31 Aug 09

This past weekend was made for fun…….at King’s Dominion.  The last time I was at King’s Dominion, I was with my 14 year old son.  He’s 28 now.  So, it’s been awhile.  My Nephew, his fiancé, my wife and I, all headed to King’s Dominion in search of fun.  We arrived around 2pm. 

I figured we’d stay until  6 or 7, then head back to the Peninsula.  WRONG!!  We closed King’s Dominion….meaning we left when the park closed for the night which was well after 10pm.  We rode every rollercoaster there except the wooden ones (they jerk you around too much for my liking) and the Ricochet (which had a lot of sharp turns). I haven’t had that much fun at an amusement park since……. Bobby Brown left New Edition.  Our first stop was the Dominator, the longest, floorless rollercoaster in the world……………

  The first thing that caught my attention was that there were larger seats for larger riders…..

…….they may as well have put on the sign…..”Bob, sit yo big butt right here.”  Man this coaster has vertical loops, cobra rolls and interlocking corkscrews.  Whew!  What a rush!!

We’re still pumped after the Dominator, so we decided to check out The Avalanche which was right beside the Dominator.  The Avalanche was tame compared to the Dominator but we got an interesting view. ..….

By the way, that was me hollering “woo”……. until that sucka got to moving fast,  You’ll notice I shut up then.  Meanwhile, The Berserker was cool but a little boring to me…..back and forth……back and forth….then you’re upside down….whoopee.

It’s only fun if you’re on the ground catching all the change and money falling out of people’s pockets.  Matter of fact, this was the last ride I experienced with my son some 14 years ago. (By the way, I lost all my change that day too).   We headed to the Anaconda next (another rollercoaster).  This bad boy has a 144 foot drop and it’s the first looping coaster in the world that has an underwater tunnel.  Yep, you actually travel underwater……but it’s so fast…..you don’t even realize it.

Boy-eee….we were running around King’s Dominion like 12 year olds.  Here, there, over yonder, everywhere…..the only rides we were interested in were the thrill rides.  However, we decided to slow the pace a little taste by riding one of those non-thrilling family rides……”The Blue Ridge Tollway:”  Antique cars (Model T, etc) slowly traversing a road course.  You step on the pedal and off you go and the steering wheel is on the right side of the car.  Didn’t look like much….2 miles an hour……winding road…..no big deal.  My wife insisted on driving, which was fine with me.  Next thing I know, she’s weaving all over the road and there’s a 3 car back up behind us.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  She commutes half way round the beltway to Chesapeake daily in rush hour traffic but was having difficulty driving THIS?  If the Po-po had been out there, they would have pulled her over for suspected DUI.  So the non-thrilling ride turned out to be quite THRILLING after all.  That got us pumped for some real excitement……so off we headed to VOLCANO, the Blast Coaster.  But on the way, we saw the “Back Lot Stunt Coaster”………………

which looked like a kiddie coaster.  We figured, ahhh, what the heck.  Let me tell you, that little sucka was “ALL DAT”….it whooped and flew around that track like nobody’s business .  We were NOTready for it …..whoosh……AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!  When I got off that sucka, I was wobbly legged…..couldn’t walk straight for nothing…..I was facing straight….but walking to the right.  So it took us a minute to get to Volcano, the Blast Coaster.  The line was longer there than anywhere else we had gone…….we figured that meant that this coaster was the jimmy jank (the best). 

WAS IT THE BEST?  FIND OUT NEXT TIME ON Bloggin’ with Bob.

                                      The HUMAN VOICE 

 God’s perfect instrument on EARTH……..yet, it pales in comparison to…..

                                        the Voice of Angels.  

                                  ENJOY THE VOCA PEOPLE

Here are the shops that are participating in the 3rd Annual Day of Sharing with Theressa. Please make an appointment for child to have his or her hair cut or styled for free…

Agape Hair and Nails
2326 W. Mercury Blvd.
Hampton, VA
12 Girls
Contact: Vennell 827-9338/876-0096

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Christians Family Grooming Lounge
2601 B Chesnut Ave.
Newport News, VA
Unlimited
Contact: Christopher 247-1010

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Above and Beyond Salon
1104 W. Mercury Blvd
Hampton, VA
6 Girls
Contact: Winona Plymouth/ Kisha Jefferson- 325-2019

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Kappatal Cuts
4042 W. Mercury Blvd Suite D
Hampton, VA 23666
Unlimited (Friday to Monday)
Contact: Brandon, Leo, T-Moose, Derrick, Fred, Amin, and Troy- 827-9899

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Newby’s Hair Design
2542 W. Pembroke Ave
Hampton, VA
6 Boys
Contact: Mr. Newby- 380-1952

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Essence of Ebony
555 B Settlers Landing Road #3
Hampton, VA
10 Girls (Friday and Saturday)
Contact: Ruby Phillips- 727-0197

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Bigg’s Barber Shop
2216 Kecoughtan Rd
Hampton, VA 23661
Sonilus – 3 Boys/ Slym – 3 Boys
Contact: Sonilus and Slym- 244-0022

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Hair Expressions Beauty Salon
49 West Queensway
Hampton, VA 23669
Unilimited
Contact: Venetta Alston- 722-5354

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Tomorrow’s Image Barber Academy
13641-C Warwick Blvd
Newport News, VA 23602
3 Cuts
Contact: John Chapman, Jr.- 874-1300

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Tomorrow’s Image #2
13641-A Warwick Blvd
Newport News, VA 23602
3 Cuts, 1 Braid, 1 Style
Contact: Randy Cardonna – 874-4562

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Tomorrow’s Image #1
15401 Warwick Blvd
Newport News, VA 23608
3 Cuts, 1 Braid (Cornrows or Straightback)
Contact: Artie Williams – 833-0500

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Nita’s Hair Creation
407 M Griffin St.
Elizabeth City, NC 27909
4 Girls
Contact: Nita or Karen- 252-333-1050

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Allure Full Service Salon
25 East Mellen St.
Hampton, VA 23663
3 Boys/ 3 Girls
Contact: Shawnie- 727-9770/329-2859

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The Cosmos
1404 North Battlefield Blvd
Chesapeake, VA
2 Girls
Contact: Casey Davis- 435-9025

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Salon Masters
1404 North Battlefield Blvd
Chesapeake, VA
2 Girls
Contact: Letitia- 277-9642

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Main Attraction
1404 North Battlefield Blvd
Chesapeake, VA
2 Girls
Contact: Harita Davis – 513-5487

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Ambience Family Hair Salon & Beauty School
5913 Churchland Blvd
Portsmouth, VA 23703
10 Boys/ 10 Girls
Contact: Cynthia – 966-1386/477-4063

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Beyond Beauty Hair Design
346 Broad Street
Portsmouth, VA
Contact: Cheryl, Lethebra, and Shirlyn – 398-0004
Maxine – 274-9060

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Erik & Erika
3228 South Military Highway Suite B
Chesapeake, VA 23323
14 Boys
Contact: 966-7302

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Image
3545 Buckner Blvd Suite 102
Va Beach, VA 23453
10 Boys
Contact: Charles- 717-1959

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Salon Zuri
5313 Indian River Road Suite 114
Va Beach, VA
5 Girls
Contact: Yolanda – 361-9111

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Universal Barber Shop
5266 Princess Anne Road
Va Beach, VA 23462
10 Boys
Contact: Marvin – 456-5333

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Elegance Styles
3545 Buckner Blvd Suite 103
Va Beach, VA 23453
7 Girls
Contact: Lisa, Q, Linda, or Jessica – 471-2444

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Hearts Desire Beauty Salon
6361 Indian  River Road
Va Beach, VA 23464
6 Girls
Contact: Michelle – 424-0707
 
Thank you to all of our Barber Shops and Beauty Salons for volunteering to make sure that our babies are looking cool on the first day of school.

It was absolutely wonderful attending the 5th Annual Black Expo, exposing so many minority owned businesses.  The keynote speaker, Mr. George Fraser was outstanding.  The performances were awesome, and meeting the beautiful Lisa Raye, and the oh so fine Morris Chestnut was a delightful treat.  Here are some of the pics from the expo and stay tuned for the video blog.

Bonita Adams and I

Bonita, George Fraser and I

Theressa and I listening to George Fraser

Theressa, Kim and I

Lisa Raye and I

Morris Chestnut and I

Look out for this talented group. It's V-side

Jazz clarinetist Sharon

Theressa Brown and Cocoa Butter

24 Aug 2009

I was watching a skateboard competition the other day and it dawned on me that everybody has their own language.  I’m not talking about English, Spanish, Swahili, etc., I’m talking about vocational language…..you know….the language you use on your job.  I call it “workspeak.”  Whatever your job, I guarantee it has its’ own special language (terminology).  For instance in football, the quarterback will call a play that might sound like this: Trips right, X flag, Z62 overload fly on 2.  WHAT?!?  In radio, the Program Director might say: “Only sweepers in & out of the stop set, no talk” or “Go into the break with the frequency & the positioning statement, give one thought and come out…..it’s ok, not to hit the post.”   WHAT YOU TALKIN’ BOUT MAN?!?  Of course, lawyers and doctors have their own workspeak …………and that’s on purpose.  The average person has no idea what either of them is talking about.  When you read a prescription or go to court, you’re so lost, you look like a deer in headlights……and the Police…..child please….”the perp is charged with two counts of B & E and violation of code 1026.  We’ll book ‘em at central processing, then take a 1012.”  All workspeak is confusing but I’m telling you, skateboard workspeak is on a whole nutha level.  I was totally lost watching the skateboard competition.  It made me think……suppose your doctor conversated (no such word) in skateboard workspeak?  For instance, a man visits an urologist.  After being examined, the urologist says, “I’m sorry Mr. Thomas, you have a frontside fakie.”  Oh my God!!!….. doctor, doctor…..what are you going to do about it? “Well, we can do an Indy Grab with a kick turn or we can do a backside 360……either way, it’s risky. The problem is……we don’t know if it’s goofy.“  Suppose your mechanic spoke in figure skating workspeak……“Well Mr. Thomas, your carburetor has a camel spin with a loop jump, your radiator has a layback lutz, and your distributor is doing a sal-cow.  Overall, I give your car a 5.6, but the Russian mechanic will probably give it a 4.8.”  My wife is a material planner for a large cable company and I hear her communicating in cable/material planner workspeak all the time.  Now suppose, your exterminator spoke cable/material planner workspeak…..”well Mr. Thomas, the best way to get rid of roaches is with a DCX Thirty-two hundred but that’s on requisition and the EMTA 14 is being provisioned in the lab.  Soon as it’s sleeved, we can get at dem roaches.  We can set you up with an appointment for three weeks from next Tuesday but if no one is at home when we come out, we’ll have to charge you $25.00.“  Suppose your hair stylist/beautician spoke in bank teller workspeak……”Girl, yo hair is overdrawn” OR “before we can put in tracks, we need yo thumbprint” OR “after 2pm, yo press n curl will be finished on the next business day” OR “it’s a 3 day hold for finger waves” OR “before I can do a wet set, it has to be approved by a manager …..I’ll be right back.“  Here’s another one, a man visits a brothel and the employees speak in beautician/hair stylist workspeak……”Oh, you want a ____ dry” (you can fill in the blank yourself).