It’s been a while since i wrote a book review, not because I haven’t been reading but because I just haven’t made the time to write about it. However the latest book I read One Second After by William R Forstchen was one book I really felt the need/urge to write about. One Second After is a book about an EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) attack on the United States and what the coming hours, days, months, and years would be like if we were attacked. The book is told through the eyes of an ex military man who has turned into a college professor who has two daughters.
What I loved about One Second After wasn’t all about just understanding what would happen in the event of an EMP attack but also understanding human nature. This book gave an amazing look at how human nature can turn to desperation so quickly especially when we all are as reliant on electricity and products with chips in them to get through life. The book also brings up several other social issues like class status and how that goes out the window in an event such as this but how a small town that was once all friendly can just as quickly turn and become mortal enemies. One Second After was an emotional roller coaster from start to finish.
When it is all said and done One Second After really has stuck with me and I finished reading it over a week ago. Its one of those novels that really makes you think well after you finish it. If your into audio books I would make sure to check it out as the narrator does a heck of a job bringing the story to life. All in all this was one of my favorite books of the year and I really think everyone should be required to read it just to have an idea of what could happen to our great country if we were attacked by an EMP, it is a pretty scary world.
Joel Books
I remember at the begining of 2009 joking around saying that Federer was going to win the French Open, never really thinking he would, as much as I would have liked him to. With the field opening up as Nadal was ousted early on in the tournament all eyes then focused on Federer to see if he could finally take hold on the one trophy that he still had not yet hoisted that of the winner of the French Open. That all changed this morning when Federer was dubbed the King of Tennis as he easily pulled out his first French Open title. Not only has he tied Pete Sampras with 14 majors but he also did something Pete never was able to accomplish and that is win a career grand slam. In my opinion there is no question that Federer is now the King of Tennis. Go Fed Go!
Joel Sports
Well the TV season is officially winding down, and I found myself really changing my viewing habits this year. No longer running any TV blogs like I had in the past, and having a more steady schedule has made it easier to watch shows that I wanted to watch. Once again I saw shows I enjoy get cancelled (Life on Mars), and other shows continue to thrive that I have very little interest in watching (American Idol). Regardless here are my Top 5 TV series of the 2008-2009 season.
#5: Friday Night Lights
#4: The Big Bang Theory
#3: The Mentalist
#2: Chuck
#1: The Office
Honorable Mention: The Amazing Race, Hell’s Kitchen, How I Met Your Mother, Two and Half Men, Gary Unmarried, Life on Mars.
Joel TV Favorite TV Shows of 2008, Favorite TV Shows of 2009
There is a lot of concern on the internet about getting LASIK with a lazy eye (Amblyopia), and although I can be no more informative then a simple search on Wikpedia when it comes to what causes a lazy eye, I can at least throw in my two cents on my experience. Let us start at the beginning. So I went in for LASIK on Friday May 15th at 8:00am at the Newport Beach TLC Laser Eye Center. I was immediately taken back to do some final testing. They took some readings on my eyes, did another eye test (like you would for an every day eye exam) and was then given a rundown on the post-operative care I was to carry out. From there they took me off to the relaxation area where I was given a Xanax and a bunch of initial drops for my eyes.
After about 20 minutes of watching Planet Earth on a big LCD and letting the drops and Xanax kick in, Dr. Tooma stepped out and said it was time to go. As i was being brought in for the procedure, I saw Jenn come in to the viewing area. By this point you would think the Xanax would have calmed me down but I was pretty darn nervous. Dr. Tooma first make some markings with a pen on my eye (by this point my eye was completely numb of any feeling) and sat me in the first chair. After that it was just one step after the next until the final point where they say your good to go. There is a point where you are nearly blind moving from one operating chair to the next, but outside of that the procedure is very straight forward and rather easy. I came home took half of a Xanax fell asleep ate lunch and dinner had another half of a Xanax and called it a day.
This picture was taken about 10 seconds after they finished the surgery
I came back for my followup check in the next morning to see my progress and how I was coming along. There was no problems found and the amazing news was that my left eye (my lazy eye) was actually seeing better then my good eye, and both were seeing 20/20. I was told prior to the operation that my best was 20/40 but as of right now I am seeing nearly perfect in both eyes. I am now 3 days post surgery and loving every minute. To this point I see better then I ever did with glasses both in my good eye and lazy eye. And although I was really nervous to get the procedure I would get it all over again if faced with the decision again. All in the ability to wake up and see without having to scramble for my glasses has been amazing. The heavy regment of eye drops can be a bit demanding at times, but with all things being equal it is well worth it for now having 20/20 vision.
Joel Myself
This time tomorrow I should be a new man, or at least the same guy with better eyes. I am getting LASIK tomorrow morning at 8am and I figured I better blog before I head under the laser. A few weeks back I decided that I should check into getting LASIK. Jenn and I had talked about it several times in the past and it was always something I wanted to do, but didn’t think with my right eye being a Lazy Eye (known as Amblyopia) that they would reccomend the surgery. Well after my consultation, and pre-operative check up I was deemed a good candidate for the surgery and will be following through on it tomorrow morning at 8:00am.
So I ended up going to TLC Laser Eye Center in Newport Beach, the same group that did Tiger Woods LASIK a few years back. So once I was deemed a good candidate they setup my pre-op exam and then the exam itself. Along with that came four different typesof eye drops and a package of fish oil pills. I have had to take 2 fish oil pills a day, at least 10 drops a day, and warm compresses as well. I have followed there directions to the very last detail in hopes of getting the best results I can from the surgery. So the surgery should take only about 20 minutes, and they say I will be there for only about two hours. I am expecting some serious dry eyes and itch to my eyes this weekend but I am hoping it doesn’t last to long.
I canot tell you how excited I am going to be to get out of there tomorrow glasses free. I am a bit nervous having the lazy eye and getting LASIK but I have been reassured several times that I will see as good if not better with LASIK then I do with glasses right now. So with that I go, and look forward to tomorrow, my first day without glasses!
Joel Myself
So a few weeks ago I let you all know that Jenn and I got the keys to our apartment. Although we are only here for about half the week right now we are still shopping for the place like crazy and boy has that started to take a toll. Let me make one thing clear from the start I actually have enjoyed every minute of shopping for the place. Yes I said that correctly I have actually really enjoyed it. Jenn and I have been talking about what we were going to do to our perspective first place of residence for a long time now, and now we are in and are living it up. So far we have gotten a number of the big ticket items out of the way.
- Dining Room Table and Chairs
- Living Room Couch and Lounger
- CA King Bed, Dresser, and Two Night Stands
Things we still need/want:
- Entertainment Center
- Office Desk/Chair
- Coffee Table
- Lamps
- 52″ LCD
- iMac
I have to say we have made great progress in 2 weeks and I can only imagine more posts showing you that progress. So far it is turning out beautiful and I couldn’t be happier!
Joel Apartment
Who would have thought it would be rather easy to rent an apartment? I always thought that it would be sort of a long tedious process with a ton of paper work. Well the paper work was all there but we just told them how much we made a month, they checked our credit, and a week later they had our keys, and we were moving in. So the official move in date was yesterday April 11th, 2009. We left Riverside at about 9:00am and picked up my brother and headed down to Newport Beach (about an hour drive). When we arrived Jenn and I did a quick paper signing session, and they handed over our keys to the place, our mail keys, stickers for our cars to enter past the guards (gated entry), and keys for the pool/gym. After that we were off and running into our new place.
Here are some pictures of our one bedroom apartment, nice and empty!
Our Entry Way/Kitchen
Our Fireplace
Master Bedroom
Our View From the Apartment
Our Patio
So we did the tour, and we showed my brother Jake around the property and we were back out headed to get some groceries. Having brought next to nothing with us (just some wine I had bought on past Europe trips) we headed out to stock up on the essentials.Following the stocking up process we got some In & Out.
Good Old In & Out
After lunch I made sure to put together a walk through of our place so that I could see how it looked empty and then in a month or so look at the progress. So here is a video I shot of the entire walk through.
So we brought back the groceries and then we were off again out to a local Ikea where we stocked up on dishware, utensils, and some art work. I will not go into much of this because next week we are having both my brother Jake and Sister Amy over for a little apartment warming day, and then the following weekend we will be getting back to furnishing the place. So I will show more updates on the apartments when more of it gets filled with furniture!
Joel Apartment Apartment, The Colony, The Colony Newport Beach
So today marks a big day for Jenn and I, the day we go pick up our keys for our new apartment. As I mentioned in the last post, this is going to be our first place for Jenn and I not only as a couple but also as individuals. We both have never lived on our own, getting through school, and getting ourself into the workforce before taking the next step. Last week we went down to Newport Beach and found the apartment that we both loved, and today we are going to go get the keys. We don’t really have any furniture to move in, or really much of anything, so after we take our initial tour of our new place we will be off to go shopping, starting with some groceries.
Our other stops today will most likely include Ikea, Crate and Barrel, and a few other furniture stores. Because we have the next two months free we are not in a huge rush to officially move in but are planning to stay down there for about half the week Friday-Sunday/Monday. Some of the big items we are looking to purchase is a bed, a couch bed (so I have somewhere to sleep until we get married), a dining room table, and an entertainment center. I will be taking both video/pictures today and should have a good walk through of our place following todays eventful happenings.
Joel Apartment, Jenn Apartment, Newport Beach, The Colony
So this past weekend was a big weekend for both Jenn and I. We have not yet lived on our own so we have been highly anticipating the day where we would rent our buy our first place. Well we decided that we wanted to rent an apartment for a while and get settled after getting married in September before thinking of buying a place. We have gone through so many different plans, and so many different options that we are just happy to have landed a place. We chose to rent an apartment at The Colony in Newport Beach a small community across the street from Fashion Island and about 2 miles from the beach. It is a little of a hike in terms of driving from work, but we cannot wait to enjoy the weekends down there!
Our original plan was to rent an apartment in July, but we got an e-mail earlier in the week saying they had a deal for 2 months free, so we couldn’t pass it up. We rented a large 1 bedroom which is 1,008 square feet with granite counter tops, crown molding, a fireplace, all new appliances, and a really nice view. Its a top floor apartment so we are hoping that detracts from any extra noise that may come from the apartment life.
So we went down yesterday, Saturday April 4th and talked with one of their leasing agents who took us on a tour of the property and showed us a few different one bedrooms. We chose ours because it seemed to be the best maintained, and had the best view. We signed the papers, and found out today that we were approved and ready to move in April 11th. We don’t have any great pictures of the place yet but plan on a lot of shots next weekend of the place nice and empty. Jenn and I have nothing to furnish the place with so that is going to eat up a lot of our time and money over the next few “free” months to furnish the place, and I will posting progress pictures throughout the process. Anyways to start with here is the floorplan!
I will be back a week from now with pictures of the place without anything in it, and will continue to post pictures and videos of the progress of the place!
Joel Apartment Apartment, The Colony, The Colony Newport Beach
Today I was doing some surfing and I was reading some articles on Netflix’s plan to raise their rates on Bluray subscribers. So one article pointed me to FeedFlix.com, a site that tells you how well you are using Netflix, and what value you get out of it. I am currently on the one at a time service which is $8.99 plus $1 for the right to rent Bluray movies. That rate will go up by a $1 next month which is kind of a bummer but then again I wouldn’t even dare think about closing my account.
Let me get back on track though. FeedFlix offers a really cool look at your rental habits. For example it tells me that:
- You have been a Netflix member since March 2005 and have returned 392 titles to date
- You most recently returned a movie on 31/Mar/09 i.e. 1 day ago
- You keep titles at home for an average of 9 days
- You see 6.0 titles by DVD and 1.7 titles by Instant Watch each month
I think the stat that makes me the most uset is that I keep titles at home for an average of 9 days. I don’t know why I wait so long to watch movies, but I guess life can get in the way at times. Here are some of the graphical views the site gives.
So all in all its a pretty cool service, and if your a Netflix subscriber you can see how good you are at using your service. FeedFlix also lets you know how your doing against other Netflix subscribers. I am in the 33rd percentile. i.e., 33% of FeedFlixers pay less than you per movie! Which means 67% pay more!!
Joel Movies
