Elin's second day in soccer class with nalle

Another Saturday morning with Elin's soccer class for kids 3-5 years old, and Elin wasn't too keen on attending. She grabbed a teddy bear (nalle in Swedish) and we were off to class.  Arrived a couple of minutes late so I dropped off Helena and Elin before I parked.  When I reached the soccer field with Johanna, there was Elin dribbling the ball with nalle in one arm.  Nobody laughed or said anything.  Thankfully, expectations for kids this age are incredibly low.

Top 10 Happiest and Most Hated Jobs

According to a General Social Survey by the National Organization for Research at the University of Chicago published in the Christian Science Monitor on a September 2, 2011 posting titled "The 10 happiest jobs", the 10 happiest jobs are:

1.  Clergy
2.  Firefighters
3.  Physical Therapists
4.  Authors (yes, money is not everything)
5.  Special Education Teachers
6.  Teachers (but an average career lasts only 5 years for half)
7.  Artists
8.  Psychologists
9.  Financial Services Sales Agents
10. Operating Engineers

And the top 10 Worst according to Steve Denning of Forbes.com - these are jobs that are meaningless; employees "see little point in what they're doing." - they're mired in bureaucracy - from "Think Your Job Is Bad? Try One Of These!", 8-11-2011:


1. Director of Information Technology
2. Director of Sales and Marketing
3. Product Manager
4. Senior Web Developer
5. Technical Specialist
6. Electronics Technician
7. Law Clerk
8. Technical Support Analyst
9. CNC Machinist
10. Marketing Manager

Elin's first day in soccer class

First day of soccer class through the city of Irvine at Woodbury community park was rained out.

The following weekend (today) on Saturday the 17th at 11 a.m., Elin's class went off without a hitch.  The parents surrounded the kids, snapping pictures and videos at a furious pace like paparazzi, me included.

Halfway through practice, Elin told her mom in Swedish "the coach said they should all go pee".  While the coaches would give the kids water breaks from time to time, there was no mention of a pee break, so that was a false alarm.

Elin began drifting away 2/3rds of the class.  She appeared to lose interest, so I stepped in and accompanied her through the rest of the exercises.

The video below is of Johanna disrupting the class by collecting most of the cones used as markers for kids to maneuver around.  She appeared to be having more fun than many of the kids.  She even kicked a ball or two  quite adeptly.

Skimboarding at the Balboa Pier

I shot the skimboarding video below at the Balbao Pier yesterday.  The tide was high and there were powerful waves breaking near the sand.  City workers had moved sand from the back of the beach to the front to prevent the high tide from flooding the parking lot and beyond.  All of this created the perfect conditions for skimboarding, which is similar to surfing, except skimboarders run from the beach to the water and catch late breaking waves by the sand.  The skimboards are small replicas of surfboards without fins to allow gliding in shallow waters.

Does Ruby's have a monopoly over pier real estate?  I've never been on a pier in SoCal without a Ruby's at the end.

And here's a popular skimboarding video on YouTube: