I would be remiss if I didn’t include the long standing discussion about Prince George’s County, MD and its status as the wealthiest Black county in the U.S. I am homegrown and remember when the county started shifting focus on the apparent wealth of Black families living in Gorgeous Prince George’s. (Remember, don’t dare say “P.G.” we get sensitive about that. )
Anyway, it’s hard for me to get excited about supposedly being the wealthiest Black county when we get constant negative media about crime and the school system, among other issues. There is a great column by the Washington Post’s Courtland Milloy from last Fall that references the November 2006 Ebony article on Prince George’s County’s wealth and touches on my point. I won’t relive Ebony’s “America’s Wealthiest Black County” article, but to the outside world you would think we all have yachts and indoor pools…that’s not the norm. I will say that the 4000+ square foot house and expensive cars are more common (in some parts of the county). You kind of forget when you live here that seeing 2007 Range Rovers on a regular basis is probably not the norm in the rest of the country. (More on that later…I am in the market for a car, but should I succumb to the Washington D.C. area peer pressure and get the luxury car?)
Anyway, I love my county and I am here for the count…trying to make it a better place. I just wonder about this so-called wealth. Some of us may have money, but are we creating generational wealth? I tell all my friends that The Millionaire Next Door (Stanley & Danko) shops at JcPenney’s.
Prince George’s County’s bond rating has improved from Aa2 to Aa1, which is great news for the county because a higher rating will allow the county to get loans at lower interest rates. Also, a rating of Aa1 indicates that the county is in good financial standing.
I left work late yesterday and wasn’t paying attention to the Beltway message board as I passed the 202 exit, only to realize that that the Inner Loop was closed at Ritchie Marlboro. I immediately turned the radio to WTOP to catch the traffic. Once I heard “deadly accident” and Medivacs, my gut told me that someone had died. I really feel for the families. Now, after finding out more about the crash from this morning’s Washington Post article, I am wondering what the laws are on police chases in Maryland. Two innocent people were killed and 15 injured in a 7 car pile-up because it sounds like one of the police cruisers crashed into a car on the Outer Loop trying to chase the motorcyclist. Can you really chase a motorcycle in a car? I’m not placing blame, the whole incident is just unfortunate.
This story just has sad written all over it. That could have been anyone of us minding our own business driving home from work. I am not condoning the actions of the motorcyclist because he/she could have caused a Beltway accident w/o the police chase. I have seen my fair share of crazy motorcycle stunts on the Beltway. I recently heard about “the run” which is supposedly a motorcycle course that goes the stretch of route 50 from the Beltway to Annapolis and back in a certain number of minutes, which is ludicrous. These kids don’t seem to value their lives and the sad part is that some of these “kids” are in their thirties.
I asked for help to clean my house. Now, what about hooking a sister up with cooking dinner? Or, at least making dinner preparation easier. A friend of mine has tried Super Suppers and a co-worker tried Dream Dinners. Also, I recently found My Girlfriend’s Kitchen, will be opening soon in Glenn Dale, MD and Annapolis, MD. I will check out all three and report back my experiences, but in the meantime, does anyone have any experiences with any of these dinner preparation services?
I should mention that all of these are franchise opportunities.
Personally, I am a spoiled by my hair stylist because I go every other week. I had not washed my hair by myself in years until a recent attempt that made me appreciate my stylist even more. However, for those of you who do your own hair, here are two flat iron brands that area women swear by.
Move over old school Gold-N-Hot, I hear that either Corioliss or the CHI flat iron really does the job. These are professional-grade ceramic flat irons, so different models of either may run you up to $160. Please share any recommendations for other ceramic flat irons or curling irons.
I had the pleasure of going to two different Chuck E. Cheese parties in one day on Saturday. One in Laurel, MD and the other in Largo, MD at The Blvd.
The Laurel party was at 2pm and the Largo party was at 6pm. At Laurel, the crowd was smaller than anticipated and the kids were pretty tame with an occasional wild kid here and there.
The Blvd. Chuck E. Cheese was off the hook! There is a mechanical Chuck E. Cheese on a mini-stage behind a curtain and when it’s showtime, the curtain opens. Well, several different groups of kids decided they would open the curtain to climb on Chuck E. Cheese’s back. I witnessed this at least three times in an hour period. One little boy (well, he could’ve been 10 years old actually), decided he would climb on top of a mini-moon bounce — putting him at least 12 feet off of the ground. Where were the parents?!
Lastly, during the birthday song, the real Chuck E. Cheese sang along while doing various dances, including the motorcycle dance (you know, the Yung Joc dance to “It’s Goin’ Down” that Tom Cruise tried to do on 106 and Park last summer).
Don’t believe me? I have proof!
I give you Chuck E. Cheese at The Blvd. caught in mid-motorcycle dance…
I thought to myself recently, “What ever happened to Cool Disco Dan?” If you are from the Washington DC Metropolitan area, you remember seeing Cool Disco Dan graffiti pretty much everywhere back in the 80s and 90s. Evidently, he started “spraying his tag” back in 1984. Check out this interview of Cool Disco Dan posted on YouTube.
I know people are still on Chuck Baby, but I heard Chuck Brown’s “Block Party” on the radio during the drive home yesterday and I have a feeling that it will be playing at many a cookout this Memorial Day Weekend.
I was watching The Early Show this morning and saw the product Go Smile and other over-the-counter tooth whitening systems highlighted. I hadn’t heard about Go Smile before, but it sounded interesting enough to pass on the information.
The Early Show guest, dentist Dr. Nancy Rosen, said that Go Smile whitens your teeth instantly as you apply it — tooth by tooth. One of my friends recently tried Crest Whitestrips and was pleased with the results, but I told her that I never had the patience to use a product like that consistently every day. After about 2 or 3 days, I would forget. Anyway, Go Smile sounds like the answer. It is more expensive (around $100), but it sounds like it is worth it. So, for anyone with an important event, like an upcoming wedding, this sounds like it will do the trick.