I’ve been knee deep in the development of the new CBC initiative called Live Right Now.

It’s a massive initiative, straight across the country, and unfortunately it’s been consuming all my time and more.

The idea for Live Right Now is that we, we as a country I mean, can take hold of this epidemic of obesity and poor health in this country by taking a few small steps ourselves. If we then inspire a few friends with our changes, we can spark a movement.

The idea strikes at the core of the problem in this country. We are not necessarily overweight or obese because we don’t care. We care, it’s just that often we don’t know what to do, or we’ve stopped knowing how to do it, or frankly we have no-one to do it with. Taking a few small steps can open a door to learning more, knowing more, and getting back on the right path.

It’s a huge issue, in Canada estimates are that 2/3 of the country are either overweight or obese. Obesity alone affects one in four Canadians.

Think that it isn’t a critical issue? I think I heard that the obesity epidemic will cost the health care system $90 billion dollars. Personally obesity will shave years off your life. Dr. Arya Sharma, an obesity doctor, was saying on the Current on Monday that he doesn’t really see many older obese patients at his clinic. Because they don’t live that long.

Scary stuff.

Anyway, I’ve been working my butt off getting the site for the Live Right Now initiative ready, so, if you’re inclined take a peek, and maybe you’ll find something there to inspire others to change.

It is the first confirmed case amongst CBC employees, Michèle Parent, executive director, organizational health and wellness said “There are a few other suspected, but unconfirmed cases there too, and one possible case at the Toronto Broadcasting Centre.”

“All affected employees have been asked to call their family doctors to arrange for testing if required, and are to stay home, up until tests results are proven negative, or if they are positive, up until their doctor finds them well enough to get back to the office. Workspaces have also been disinfected. Even though everyone has to be sensitized on proper hand washing and respiratory hygiene, there is no cause for alarm,” he said.

The internal link to the full intranet article is here. Unfortunately it is only available with a CBC login.

A source close to the CBC just leaked the final exam to InsideTheCBC.com.

(CBC employees: Your local HR office will let you know the times and dates for your own shots.)

Frankly, I’ve always been afraid of flu shots, and I’m not sure why. Probably because I’m a wimp.

Are you going to get a flu shot this season? Why or why not?

CBC folks: If you have questions about the flu shots, please contact Suzanne Irvine at (151) 3274 or via GroupWise.

Radio-Canada reporter Patrice Roy and camera operator/editor Charles Dubois are still in Kandahar at this hour. They fly to Germany tomorrow.

Dubois, who was seriously wounded, will be treated at the military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany until he’s well enough to return to Canada. Radio-Canada’s office in Paris is assisting. His wife and her brother are flying there to be with him.

Roy will return to Canada sooner. He had originally been scheduled to come home on September 9.

If you’d like to send a message of encouragement to the two, please contact me (Tod Maffin) via Groupwise and I’ll provide the special email address set up for that purpose.

Replacing the two in Afghanistan will be veteran correspondent Bernard Derome, who leaves this evening, camera operator Gilbert Drouin, and producer Bruno Bonamigo.

Smoke ‘em while you can.

CBC employees who smoke in Toronto, Montreal, Saint John, Moncton and Sydney will be heading outside to get their nicotine fix.

CBC management has decided to close the smoking rooms in those buildings on September 1.

The health regulations that permitted smoking rooms in federal government buildings are being amended to remove that authorization.

It is unclear how this affect “the magic cubicle” in Vancouver. 

Calls to management for comment were met with a voicemail message saying they were out “on a Doritos mission.” 

Ontario’s health promotion minister told reporters that September is not soon enough. “I’m disappointed they are taking so long. I don’t know why it’s going to take months and months to put a no smoking sign on a door at the CBC,” Jim Watson said.

Are you a Toronto CBC employee? What do you think of this decision? If you’re a non-smoker, were you ever impacted by the smoking rooms? 

Watch the video at http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/video.php?id=1431

Dynamic, modern and minimalist, the new logo reinforces the program’s philosophy of mutual assistance. It’s an ideal opportunity to highlight the EAP’s relevance, as issues of employee wellness and engagement take on greater and greater importance in the workplace. The new logo will be publicized to employees through a poster campaign with the slogan “Because sometimes you need a helping hand.”

The EAP is a joint union management program. All CBC/Radio-Canada employees, retirees and their families are eligible for the program’s confidential counselling services.

Why the change? I asked Patrick Gagné, the program’s national administrator.

“We’ve had the same logo for the last 23 years. It hadn’t really changed at all,” Gagné said. “Like everyone else, we’re competing for people’s eyeballs.”

The new logo was designed internally in Montreal by Yannick Blanchet.

“The old one was very static,” Gagné said. “This one is more dynamic. It has more movement.”

[Right: The old EAP logo]

Gagné reminds employees that the EAP can help with almost any problem employees or their families might face, including financial, personal or psychological issues.

“Nothing is too big or too small,” he said.

Employees can access the EAP internally on the intranet.

• Take your books home: Take home any books you don’t use on a regular basis for work. You’ll have more space to work, and if you have to leave your job for any reason (heaven forbid), you’ll have fewer heavy items to pack.
• Eat away from your desk: Eating at your desk encourages trash like paper bags, cups, and utensils to stick around your desk. I’ve been guilty of this and have the crumbs in my keyboard to prove it. To prevent this, eat somewhere else. Preferably, out of the office. Doing this also allows you a mental break from work where you can enjoy your meal without phone or computer interruptions.
• Throw away pens: Why do you need so many pens? Throw them all out except for two or three. If it doesn’t have a cap, toss it.

• Allocate time slots colleagues can interrupt you. In a busy work place, people are moving and talking all the time. If you play a role in a team where others need to interact with you, try allocating a time slot they can interrupt you. Instead of having people stop by your desk every 10 mins and asking you questions, let them know of a time in the day, say between 2-4pm you can be interrupted. At all other times, you can really get some work done.
• Do not check personal email in the morning. Checking personal emails can be very distracting even with filters setup. This is especially true when your friends send you links to interesting articles, jokes or videos on YouTube. If you’re not careful, you can get side tracked for hours. Instead of checking your personal email as soon as you get in, try starting work straight away. This will build up some momentum as you ease into your work day. You should check your personal email only after you have a few tasks completed or underway. Also, if you don’t want to perpetuate a particular distracting email thread, just don’t reply to it until after work.
• Close programs you’re not using. As a software engineer, I use a lot of programs important to my work. However, in most cases, I only need a few applications open at the same time. Instead of Alt-Tabbing constantly and fighting the computer to locate the program you need, try only having the applications you need open. Close everything else. For example, if you have already located a file and no longer need a particular Explorer or Finder instance open, close it. There’s no reason to leave it around at all.

It’s worth reading the whole list. Or maybe print it out and read it after work. Shouldn’t you be editing?…