Let’s get physical. Fiscally physical.

I’ve been getting around — with fitness centers in Brooklyn and lower Manhattan, that is. In two months I have been with six different gyms. While I was with some for as long as a month, others were completely shameless one-day stands.

On New Year’s Day I received an e-mail from New York Sports Club, which, like an ex-boyfriend, was begging to have me back, and offering a deal as incentive: Thirty days for $30. Was I willing to get back with an ex for a dollar a day? You bet I was. The trick would be avoiding a commitment to this relationship, which would cost $70 a month if I joined after the trial. On day 30, an employee asked if I was interested in joining. I shrugged and told her I couldn’t afford it. What can I say, NYSC? It’s not you, it’s me.

Plus, this is New York, a city of opportunity. There must be promotions and free trials at every gym, and no-one would ever know if I took advantage of every one. With an impudent grin, I got on my MacBook and started googling.Here is my guide to promiscuous free gym trials in and around Brooklyn. (more…)

Pucker up, broke people! Are your lips cracked up like mine are every winter? If they ARE then you’re in luck, I have a super-soothing lip balm remedy for you. And wait! Before you note that, you always buy lip balm and then put it in a pocket of one coat and then put your other coat on and then there’s no lip balm in your pocket when you need it – I have the solution to that problem too. This DIY lip balm recipe is quick and allows you to make enough for every bag and pocket in your possession. Just call me Ms. Fix-Your-Lips-For-the-Winter. Well actually, don’t because you’re going to do it yourself. (more…)

Are the president’s naps more important than yours?

Watching the State of the Union last night while playing your Poland Spring drinking game, you noticed the prez up the ante on minimum wage, proposing to hike it to $9 an hour, which is even more than New York’s Gov. Cuomo was seeking, which is kinda nice when you consider how many laid off professionals end up doing crap jobs for vomit pay these days. And there was talk about overall economic stability, and increasing American output by stealing Apple jobs from struggling Taiwanese workers. But where was the real talk of progressive reform that our nation’s overburdened and overloaded workers are demanding? We’re talking the third rail of office politics: Naps. Naps, not apps! What do we want? “A place to lie down for a few minutes!” When do we want it? ”Sometime around 2:30 would be great!”

We need them, now more than ever, as described in this New York Times story from last week about how relaxation increases productivity. And part of that relaxation is, of course, the simple nap, which does so very much for us, says Science: (more…)

Via Tumblr.

Gawker points us to the latest incidence of New Yorkers doing good for one another in the wake of the storm: Dr. Dave Ores who, despite the janky sign, is a for-real doc on the LES.

I’m open today if I can help anyone. Until 6 pm. Spread the word. Thanks. 189 east 2nd street btw A and B 

He’s also is handing out food:

Could use help assembling sandwiches… And handing them out tomorrow..out of a local closed restaurant. 189 east 2nd street 1 pm between A and B. Friday….. Spread the word. Could use 3 or 4 people.

They wanna paint you up. Well, not these guys, but the stylists do. via Soul Culture

If you’ve been looking to drastically alter your appearance on the cheap, hopefully you’ve been reading the site lately. On the heels of our news about free Sailor Jerry tattoos comes word from the Twitters that swanky haircuttery The Parlour Brooklyn is looking for hair models for a hairpainting class. If you’ve got virgin, untouched hair or roots that are least 4 inches long, email info@theparlourbrooklyn.com to throw your head in the ring. As we’ve gone over before, you won’t necessarily get to do whatever you like with your hair, but free is free and you’ll be helping stylists perfect their craft for future customers. So it’s also a good deed too.

Which one smells like hot garbage?

We have perhaps run out of niche foods to pasturesmith in Brooklyn — in the past month alone we heard about an artisanal olive oil store and a small-batch artisan bouillon company — so now we’re turning to beauty products. The Brooklyn Grooming Company claims to be Brooklyn’s “first and only men’s grooming line” that is as small-batch, handcranked, vegan, organically sourced as your average jar of fancy mayonnaise these days.

The company makes three Brooklyn flavors of beard oil (of which, as a 31-year-old dude with a beard, I am not entirely sure the purpose): There’s the Fort Greene, which smells “fresh and alive;” Red Hook, which smells like bay rum; and Williamsburg, which smells like three different kinds of wood. (more…)

Via Toothpaste for Dinner.

The Freelancers Union has been making huge moves lately to help you get and stay healthy, probably because everyone knows the freelancers’ life is based on a diet of caffeine, 11pm dinners and near-fatal quantities of screen glare. It’s already getting ready to open the country’s first medical center just for freelancers in downtown Brooklyn Nov. 5; now it’s adding free yoga and wellness programs just for independent workers too.

Two free yoga sessions will be held in McCarren and Prospect parks in the next two weeks; plus, the union will host a free workshop on “balancing your business and your health” featuring the head of the freelancers union and the doctor  who will be running the new medical center. Because look at you, all pale in that computer glow. Get healthy! (more…)

The previous Phresh Cutz event, via FB.

Good news for anyone who’s ever dreamed of having a bunch of styled up queers piled in their living room: PHRESH CUTZ is back, and we’re looking for a place to set up shop! For anyone who missed it the last time, PHRESH CUTZ is the little big haircutting project that could: a monthly queer pop-up barbershop, founded at the beginning of last month in Bed-Stuy. The event is put on by Hair Force One, a Brooklyn-based collective of amateur hair cutters, and is open to friends, strangers, lovers and strange friendly lovers of all ages, genders, sexualities and hair textures.

PHRESH CUTZ made its debut last month, cranking out 50 haircuts in 8 hours. And now we’re seeking to do it bigger. And better. And probably indoors since it’ll probably be cold out. If you have a venue to offer up, there’s something in it for you  (more…)

Sara Horowitz tours the new building. Photo from Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times.

One in three working Americans is a freelancer of some ilk and, judging by the amount of serious faces clicking away on Macbooks in every coffee shop at 11am on weekdays, a lot of them are in Brooklyn. So it makes sense that the first medical center in the country designated exclusively for independent workers and their families would be located in the heart of the rapidly redeveloping Downtown Brooklyn business district.

The Freelancers Union is renovating a bright, 6,000-square-foot space at 408 Jay Street in Fulton Mall for a November opening of what they call a “medical home.” You have to have insurance through the Freelancers Insurance Company to take advantage of it, but if you do, you’ll get free primary care and pediatric services. Plus, since time spent in waiting rooms is lost money in the freelance world, the waiting area will be wifi-enabled with iPads for freelancers’ convenience. And a yoga center, because this is Brooklyn after all.  (more…)

These Brooklyn mustachoied dudes don’t even know how good they have it. Via Brooklyn Paper.

And here you thought that old cookie duster was only good for winning obscure competitions and the occasional wild ride. It turns out your mustache may be saving your life in all sorts of ways: making people trust you more, giving you tax breaks, increasing attractiveness (obvs), saving money on grooming and lowering your risk of cancer (sort of). This is a all according to an actual doctor and Atlantic magazine editor who has set up the ultimate face bristle-defense argument. (more…)