My Speed Troubles and A Friend's Cool Skateboard

OK so here is my friend John's old skateboard, very old school and WAYYYY fun and cool.
Thanks John for sending a picture my way...Brian gave it to me after a Not So Fun day at work.
Speaking of which: There are two problems with this day.
The first is that my skateboard is not as fast as my old one, which is confounding me. I have spiffy trucks on it; I have spiffy bearings, and yet the board doesn't perform as well on flats and hills. Sigh. I sort of am pining for the Gravity board even though this one is way more versatile for me.
Any suggestions anyone? The guy at my local skate shop was not helpful. He put in new bearings and when I told him that the board was still dragging, he said "I don't know."
Hmmmm.
The other aspect of today that was Not Fun was that a colleague of mine took me to task for skateboarding. She is only 10 years older than me, but in her spirit, she is like 100.
Anyone who is so simplistic in his or her thinking as to equate skating with negative stereotypes is just well...not worth my time.
But she was offensive. I held my ground and all that, but yuck.
The evening is shaping up much finer. Aidan has been running all around with a friend; Kellen enjoyed ground up pasta and ground up organic hot dogs. We have this Really Cool baby food maker now, and it works really well.
John also passed on some info. for me for my trucks. He noted a really cool truck company that he's used for years: independenttrucks.com. Thanks John!
* * *
Finally at the risk of being Addicted to skateboarding, I've found some super cool sites to check out. These are all about the Newest and Most Innovative in skating...I've chosen each link because it offers something different and new:

SUV skateboarding: earthboards.com
the Rolls Rolls cruiser (which James Bond would ride, says the reviewer quoted): http://www.longboarddirectory.com/reviews_rolls.html
Morning Wood (which I love because it is so artistic) http://morningwoodskateboards.com/
And the one that I am currently salivating over: http://skateboard.about.com/od/skategearreview1/fr/LoadedVanguard.htm

I got a chance to demo a loaded in the store, Vanguard...And it rocked.
But it also was $250.
I went with a board half that price.
And perhaps, dare I say, I am regretting it.
Someone please tell me: how can I make this beautiful Arbor of mine go faster on flats and hills?