The World of Joel

Hey all faithful readers of WorldofJoel.com, my new project has finally launched and I have to say I am very excited about it! The website is Movie-Stop.net and I have put a lot of work into making a great movie website. The website includes news, both movie reviews for DVD’s and movies that are currently in theater, as well as information about movies that are going to be coming soon. Please tell me what you think of the website and any suggestions you may have. I will continue to update you on the status of the website as news comes about! Enjoy the website!

So I thought since I have slowed down a bit on my posts to give everyone an update on the latest in the World of Joel. First and for most my latest project Movie-Stop.net is getting close to completion and we are just any day now from launching the website. My younger brother Jake and I are working hard on getting a good database of movies already in there and working on getting at least a few reviews ready for the launch. I know we are both really excited about that new project and the many ways it could potentially lead us.

This week you may also see the addition of some Blog’s I read. I only have two, but that is just for right now, as more come along, I will post up more. And if you are interested in exchanging links the e-mail is joel[at]worldofjoel.com! First on the list is Bob Buskirk who is the owner of ThinkComputers a website I wrote for a long time ago when I was just getting into hardware reviews. I then have David Lithman who I have talked to once and seems to be a pretty interesting guy trying to make a living online. So those are the first two and I am sure many are on the way.

Finally UC Irvine is in full swing and so far so good. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the transformation from my two 1/2 years at Cal State San Bernardino, but so far so good, nothing seems all that different. I have gone to advising twice since starting and both times they have told me I need to wait until my next quarter to change majors, so here I am sitting and waiting. To get into UCI I had to put down I wanted to be a Studio Art major (Economics was not available), and thus I was accepted under that major and now I need to transfer into Business Economics the major that I want to be in, so there is some added pressure for me to do well this quarter.

Anyways besides that the World of Joel is just that, The World of Joel. Jenn and I are busy as always studying away and like I said stay tuned for Movie-Stop.net it should be coming any day now, and I think most of you will be pretty impressed!

As many of you know I am a born again believer. I started out going to church with Jenn at Harvest Christian Fellowship but did feel a calling for change and our first try at a new church landed us where we are today, The Grove. As many of you may or may not have heard, The Grove has expanded tremendously over the years and with the new location has really brought a new calling for many in the area and you could see that today. Today we had a guest speaker Mr. Nick Vujicic a man who was born without arms or legs. The service was one of the most well spoken and thought provoking services about really learning to trust and follow God. To get a feel of Mr. Vujicic you can go to his cleverly named website LifeWithoutLimbs.org He is really quite a speaker and makes for one inspiring message. Live with the faith that God will provide in the right way which may not always be your way.

The Office Season 3 started a bit slow but Season 3 has really gotten quite good. I am a big fan of th TV show and here is one of my all time favorite pranks Jim put on Dwight. The duo had a great one last night and last week and I will put those up when I find them! Anyways enjoy this simple piece of humor! A laugh a day is what really keeps the doctor away!

I like that title, it really does symbolize a lot of things that are going on right now in my life. It is still an adjustment going to UCI without Jenn, and as much as I want her to go with me next year I know thats going to be her decision and I know I need to support her through everything. I have some new ideas some new goals that I am thinking about and/or currently pursuing.

I have a new Movie Website I am hard at work at and am having my brother come along and partner up with me which should take a bit of the load off my shoulders and eventually hopefully he can take it over. I am also looking at some other areas to pursue but I will talk more about that when it gets closer and more prevalent.
Having a blog does seem to mean that you are pretty much one to read other people’s blogs as well. A common trend I have noticed is the different views on a blog. Some see it as a business, example John Chow who is known for be extremely successful and one of the most well known bloggers out there. For myself I am not expecting a million hits a day, but just hoping for an average following who has an interest in what I have to say. To give you an idea I make right now about $1-2 a month in ad’s revenue on this website. However today I did receive close to a $1 alone. Is the word getting out about World of Joel?
School is in full swing now, work is going like usual, and Jenn and I are as good as ever. The year has begun and I just don’t feel ready for the year. But I guess the world isn’t going to wait around, so I guess I just need to keep up!

On Friday I got home from Jenn’s a bit early to the amazing surprise that Sony had finally sent me my Playstation 3 review unit. As many of you know I have been reviewing games for about six years now and Sony has been one of my biggest supporters. Sony has been struggling with there shipments of units and thus the delay in me getting my unit. Well finally I got my unit and that has been a big part of my weekend. I have to say that although there are some things that I would have liked changed with the PS3 like a more unified online service. With that being said I have to say that the games have been really entertaining. The games I have been playing are:
- NBA 07
- Fight Night Round 3
- Resistance Fall of Man
- Gran Turismo HD Free Demo
- Motorstorm Demo

One of the ideas I have had floating around my head for a while, has been to start my own website. I work for two and plan to continue to do just that, however I wanted to try my own adventure. As you can see right now the website is still “under construction”. I am getting a design created as we speak, and plan on using Word Press to push the website. I am hoping that the ad revenue can make its way in and that I can make a few bucks on the site. If not well its at least worth the shot! I will keep you all posted on the progress of the website and its development!

Update: The design is done and here is a little snippet of the design! Enjoy!!

One of the things you learn growing up is that you are supposed to grow up get married have kids and buy a house. I remember many times in my life wondering if and when I would meet the girl in my life who I wanted to be with. For 3/4 of my High School life I remember never finding a person that really sparked my fancy. It was my senior year when I met Jenn and it was then I met not only my first girlfriend but the absolute love of my life. Three and a half year’s later we have been through a ton and what started as a high school crush has grown into something eternal.

So why do I write this? I write this because I don’t say how much I love Jenn enough. Sure this may seem a bit sappy, and for some this may not go along with what your expecting to read on this blog. However this evening I felt the need to share that my greatest dream of meeting the perfect girl and being able to spend the last three and a half years with her has been an amazing blessing. She has always supported me and has always wanted the best for me and for that I just want to say thank you. I Love You Jenn and I appreciate all you have done for me.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13

As many of you know I work for Bank of America and have been for almost a year now. I am now a senior teller and have helped my fair share of customers. I have my regulars and those who know me and that is all well and good, but nothing has touched me and changed me in the way that one older woman did today. So today started like every other Friday, busy. So we as tellers try to keep the line moving as quickly as possible. Well during this long line of customers I see an elderly woman who looks like she might have something wrong with her, or maybe it was just a nervous tick. Luck may have it that I would have this customer. However what I didn’t know was what to expect from this transaction.

She came up to the window like every other person would however I noticed that this was not just a nervous twitch and later I found out she has Parkinson’s disease. This women came up to the window looking quite broken and distraught. She asked if I would write out a check for her, for her Credit Card payment and of course I accepted and did the payment for her. We got to talking while this was going on and discussed her birthday which was yesterday which I mentioned was my sister Ally’s birthday as well. This really got us talking about how her day was and what she got to do on her birthday. She asked me if I could do her another favor which I accepted and it was to help her with her check register to fill out some of the recent purchases which I did.

And then she stopped when everything was done, and said “sometimes I just want to cry”. She went on to say that she was really struggling with her Parkinsan’s that day and that I had made her day, that I was an angel, and that I had been very blessed. She left with a few tears of happiness and myself extremely choked up.

I tell you this story not to brag about my actions as I believe anyone would have done this had she asked them. However I write this because I want to remind not only myself but everyone that simple acts of kindness that can take ten seconds may seem meaningless to some however to others it could mean the world. This women who was one of hundreds of customers today deeply moved me and I just praise the Lord for that life lesson and I pray I always remember to treat everyone the way I would want to be treated.

Get all the advice and instruction you can, so you will be wise the rest of your life. Proverbs 19:20 NLT

Well I have been doing a lot of thinking about what to do with this website. I have had a lot of time on the train to think about what I want to do with this website and I believe that I am going to make it a bit more focused.

My posts often are going every which way and I don’t think that helps the faithful readers of the page to understand where this site is going. So from now on I am going to stay on one subject per post. So if I am talking about the latest movie I saw then I will talk about that movie. If I want to talk about the new Apple iPhone then I will have a dedicated post about that. This way I will have more frequent posts and at the same time will be able to spread this site from being just a personal blog to a informative and well rounded page where you can get my takes on the latest topics of the time.