper New Mexico's defense, which allowed fewer than 60 points for a seventh consecutive game.

"We spend a lot of time on defense in practice," guard Madi Washington said with a smile. "Our offense has been a little shaky at times but we know defense can carry us and we work really hard on it."

The Lobos also had to grind through some rough play and uneven officiating that had an announced crowd of 4,608 booing frequently in the second half. UNM's Nike McClure and Robertson picked up technical fouls – McClure's after it was determined she hit an Air Force player with an elbow, Robertson's for expressing her dissatisfaction with a call.

"It was really physical," said McClure, who finished with five points, 10 rebounds and three blocks. "Once we realized (the Falcons) were going to hit us as hard as they could on box-outs and (the officials) were not going to call it, we just decided to do the same thing. We can play that way if we need to."

Air Force (4-8, 0-1) got 15 points from Emily Conroe and 13 apiece from Kaelin Immel and Haley Jones. The Falcons trailed just 20-16 after one quarter but UNM used the first of two extended defensive surges to gain control.

Shai McGruder and Ahlise Hurst converted steals into breakaway layups, Everett scored on a coast-to-coast drive, and De La Cerda hit a 3-pointer during a 17-5 tear in the second quarter. UNM led 37-21 before Air Force made two field goals in the final 1:03 of the first half.

The Lobos then allowed just one AFA field goal in the first five minutes of the third quarter. Robertson's three-point play increased UNM's lead to 48-28, and the Falcons never got closer than a 12-point deficit the rest of the way.

"We were a little choppy on offense and didn't finish as well as we should've," Bradbury said. "There's definitely room for improvement on offense, but we are attacking the basket and I like the way we're playing defense. It's a good way to start conference."

Robertson (five) and De La Cerda (four) collected nine of UNM's steals, while McClure and Everett had three blocks apiece. The Lobos also got a solid contribution from McGruder, who had nine points, nine rebounds and two blocks in 19 minutes off the bench.

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8 ways to get your sales off to a flying start in 2019

[unable to retrieve full-text content]There is no top salesperson yet. Everyone is on the starting line. You have a plan or will get one soon. Let's suppose you sell investments, insurance, loans, real estate or some product or service wh...

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Seasoned to Taste: Salmon healthy way to start year

New year, new starts â€" or at least fresh ones. There’s a reason new year’s resolutions are a thing, a trope, the subject of a million memes. We all need to periodically reflect and reset, and what better time than when the larger culture is likewise engaged?

Look elsewhere for advice and counsel about successful “re-solving,” but we note with a pang that many of the issues we were going to “solve” last year we’re “re-solving” to fix this one.

Neuroscience and some management gurus suggest that our brains can’t focus on much longer than 90-day periods, so maybe this year we’ll break the change we want to be down into chunks. Or maybe we’ll peel it down into another adage that has worked wonders for some of our friends: one day at a time.

Or one dish at a time. Every healthy food and meal we eat helps set the new patterns and start fresh.

So we’ll relish this super-food salmon with bright lemon flavor and crunchy strong greens on the side that’s highly adaptable. Lowering your salt intake? The lemon, black pepper and herbs are all you need. Don’t want to buy a whole container of buttermilk for one dish? It’s now available in small cartons, too. Or substitute yogurt or crème fraiche for a thicker drizzle. Prefer your salmon grilled? Fire up, using the marinade and finishing the dish with greens and drizzle.

Wishing you a new year filled with new flavors and fresh starts!

Salmon with Lemon Pepper Sauce and Watercress-Herb Salad

3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice, divided

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel, divided

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons olive oil plus additional for brushing

2 tablespoons chopped shallot

freshly ground black pepper

½ teaspoon dried dill weed

1 1/2 cups (lightly packed) watercress leaves, arugula, or your favorite fresh greens

fresh dill sprigs â€" or fennel fronds

Enjoy food? Get dining and recipe ideas sent to your inbox

Variation ingredients or garnish â€" thinly sliced fennel bulb to add to salad, pomegranate seeds

Whisk honey, 1 tablespoon olive oil, shallot, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and 1/2 teaspoon lemon peel in 11x7x2-inch glass baking dish. Add salmon fillets and turn to coat. Cover and chill at least 15 minutes and up to 1 hour, turning salmon fillets occasionally.

Position rack in top third of oven and preheat to 400°F. Line large baking sheet with foil and brush with olive oil. Transfer salmon fillets, with some marinade still clinging, to rimmed baking sheet. Roast until salmon is just opaque in center, about 14 minutes.

Whisk buttermilk, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and 1/2 teaspoon lemon peel in small bowl. Season with salt and generous amount of pepper and dried drill weed.

Toss greens and herbs, remaining 2 teaspoons lemon juice, and remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil in medium bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Place 1 salmon fillet on each of 6 plates. Top with watercress salad. Drizzle with lemon-pepper sauce and garnish with lemon wedges. Serve, passing additional sauce alongside.

Lynne Ireland lives to eat and welcomes comments and questions from others who do (or don’t). Contact her at citydesk@journalstar.com.

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How to start a fun bullet journal for the fall semester

Picture this — you sit down to check Facebook or watch a few YouTube videos and the first thing you see is a post about bullet journaling. This style of keeping your life organized has exploded on the internet over the last few years, leaving us to either hop on the bandwagon or look at pictures on Pinterest with envy. So what is bullet journaling, and how can you use it to organize your life as a student when the fall semester begins? We at the Clog have created a beginner's guide to help you out.

Choose a notebook

Before you start bullet journaling, the first thing you'll need is probably the most important — a journal! I use the A5 dotted notebook from Leuchtturm1917, arguably the most well-known notebook brand in the bullet-journaling community. If you're not down to splurge on a fancier notebook, that old journal in your drawer you've never used before will work just fine.

Create a key

Having a key is essential to bullet journaling, and you can customize it! Here is the system that the Bullet Journal website recommends, but I use a different one. I write down any tasks I need to do and then I check them off when complete or draw an arrow if I decide to do them later. For events, I signify them by putting a dot next to the text or by writing it in a designated event section (more on that later).

Get creative

Although this is optional, many bullet journalers choose a theme or color scheme each month to decorate their journal. Whether your style is minimalist or fancy, choosing a theme can help you separate your months in the journal and make the process more fun. Since August is coming up, I chose an ocean theme to reminisce about the summer we will be losing very soon *sheds tear.* Here's a more artistic calendar that shows how a simple theme can become really creative!

Start a calendar

Also known as a future log or monthly log, the calendar will serve as a place to keep track of all your events and things to do during the month. I usually write the days of the month on the left side of the page and leave plenty of space to write my events down. 

For the calendar above, I wrote the days on the side and "August" at the top with a black pen, adding a wave pattern with a Crayola marker. However, you can be way more creative with your drawings and titles if you want! In the calendar featured earlier, I drew waves in the style of AmandaRachLee, an artist and bullet journaler on YouTube. To finish that fancier calendar, I wrote my title in cursive instead of print.

Create a weekly page

Depending on your style, there are two main ways to go about making your weekly pages — you can write your tasks as needed or you can plan space for them ahead of time. The first is simpler because it only requires you to write something down when you need to. To show how this would look, I wrote "Wednesday, August 1" at the top of a page and added my tasks and events underneath. Here, I used the dot to signify the event and kept the decorations minimal!

If you prefer to plan ahead, you can split up your page into sections to represent individual days of the week, kind of like a traditional agenda. When I use this approach, I designate one area of each section for events, which helps you keep track of them if you don't like using the dot method mentioned previously. In the remaining space, I write my tasks and add decorations to spice up the page!

Whether you love or hate the idea of being creative, bullet journaling can be a great way to get organized before the school year starts. By keeping track of your events and tasks in one notebook, you'll be able to stay a little bit saner during the fall semester as well as plan for the future. The fact that the bullet journal is 100 percent customizable is the best part — whether it's minimalist or super fancy, give it a try and let us know what you think!

Contact Erin Haar at [email protected].

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Benefits of Journaling + How to Start

Welcome to Self-Care Week at Echo Blue. We're firm believers that to be successful in business and our personal lives, we have to have our "heads on straight." Mental health is something to be discussed, and we're aiming to include it in our conversations about personal efficiency and business success. Monthly, we take a week to focus our posts on topics related to mental health and self-care.

Journaling can be one of those things that people either loathe or approach with near cult-like adoration. I myself have a love/hate relationship with journaling — most of the time, I love it. I don't (usually) have a problem finding the time, I enjoy going back and reading previous entries, and actually filling a journal start to finish gives me a weird euphoric thrill.

I haven't ALWAYS loved journaling, for a myriad of reasons.

Like it or not, journaling works. It's necessary. And we should all be doing it. Today, we're going to look at some roadblocks, some benefits, and I'll share some tips as to make your own journaling not just HAPPEN, but WORK.

Why do we resist journaling?

Here are some common reasons I hear why people don't enjoy journaling:

I find so many "nice" journals and buy them, but they're so pretty I don't want to write in them and ruin them.

I don't have time to journal

I don't have anything to write in my journal

I hate making mistakes in journals — I'm a perfectionist

Each item on this list is something I've also experienced. I'm a perfectionist, so mistakes in journals make me crazy. Finding time can be tricky. Some days, I've looked at a blank page and thought, "Nothing happened today" (or sometimes, I think "Where do I even start?"). And finally, it CAN be hard to purchase a nice journal that comes home pristine, then finding motivation to write in it when you want it to STAY pristine.

Put frankly, all of these reasons are easily overcome. They're not reasons so much as they are excuses. I say that with love, because, again, I've experienced them myself. The reality is they're not valid — they ARE excuses. In order for journaling to be successful, we have to set aside our own perfectionism/shopping habits/fears and just, well, DO IT.

Why should we journal?

We hear all the ways journaling is good for our mental health. It provides us a private way to record our thoughts, sort things out, and process. Taking a few moments to yourself to process is such a good part of our self-care. It stimulates our brains and creativity and creates records.

Here are the main benefits, for me: Having a record

History has taught us that many famous, historical figures kept journals, which later proved helpful as later generations researched what happened during tumultuous times said historical figure faced. They provide insight to personal thoughts of folks, how decisions were made, and how the decision impacted future planning. While we may all have plans or ideations of becoming a legendary historical figure, we're not all going to be researched in the future by historians looking for our private thoughts as to why we took a certain job. We don't journal for posterity, but journaling is SO effective in recording our lives for personal benefit.

On a (very) personal note, I kept a journal during a painful divorce. Start to finish. I didn't let myself go back and read previous entries until I completed the last page after papers were signed by a judge and things were official. The transformation I read felt astounding, even though I had actually lived through the process. I had recorded highs, lows, fears, hopes, etc., and when the process completed and it was finally time to move on, I had done a great examination of my emotional processing over the entire painful process. And, since the last page was done the day it was all finalized, I could start my NEXT journal with a literal and figurative clean slate. I literally closed the book on that ugly chapter and moved on.

Journaling boosts creativity, particularly if you are using pen & paper.Once you start, random ideas will start to flow, and you'll capture those. You can draw on days you can't write. You can make collages. You can do "vision boards" of sorts within your journal. You can use different colored pens and stickers and all kinds of goodies. Your journal can serve as a scrapbook and mental health tool. It stimulates our creativity. It improves our handwriting (practice makes perfect, after all). Just overall good stuff.

Journaling can be your friend.We all may be somewhat guarded, even among friends and family. Journaling provides a way for you to be free and truthful. Pissed at your friend? Write about it. They won't see it. Hate your boss? Let loose. We may not always be able to speak freely, but we CAN write freely.

How should we journal?

Go to Pinterest and you'll find an infinite number of pins on journaling (you can even check out my own Journaling Board, where I too get carried away with journaling ideas). The reality is, however, journaling really only requires three things:

Something to write in

Something to write with

Time

You can go digital or analog with this. In most areas of my life, I am paperless and pro-digital. For journaling, though, I am strictly a pen & paper type girl. I find it soothing to write with a pen, particularly when the majority of communication is typing. You can use a bullet journal — I'm going to discuss this in a later post — if you prefer.

The Actual Journal

You have no shortage of options in journal selection. For me, I prefer composition books. They're cheap, found in practically every store, can be wide ruled (I have big handwriting), are hardcover, and I don't mind marking them up with stickers, bending them backwards to write, etc. Any notebook will do, so if you're just starting or are re-comitting, don't wait to find the perfect journal. Get a spiral notebook if you must. If you want something pretty, then get something pretty.NOTE: Full disclosure — I did buy a Moleskine journal on a whim, and it is a REALLY good journal. They're also considerably more expensive than composition books, so I may not keep using Moleskine in the future for journals.

Making Time

Some swear by journaling first thing in the morning (also referred to as "Morning Pages," where you write three pages in total stream-of-conciousness and just let it flow). Some write before bed. Some say whenever the mood strikes is best. I've tried all, so here are some pros and cons for each:

Journaling in the Morning Pros

Surprisingly, I have found I can be QUITE thoughtful in the morning and write pure gold. Some days I get great ideas writing in the morning. Writing in the morning jump starts the day and gets your brain working. Finally, if you had a particularly awesome dream, journaling about it before you inevitably forget helps you remember and process later.

Cons

If you're not a morning person, we could probably be friends. I am not. I hate alarms. There are absolutely days I write entries, then read them later and think, "what the hell was I talking about?" If you're prone to oversleeping, you may find you have to skip the journaling to get to work, so its harder to keep it as a habit. If perfectionism is one your excuses, it can be harder to overcome because your handwriting, grammar, and general sense-making may not be awake yet.

Journaling at Night Pros

If you ONLY journal in the morning, writing about the day before becomes "foggy." Capturing the days events and your moods keeps it fresh. The record of your day is more detailed. It also allows you to better process the day and identify ways to improve or things to repeat. It also can help clear your brain before sleep.

Cons

Depending on your schedule, journaling at night feels like ONE more thing to do. If you are forcing yourself to write, particularly when you can barely keep your eyes open, it may not be fruitful and you could even resent the habit. And while I am a big fan of facing moods when you are feeling them and not sticking your head in the sand, some days I know if I write about something I won't sleep, so I need to distract myself until I'm in a place I can process.

Whatever you decide, make it part of your daily habit. I try to journal in the morning and evening, then occasionally will write during the day if the mood strikes. This allows me to get the pros for each, and counter the cons.

What To Journal ABOUT

Some days I go nuts and can write five pages, no problem. Others, getting a half page out feels impossible. Blank pages can either feel thrilling or daunting.

Most of all, just START. Your first sentence can literally be "I don't know where to start." Don't try to be perfect. Just keep writing. I have found I journal expecting to write about one matter and end up writing about another that I didn't even realize had been bothering me until it just started to pour out.

For those who aren't sure where to start, here are a few suggestions…

High/Low — Record the high point of the day, and record the low point of the day. I do this on the days I feel I have absolutely nothing to say. This gives you a starting point — you may be surprised how a few words can jog other parts of your day for journaling

Gratitude — Many people swear by a gratitude journal. I've tried this, but I never could stick with it. While I often journal about things I feel gratitude FOR, a dedicated Gratitude Journal doesn't work for me. If I'm stuck, though, I often ask myself what I'm thankful for and start there.

Letter Writing — Write a letter to your future self. Write a letter you have no intention of sending. It can be to your boss, your spouse, someone you love, someone you don't, even someone who is deceased. Because your journal is private, you likely will feel better getting it out and processed, even if the person you're writing to never sees it.

Journal Prompts — There are thousands of journal prompts online. You can find them on Pinterest, Google searches, Instagram, etc. If you're stuck, these are a great starting point.

Finally, set some rules.

I have a few pertaining to journaling and getting it done, and done right for me.

My journal very rarely leaves the house and is stored in a secured place.

I find I am more forthcoming and honest about myself and others when I can rest assured nobody BUT me will read my journal.

Journaling is a part of my daily habits.

I prefer routines & structure. Making journaling a part of my daily routine is necessary for me to help me stick to the habit. I don't necessarily carve out time to do so, I just consider it as important as any other habit I do to start or end my day. Some days I skip, of course. If I get home late and I can only summon energy to change clothes and brush my teeth before bed, I may not write. If I oversleep and have less time, I'm getting right to the shower. I've found keeping it part of a habit, rather than scheduling time to do it, keeps me on track.

I am flexible and forgiving

If I skip, well, tomorrow is another day. No guilt. If I mess up a page I'm trying to make look fancy, oh well. I don't rip pages out. I don't use wite-out. I prefer my journal to look beat-up and scuffed when I'm done with it. Well-loved, if you will. Some days I write. Some days I just glue in ticket stubs and add a note I went to a concert. My journal is MINE. I don't follow set plans or themes. It's purpose is to capture me. Some days thats in beautiful self-reflection, others its in really bad poetry, but I don't keep rules as to what I write about.

I also keep a few sheets of blank paper in my work portfolio, in case a mood strikes when I'm out and about. I have a 45 minute commute, and I've found some mornings I get thoughtful and want to record ideas, etc., on a train ride. Using this notebook gives me a) one less thing to carry, and b) frees me from carrying my "actual" journal out of the house. These entries are usually work-related, so I keep them in the portfolio. If they're more personal, I may take them out and staple them into my journal at home.

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