Virtual kickball and cyber skinned knees?

One of the biggest projects I'm working on these days is a MMOG (massively multiplayer online game) designed for kids 5-9. It runs 24/7 and there are thousands of kids playing at any one time. The site is an amazing technical achievement and a real leap forward vs the competition. Plus, kids seem to love it.

And why not? It boosts their creativity, gives them interesting nature facts along the way, fosters independence, and builds self-esteem and social skills within the game. But it occurs to me that kids today probably can't do yo-yo tricks or get their pants muddy catching tadpoles like I used to.

Is that a bad thing? Absolutely not. My kids are thinking critically and exploring and building in new ways. I was in the emergency room more times than I care to count by Age 10... Yet there's something visceral and sadly lost when interaction happen over a DSL line.

We never called them "play dates". It was just "summer" or "Tuesday" or "hanging out".

The power of Tae Kwon Do

My 6-year-old has started taking Tae Kwon Do. I'm beginning to think that they should videotape the sessions and distribute them as "laugh therapy" among the hospitals and nursing homes.

Not because there's anything especially comical about the movements themselves - if you saw photos, you'd probably just think they look cute in the outfits - but more because the personality of each kid really comes out.

When they stretch, they count: "One, sir. Two, sir. Three, sir." Some have a hard time recalling what comes after seven and mutter, hoping no one notices. Others, like Stephen, take it as a license to boom like a bullhorn. ONE SIR!!! TWO SIR!!! Big voice, tiny body.

And some of the kids concentrate SO intently, while others keep smiling and waving at Mom.

I also didn't realize that Tae Kwon Do (and probably most martial arts for kids) includes a lot of life-lessons/behavioral stuff. Like knowing when your brother's birthday is or memorizing rules about keeping the house clean. So there's always funny interplay when Master Yong asks if a kid is always kind to their siblings. "Sometimes, sir!" "When I can, sir!"

I get more LPH (laughs per hour) at Tae Kwon Do than anywhere else!

Networking happens...

...in the most unexpected places.

My wife is part of a big group of women who bring their kids to Torrance beach every Friday. I joined them a week or so again and found myself talking to a woman who looked and sounded familiar. Normally at the beach, I'm either digging in the sand with the boys or reading a book, but lately, I've felt very sociable...almost chatty. I never thought about it as a networking opportunity when I started talking to this friend of a friend.

Turns out we knew all the same people from our past and present lives, and we worked out that we must've been on a conference call or two over the years. She gave me a name to send my resume and samples to, and I immediately got a response back from their HR. Promising.

Then, last week, my family and I were having dinner with a friend who had moved away. The friend mentioned that she'd mentioned my job hunt to her dad, who still lives out here. The next day, her dad and I had traded emails, and he'd arranged for me to talk to their Senior VP for Operations.

So, yes, I'm still planning to reply to job listings on Monster, but so far, I'm having better lunch with conversations at the beach and over teriyaki chicken!