Archive for the ‘Health’ Category

If you know where to look, you can find a lot of great free stuff online. Not just goodies like ice cream and postcards (although those are nice), but stuff like classes from MIT and trial memberships at gyms–things that are a little more enriching.

Here are some of the ones to check out:

MIT Classes
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is one of the best universities in the world, and it offers a lot of course material online for free. You don’t get a degree, but you will learn. A lot. ocw.mit.edu.

iTunes U
Got iTunes? Then you have a portable university at your fingertips. Many major universities–Stanford, Cornell, Oxford, Texas A&M–offer free educational podcasts on Apple’s iTunes Store. They cover a wide variety of subjects, from evolution to neuroscience to classical guitar. Just download and push play.

Start A Business
You might not think this is the best time to start a new business. But if you have an idea, the U.S. Government’s Small Business Administration can help you make it a reality. The organization offers classes on writing a business plan, registering your company and how to manage business taxes. Learn more at sba.gov.

Museums
North Texas has some truly world-class museums. Some, like the Kimbell and the Carter in Fort Worth, offer free admission to their permanent collections. You usually have to pay for the special exhibitions, but their permanent collections are very impressive. And who couldn’t use a little more culture in their lives?

Get Fit
Many health clubs have free introductory memberships. The goal is to get you hooked on their facility so you buy a full membership eventually. But some of these teaser memberships can last as long as two weeks.

In a fantastic move by the Dallas City Council , a plan has been approved to toughen the city’s smoking ordinance.

We know some people are going to be all fired up about this - no pun intended - but a number of major cities have already enacted this type of legislation. It will be nice for non-smokers to be able to go out and not come home reeking of cigarette smoke.

It bans smoking at bars, taverns and pool halls. It also bars smokers from the vicinity of most business entrances.

Violators would face fines, and bar owners also could be fined for non-enforcement.

The vote was 10-5 in favor of the stronger regulations; Council members Vonciel Jones Hill, Steve Salazar, Tennell Atkins, Sheffie Kadane and Mitchell Rasansky opposed the measure.

The revised ordinance takes effect April 10.

Dallas paramedics will begin to answer some calls in sport utility vehicles Jan. 1 as part of an efficiency plan to make better use of ambulances.

The new plan will save ambulances for the most serious calls. Currently, Dallas dispatches ambulances to all medical calls. Fire engines are often sent as well and frequently arrive before the ambulance, but a large percentage of calls don’t require advanced care or transportation to hospitals.

The new plan will assign paramedics full-time on five engines in outlying areas. Two paramedic SUVs will be posted downtown and on the south side areas with high-call volume, but few cases that require a ride to the hospital.

Officials said the additional paramedic responders will help keep the ambulances available for more serious medical emergencies such as heart attacks and strokes.

The goal is to improve the level of care by increasing response time and improve efficiency by not sending ambulances when they are not needed.

Several City Council members said at a Public Safety Committee meeting Monday that they worried citizens would overuse the SUV paramedics and that the plan will cost more in the long run than it will save.

Most city leaders supported a 90-day test that begins Jan. 1. The plan could expand if it is successful.

So now that you’ve over-indulged on stuffing and pie, you may be wallowing in self pity for the glutton that you are. The day after Thanksgiving is often a day of regret for many people who may have over-indulged.

Skip the shopping of cheap import crap that you don’t really need and go hit a Gold’s Gym for a free workout! This offer is good thru Sunday (30 November 08).

Dallas County voters Tuesday overwhelmingly approved replacing 54-year-old Parkland Memorial Hospital with a larger, modern facility.

The $747 million bond election will cover about 60 percent of the cost of a new $1.3 billion public hospital. The 862-bed facility will be constructed across Harry Hines Boulevard from the current 675-bed hospital.

When the hospital is completed in 2014, it will add $52.50 in annual property taxes for owners of a home valued at $150,000. That represents a 13.7 percent increase in the Dallas County Hospital District’s tax rate.

Other voters said they supported the new public hospital because they might need to use it someday.

The bond election represents the first time in 28 years the hospital district has asked voters to fund a construction project. About $500 million of the cost will come from private donations and revenues the hospital has on hand.

Every Tuesday, hips are swinging, feet are pivoting, and class members are shouting, laughing and spinning to Latin beats. They aren’t on a dance floor at a night club, they are on the aerobics floor at the Verandah Club at the Hilton Anatole. For one exhilarating hour of caloric-burning, heart-racing, muscle-pumping, body-energizing, awe-inspiring movements, class members are burning 500 calories with Zumba!

Zumba is a combination of Latin salsa, cardio workout and interval moves. It is the hottest dance fitness craze and, according to many sources, the most fun workout program around. Participants dance and laugh their way to fitness.

As a Zumba Instructor, Brandi Farris, is trained in the basic steps of salsa, merengue, cumbia, samba and more. “Brandi, who is highly regarded around town, puts her own ‘twist’ on Zumba. It’s Zumba meets MTV dance party,” explains Cara Young, Verandah Club Manager.

According to Zumba.com, Zumba was created when Celebrity fitness trainer, “Beto” Perez, stumbled upon the concept of Latin inspired fitness in his native country of Colombia (South America) in the mid 1990’s. One day, he walked into his class and realized that he had forgotten his aerobics music, and his only option was to grab whatever tapes he had in his car. Beto’s tapes were comprised of the songs that he loved, the traditional Latin salsa and merengue music with which he had been raised. In 1999, after his success in Colombia, Beto brought Zumba to the United States, where he was approached by entrepreneurs Alberto Perlman and Alberto Aghion to create a global company based on the Zumba fitness philosophy. The three young entrepreneurs then set a goal to offer Zumba classes all over the world.

Zumba is offered every Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at the Verandah Club located at the Hilton Anatole Hotel at 2201 Stemmons Freeway, Dallas, Texas 75207. The class is included with a Verandah Club membership or non-members can purchase a day pass for $16 plus tax.

About the Verandah Club
Verandah Club, is the Hilton Anatole’s newly renovated 80,000-square foot private fitness club, located in the hotel’s beautiful 7-acre park. The Verandah facilities were designed by Precor, the official workout equipment of Hilton Hotels. The $340,000 worth of new equipment includes cardio machines all equipped with LCD TV monitors with clear cable access as well as Icarian strength training equipment. In the updated strength training room, guests also have the option of a complete line of free weight equipment. The Club also features the only Kinesis Movement Training Area in Dallas, combining the benefits of Pilates, Yoga, Core, and extremity strength training with full-movement resistant weights. The Club is open weekdays 5:30 a.m. – 9:30 p.m. Weekends 7 a.m. – 8 p.m. Corporate memberships are available. More information can be found at www.verandahclub.com or by calling Membership Director Rick Dunnaway at 214.761.7855.

Billionaire oilman turned wind-power advocate T. Boone Pickens says he will donate $5 million to renovate and improve the downtown Dallas YMCA – the largest single gift ever for a YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas facility.

The donation from Mr. Pickens’ charitable foundation, slated for official announcement Tuesday, will bankroll replacement of the aging building’s façade and fund a variety of internal improvements, ranging from new elevators and stairwells to remodeled fitness facilities and enhanced programs.

Also changing: the building’s name. It will henceforth be known as the T. Boone Pickens YMCA.

“Dallas is my home, and where I can help out the most is where I want to put my money,” said Mr. Pickens, a YMCA patron in his younger years who has long advocated the physical fitness of his employees. “I’m an old Y person. And this building obviously needed help. They made a good presentation to us, and we were happy to do our part to help them.”

Gordon Echtenkamp, president and chief executive of YMCA Metropolitan Dallas, says the donation will help the downtown YMCA better serve the fitness needs of a clientele quickly morphing from primarily center-city business people to full-time, downtown residents.

In the past decade, downtown Dallas’ residential population has increased from a couple hundred people to more than 5,000. City officials project that as many as 10,000 people will reside inside Dallas’ downtown freeway loop by early next decade.

The renovations, Mr. Echtenkamp said, are scheduled to begin early next year with completion projected for late 2009.

“This is an opportunity for us to do what we need to do and create a real, neighborhood Y feel,” he said.

Likewise, the donation “will change this area, the heart of our city, helping us on our way to creating a vibrant and bustling downtown, which is something all major world-class cities have,” Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert said in a statement. “And Boone Pickens’ commitment to corporate fitness means a healthier Dallas for all of us.”

This is the third major donation in recent months Mr. Pickens has made to an inner-city Dallas institution.

In December, he gave $6 million to South Dallas’ Jubilee Park neighborhood to clear blighted land and construct a new community center and a resource center housing a neighborhood police station. And last year, Mr. Pickens donated $50 million to Dallas’ University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.