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The gym experiment (go to the gym at noon in order to GET AWAY from work thoughts/emotions) was interrupted on Wednesday and Thursday, because I attended an offsite strategy planning meeting. Will get back to the gym tomorrow.

The only catch, really, is that the gym is loud and busy. Not crowded-busy, but energy-busy and visually-busy. No doubt that was part of the design of the space, and the energy that people bring to the space also contributes.

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Raw food diet goes along nicely. I have always been a slacker cook, so trust me, I’m not making all kinds of fancy raw meals. Salads, fruit, smoothies — those’ll do just fine. I did roll some avocado, carrots and cucumber in sheets of nori for “sushi.” That seemed kind of purposeful and civilized.

Current project involves sprouting quinoa. It’s a delicate job, since the grains are so small, and I live in the desert (where everything dries up at a frightening rate).

And here’s a question: I’ve been tracking my intake using the CRON-o-meter. A very handy tool. What I’m seeing, though, is that if I eat a big serving of kale, I am off the charts on vitamin A. Seriously off the charts. Is this something to even be concerned about?

As far as effects of the diet: I was surprised to have detox effects, because my diet wasn’t bad to begin with, but there you have it. A really bad headache a couple of days in, and then a few days of intermittent headaches. They’re gone now, though.

On the up side, it is amazing how different my body feels. I don’t quite know how to describe it, except to say that there is a dramatic reduction of inflammation in my system. How this “feels” goes like this: when I wake in the morning, there are no… well, no stiff or “lost” areas. Hmmmm. This is hard to explain. Usually there are spots that feel “fuzzy” or “puffy” — kind of like they’re giving off a physical static — I’m thinking of my knees, my finger joints, and often my shoulders. I actually don’t know that I would have noticed that the fuzziness/inflammation was there, truth be told. I only know now because I’ve noticed it missing. The other spot is the abdominal cavity. You know how some days the abdominal cavity feels clear and responsive and raring to go during practice? And other days it’s kind of puffy and sluggish? Yeah, it’s straight to clear and responsive each day. Likewise my mind.

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Books: The Granularity of Growth and Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man.

Diametrically opposed? I think not.

But maybe that’s the raw food and yoga practice talking.

Feeling better, though still kinda spaced out from the headache. That’s usual for me, though, after migraines.

Work stress or salmonella? Detox from raw foods? Well, whatever caused my illness, I have a solution. You know how Bush is the Decider? I am the Solver.

If salmonella, it’s going to run its course. If detox, it’s gonna run its course.

But what about work stress?

Honestly, I have been super-stressed at work, and with the recent resignation of one designer and the impending maternity leave of the lead of that team, my job is only going to get more crazy, at least until October or so.

I hate getting sucked up into the work day, hate finding myself all worked up about silly details, etc. Must find a way to rise above. To keep my perspective. I always joke with my team about how the daily yoga practice can get me through ’til about noon, but then all bets are off. It was just a joke for a while there, but actually seems to be *true* at this point. My afternoons have been super stressful and I’ve been unable to RISE ABOVE.

The weird thing, of course, is that I can actually be more useful to the organization if I keep the higher level. There are plenty of people already working all the details.

Okay, so combine these ongoing thoughts with my morning reading in Brain Rules, which is a delightful book about how the brain works.

One of the things the author discusses is how much better the brain works when one exercises routinely. As in, every day. Our ancestors walked all over the place — as do my contemporaries who live in walking cities. I always loved walking around Boston and New York when I lived there. But now I am in Scottsdale, where people drive. There are few sidewalks. Things are far apart. Oh, and it’s going to be summer soon.

For me to walk around outside my office would entail treks on highways in 110 degree weather. I’m gonna take a pass on that.

But I *can* make a point of going to the gym and taking a walk every day. And I can wipe every freaking thing off of my lunch-hour calendar in order to do that. Because, you see, people have noticed that I am around at noontime, and I have been dumb enough to schedule meetings during that time. No more!

I am cranky and unhappy at work, and it’s pretty clear I need to have a break at noon. I already know I don’t mind missing eating, so am susceptible to working instead of lunch. But I also know that if I have a leave-the-building-to-stop-by-the-gym-and-jump-on-the-treadmill habit, *nothing* will get to me give up that break.

So be it. It will be meditation-and-put-work-in-perspective time.

I’ve printed out day passes for two gyms that are close to work, and will go check them out. Ideally, I can find a place that isn’t jam packed from 12-1. (Ha. As if.)

I am curious to see how this impacts practice. I am determined not to go “self-competitive” in these sessions (that’s gonna be a challenge). The idea is to spend 30 minutes just moving easily and resetting my mind and emotions to zero. Essentially, a gently physical way to help my mind/nervous system. *Not* a workout.

If I sound a little nervous about this, it’s because of my prior gym addiction. I don’t think I am still susceptible, but am not entirely sure. Is gym addiction like substance abuse, where you are always recovering? We’ll see.

If I start logging data about gym time, please drop me a comment and tell me to knock it off.

The conference I just attended was held in Philadelphia. We were at the convention center, there was lots of physical labor to be done, and the unions were ubiquitous. I have always been sympathetic to unions. My grandparents were all immigrants (from Italy on my Mom’s side, and Ireland on my Dad’s). When they came to this country, working conditions in the Boston area were pretty dire.

My mother’s parents worked in the mills in Lawrence, MA, scene of the Lawrence textile strike. As the article points out:

The mortality rate for children was fifty percent by age six; thirty-six out of every 100 men and women who worked in the mill died by the time they reached twenty-five.

The mills and the community were divided along ethnic lines: most of the skilled jobs were held by native-born workers of English, Irish, and German descent, while French-Canadian, Italian, Slavic, Hungarian, Portuguese and Syrian immigrants made up most of the unskilled workforce.

The Italians had actually gotten there ahead of the Irish, but when the Irish came in, they were given the better jobs, since they spoke English. At least that’s the story I grew up with. It was the supposed explanation for why my mother’s mother never liked my Dad. I remember being told I had “mixed blood” when I was a kid. This is hilarious, of course, given they were all Roman Catholic Europeans.

The other story I recall growing up with was the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York. This tragedy was mythologized alongside stories about extended family members who’d lost fingers and limbs in mill machinery in Lawrence to underscore the good things the unions had done for immigrant workers.

Hence, my sympathy for unions and my suspicion of corporate entities.

Fast forward to last week in Philly. The union workers were everywhere. We were briefed ahead of time that if, say, a loudspeaker needed to be moved, we were NOT to touch it, but rather, we needed to find a union worker and ask him or her to move it where we needed it. My company hires audio techs for the conferences, and they, too, were not allowed to touch the sound equipment. Rather, they had to show the union workers how to do what needed to get done.

Fine. I was willing to see this as an inconvenience that could be set aside in the interest of the greater good.

Except. Well, except that in the week I was in the convention center, I don’t think I saw a single person who actually looked like they had even the remotest joy or interest in their job. People looked utterly bored and miserable. No laughter, no curiosity, no joy. Nada. Everything was a big drag — I went into one room, where we were slated to have a panel of five experts talk to the audience. There were two microphones and five chairs jammed around a tiny table.

“Could we get a larger table for this?” I asked, “And a mic for each person who will be speaking?”

Angry gaze of the man I’d asked. Bitter discussion with his co-worker. One of my colleagues reviewed the work request, and indeed, we’d asked for five mics.

The thing that was kind of awful was the lack of communication. The union guys seemed to expect to be screwed over, and they weren’t even a little curious about what the equipment was for, or what we might be trying to accomplish. In other words, they were not interested in investing themselves in the broader vision.

Too pie-in-the-sky, my notion that they might want to collaborate?

I guess so. But really, that’s tragic.

At one of our conference sessions (which, rather ironically, focused on how to motivate workers), a speaker talked about how one significant aspect of compensation is the opportunity to develop and be exposed to new challenges. Yes, I know people can not be expected to savor a challenging work environment if they are struggling to feed themselves and their families. But I don’t think that is the case here. What seems to be happening is that the union is training workers to expect nothing from their work except a pay check. And no matter how nice that pay check might be, if your job has no joy, it’s a crappy job. Period.

Corporations, which I used to see as evil empires, are at least recognizing that workers want challenges and development. No, they aren’t developing people out of altruistic motives. Companies recognize that to cultivate high performers, they need to offer challenges and opportunities and training and support. They need to let people follow their bliss, to put it in the most liberal terms. It’s good corporate policy. Engage and develop and motivate your workforce and you’ve got yourself a competitive advantage.

Let’s contrast that to my parting experience in Philly. We are all sitting on the plane. Apparently the baggage workers are unhappy with the merging of their carrier with another. We hear the bags being tossed into the cargo space. Thunk… … … … … … … thunk… … … … … … … … … thunk… … … … … … … thunk… … … … … … … … … … … … thunk. Minutes between each thud. A work slowdown. Lovely. Ninety minutes to put the luggage on the plane.

I’m losing my religion.

I know, I know, it’s 4:56 AM and I’m back to the “where does marketing and product management fit into the social networking puzzle” question.

Here’s an interesting post that is a little helpful for thinking about this issue.

The pressure on PR firms and marketers alike to adapt and take advantage of this new paradigm is strong. Many will not survive the transition. The two most important ideas that must be relearned are that a) your communication channels are radically expanded by social media and user generated content…you must have a solid understanding of your potential online media outlets and the right message for each and b) it no longer stops there, you must learn to modify the medium to your advantage. More concretely, don’t just go to the NY Times and pitch your case study, consider what your presence should be on social networks, blogs, etc that are relevant to your customers…ask yourself: Where do my prospects congregate on line? Can I create my own community around my brand? Then, create your own content and adapt the message to both the audience and the medium: don’t just make a viral video, because they are hot…you might be as well served simply by posting insightful comments to the right blogs. And finally, focus on the medium itself to accelerate distribution and build a trail that leads back to your own website. Link, link, link. Syndicate, syndicate, syndicate. Everywhere, all the time. A news story in the print version of the NY Times lasts a day and then goes into library archives. A blog post or a gadget can be redistributed across the Web, and a link from your story back to your website on a page rank 9 site has a much longer lifetime in cyberspace than the print equivalent in physical space.

The post is specifically about the expansion of user-generated content into the “news” space. But it can apply to the expansion of social networking into the “product” space — in other words, in its positioning on the web.

Geez. Placement on the web. Good luck to anyone with that job.

And yes, I’m amused at the suggestion that all PR and marketing people brush up their understanding of linguistics and postmodernism. But mixed in with that amusement, I must admit, is a good dose of despair. Because as Freud might say, “Sometimes ‘the medium is the message’ is not just ‘the medium is the message.’”