John Di Bartolo’s House of Step

Giving up Fridays

After teaching the 6pm step class on Fridays at 80th and Broadway for over 12 years now, I’ve decided it’s finally time to give the class up. Numbers haven’t been at the level I’d like them to be, and the regular 5 days/week teaching schedule has become a little overwhelming.

Rest assured that everything else on my schedule will remain as is for the foreseeable future.

See you in class!

Ellen endorses the Shake Weight… kind of

It’s hard to look at a commercial for the Shake Weight and take it seriously. Ellen realized this and not only showed the commercial on her show but gave the ridiculous device to everyone in the audience.

According to Ellen, the Shake Weight is good for “working out muscles I have never worked out in my life!” (Take a look how it moves and you’ll understand what she means.)

The creators of Shake Weight claim that “Ellen loves her new discovery.” Oddly enough, however, they don’t include a link to the clip of her show.

Possible schedule changes

The group exercise schedule is going to change in January. I’m playing with the idea of dropping my Thursday and Friday single step classes and replacing them with a double class (step, TBC) on Wednesdays at 49th & Broadway.

If I indeed make this schedule change, I hope it won’t disrupt too many of your routines. I would hate to lose even one of my beloved step children!

Wishing you all a happy holiday and a healthy new year!!

UPDATE: As it turns out, there will be no schedule changes for me this cycle. Oh well. Sorry for the false alarm!

It’s vaccination time!

Good news. From the New York State website:

Governor David A. Paterson today announced that, effective immediately, health care providers may make the H1N1 flu vaccine available to all New Yorkers who want the vaccine, including those who are not in priority groups established by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

If you don’t have health insurance, get thee to a clinic this weekend. This is the last weekend you’ll be able to get an H1N1 shot for free. Clinics will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, 12/12, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, 12/13.

Bad Boys

Next time you tell someone that you take aerobics, be careful — they might think this is what you do at the gym.

A hat that makes you smile

It’s been shown that the act of smiling has a positive emotional effect on the smiler. It therefore stands to reason that any device which constantly reminds us to smile must be good for us.

Enter the Happiness Hat. A sensor measures whether you’re smiling or not, and if the answer is no, you get jabbed in the head with a metal spike.

Says Lauren McCarthy, the inventor of the device, “I’m not suggesting we stab people until they smile. I’m interested in whether technology can teach us to be more human.”

What would you do for fuller lashes?

Victims of “eyelash hypotrichosis” (inadequate or thin eyelashes) need not suffer a moment longer. The miracle of modern science brings you Latisse, a treatment you apply directly to your eyelids to cure this most heinous affliction.

Funny thing about Latisse — it used to be a glaucoma medicine called Lumigan. When applied to the lashes instead of the eye, it makes them grow.

The problem is that rebranding a drug doesn’t make its original effect go away. When not used properly, the consequences can be as harmless as brown iris pigmentation (which is still undesirable) and as serious as bacterial keratitis (which can result in blindness).

Let Brooke Shields use this crap. If you want full lashes, get false ones.

Hand-washing might not help

As we gear up for a flu season, with H1N1 now in the mix, we’re being advised to wash our hands on a regular basis.

Bad news. Research from the Netherlands “suggests that the H1N1 flu travels mostly by air, not via hand-to-hand contact—and therefore won’t be prevented through hand-washing.”  This is not to say that hand washing isn’t important.  It can prevent the transmission of many diseases — swine flu is just probably not one of them.

So how is one to avoid getting H1N1? One possible solution is a surgical mask, but let’s face it, only the truly crazy will wear one of those in public.

The best solution? Get the vaccine when it becomes available.

Personal Space Protector

“PERSONAL SPACE is an object classified as ‘functional art’, created by the Brazilian artist and inventor Vivian Puxian. It ensures your personal space is always kept safe, and protects you against infectious and contagious diseases, such as the swine flu.”

Get onto the subway during rush hour with one of these things, and swine flu will be the least of your worries.

365BLACK

“Like the unique African Baobab tree, which nourishes its community with its leaves and fruit, McDonald’s has branched out to the African-American community nourishing it with valuable programs and opportunities.”

This has to be a joke. I’m not African-American, and I’M offended by what is a clearly a marketing strategy to target black people.

On the feedback page, they make several statements and ask visitors to the site if they agree or disagree.  An example of one such statement is: “McDonald’s is a brand that gets me.”

Strongly disagree.