The World of Joel Szerlip

Well Jenn and I are out of here again, this time we are off to Barcelona, Spain for a nice week getaway from the hussle and bussle of Southern California to the cool air of Barcelona, Spain. This is by far the quickest lead up to a trip either Jenn or I have ever experienced, since we only booked the flights and hotels a few weeks back getting some killer deals on British Airways and using some of our credit card points for some of our stay. Now a few weeks later we now see why BA might have been giving such great deals with this pending impending crew strike that thus far has not altered or affected our flight plans.

So what are we planning on doing in Barcelona you may be wondering, well to be quite frank we have no idea. This was one of those “spur of the moment” kind of trips that Jenn loves to do and we plan on winging the trip the same way we have done in the past. The weather looks like it might be a bit hit and miss but we weren’t going for the beach more to take in all of the sights. So off we go again, our flight is at 8:30pm out of LAX on Wednesday and we head back home on March 10th. Expect daily recaps of the trip along with photos and possibly videos will be coming daily after we get back.

Joel Barcelona, Jenn, Myself Barcelona, Barcelona Trip 2010, Vacation

Well three weeks have gone by since we first heard the news that our Mini Goldendoodle Bentley was born. Well now three weeks later we just got word from the breeders that they have posted some new pictures of the little guy and so I thought what would be better then putting up some pictures of our little guy who is only 4+ weeks away from coming home with Jenn and I…

The breeder was nice enough to take a bunch of shots and boy does Bentley look awesome!!

Joel Goldendoodle, Jenn, Myself Bentley, Goldendoodle, Mini Goldendoodle Puppy, Puppy

“Life is a succession of moments. To live each one is to succeed.” Corita Kent

If there was ever a year where I was going to have difficult time writing a post recapping a year, it would be now. The year of 2009 was one of so many great highs and at the same time some lows. The year didn’t start out all that exciting. I was just getting my feet wet at my new job at Southern California Edison and Jenn was enjoying her last few weeks of freedom before she too started work at SCE on February 1st.

The beginning portions of the year felt like the beginning of yet another transition period for both Jenn and I from students to full time employees, from a dating couple to eventually becoming husband and wife. We started taking our pre-marital classes in early 2009 at The Grove in Riverside. It was a six week class that at times was helpful but for the most part seemed like just yet another hurdle to go over before the big day in September.

Jenn and I spent the majority of the first few months of 2009 really ramping up for what was to become a very up and down 2009. Some of my favorite times in the beginning of 2009 were when I would go pick up Jenn from work on Friday nights in Rosemead so she wouldn’t have to take the train home and we would go on date nights. Often times we would go to furniture stores (my favorite IKEA) and just start to think about getting our own place, furnishing it, and just what life would be like with just the two of us. I remember the drives home talking with her about our future not caring about traffic, or the long drive, but just enjoying the prospect of what was to come.

We ended up taking a mini vacation in March of 2009 to Indian Wells, CA where Jenn scored us a great deal on a 2 bedroom casita. A video we posted on YouTube for that stay actually scored us two more free nights at the hotel that we are going to use in 2010. This was the first mini-vacation that Jenn and I had taken alone, and although we couldn’t make it to the tennis tournament it was a wonderful quick trip.

In late March, Jenn and I decided it was time for us to get a place of our own. We knew the day would come where we would know it was time. Of course then came the decision of where to live. Originally our plan was to move to Orange County but our work locations at SCE really didn’t call for us to move to Orange County. So we decided to look in Chino, kind of in the middle of where Jenn and I were working at the time.

I remember the drive to Chino, Jenn and I were on the edge of our seats, excited for the prospect of our own place. We looked at some really nice communities in Chino and felt like it might have made a good starting spot for us. After we left the community we decided to drive around Chino to see what was around the apartments. We drove around and I remember stopping in a parking lot and looking at Jenn and knowing we both were thinking the same thing. Without really saying anything we drove straight from Chino down to Orange County and the rest is really history. We ended up signing a lease a week or two later at our current place in Newport Beach and haven’t looked back since.

April 2009 was the month where everything seemed to go from calm to crazy. On April 4th we went down to Newport Beach to sign our year lease on our apartment, which was one of the most thrilling and scary things we had ever done. Jenn and I were on top of the world, we spent our weekends moving our stuff from Riverside to our apartment in Newport Beach, and we had started shopping for everything from a paper towel holder to furniture and art work. At the same time we had Jenn’s Mom that only a few weeks after getting the keys to our apartment was diagnosed with cancer.

In May of 2009 I ended up buckling down and got LASIK done at TLC Laser Eye Center in Newport Beach. I have been kind of hot and cold on the idea for the past few years but with SCE paying a good amount of the cost I couldn’t help but go get it done. The procedure was as easy as they come, less then three minutes from start to finish and I never really had any major irritation from it. To this day I am seeing perfect without glasses and loving it.

There was a time during the summer of 2009 that Jenn and I seriously thought about pushing up our wedding to a small ceremony to ensure her Mom concentrated on getting better. But in the end those thoughts passed and we pushed forward with our September 19th wedding date while Jenn’s mom went every few weeks for her chemo treatments.

As summer moved along it seemed like every weekend had something to do with the wedding. Whether it was picking out the flowers, Jenn’s wedding shower, meetings with our Pastor, picking out tuxes, buying the rings or whatever else comes with planning a wedding it seemed like every weekend was something. As September grew closer and closer I think Jenn and I finally had the chance to sit back just for a few moments and finally grow in anticipation for our big day.

When September 19th finally rolled around it so far exceeded my expectations of the day I cannot even begin to describe it. Jenn looked absolutely phenomenal, she was just stunning. The day could not have been any more beautiful. My groomsmen were great and Jenn’s bridesmaids did a great job as well. It truly was the best day of my life. What is funny however is that I had gotten so much wedding advice from everyone leading up to the day and one thing that everyone said was that it goes to fast, and boy does it! From the moment I rushed my “I Do” to the next day sitting at LAX waiting for our plane to London it felt like everything was moving at 1,000 MPH. The wedding and reception were amazing and I wouldn’t have changed a moment of it. Our Honeymoon was spectacular, the weather cooperated from start to finish and the trip itself was both relaxing and enjoyable.

When we got back from our Honeymoon everything seemed to fall into place. Jenn’s latest rotation at SCE put her only 10 miles away from our apartment which let us spend a lot more time together. Jenn and I started to really work out a nice routine and to be honest had an amazing start to our married life. Jenn’s Mom got great news that the cancer that they had found earlier in the year was all but gone. We spent a lot of great weekends with my brother Jake who got us
into Jenn and my latest addiction the TV show “Lost” which we are now on Season 5.

Jenn and I took a great mini-vacation in November up to San Francisco, our first as a married couple. It was the type of mini-vacation that we had talked about wanting to do for years and it finally came to fruition. It was such a surreal experience to just wake up one morning book a hotel and head out. We had a great time up in the bay area and look forward to all of the quick trips we can do in the future.

The final few weeks of the year were fantastic. Jenn and I got to decorate our apartment for the first time, bake cookies that turned out to be some of the worst Christmas cookies on record, and celebrate our first Christmas together. Jenn did an amazing job getting our place ready for the holidays and that mood was set throughout all of December. We had a great Christmas, to some it might even seem a bit crazy, but all in all it was a fantastic first Christmas as a married couple.

The year didn’t end without any slowdown as Jenn’s car a Toytota Celica started to have some mechanical issues. We ended up buying Jenn a White Certified Pre-Owned 2007 BMW 328i and sold her Celica to CarMax. It was actually a great car buying experience and we finally got Jenn a new car, something she has needed for a while. All in all 2009 was an amazingly crazy and exciting year. I got to marry the woman of my dreams and now look forward to spending the rest of my life with her.

Goodbye 2009 what a year you have been, and Hello 2010 I cannot wait to see what you have in store for me!

Joel Jenn, Myself 2009, BMW, Year in Review

One of the things on my to do list for 2009 was to go out and by a DSLR. Jenn and I have both been wanting one for our Honeymoon in Scotland. We loved our pictures in Europe last year and thought we better get a nicer camera to even better capture the big upcoming events in our lives. We originally were going to go with the Nikon D60 but after checking out so many different reviews we sided with the Canon Rebel XS. We got a great deal on Amazon and got it a day and a half after we purchased it which was great.

To inaugurate the camera Jenn and I went a few miles from our apartment to the beach and took some shots. Here they are below.

The camera really does great color.

Me trying to act all serious. Jenn having a blast taking pictures!

A great shot of the waves crashing.

Beautiful shot taken of the coast.

A beautiful shot of Jenn on our way back to the car.

Joel Jenn, Myself, Tech

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

I always took for granted my schedule when I was in school and working part time. I for the most part had either days at school where I would much rather blog then be paying attention to a lecture or just extra time in general to blog. Since starting to work full time back in December I have found it increasingly more difficult to get to the blog and write interesting posts. I just don’t think people will find my daily grind at work all that interesting to read about, so I choose not to post about work related things.

I have been able to get in a really solid routine to work full time and come home and work on Darkstation, which has worked out well. I get home a good hour or two before Jenn does which gives me time to just make sure I get it done. So far this has been a good system and things seem to be going just as good if not better then before I started working full time. I haven’t had as much time to play video games however as I usually get home work on the site, eat dinner, watch some TV and hit the sack, so most of my gaming is on the weekends or late nights.

I am finding myself enjoying games more now then I have in the past couple of years, mostly because it has become a nice escape from work. When I get home a lot of times I just want to gravitate towards something interactive, enjoyable and fun. I have found myself going for a lot more causal or easy going games rather then the FPS or RTS that I normally would go for.

All in all things are going really good, and my only hope is that I start to make more time for the blog as it still is something I want to keep going for a long time.

Joel Blogging, Gaming, Myself

I don’t know about you but I am not a big fan of budgets. Its not that I don’t see the usefulness, I do, its that it means I have to watch every penny I spend. Jenn and I are working really hard both at work and on our budget. We are looking at getting our first apartment this summer and our main goal is to have plenty of money to furnish the place really nice. So we have scheduled a budget for the coming months that we are going to try and stick to to the best of our ability.

Without going to the specifics, we are not necessarily tightening down to the point to where all we can have is Ramen from breakfast, lunch, and dinner but we are going to have to be smarter about what we spend money on. I have to say we have done a tracking of our money spent since the 1st of March and it is crazy how fast things add up. Whether its a starbucks, red bull, or even a quick gallon of milk things start adding up like no other.

So we have conjured up our plan, and now are going to do our best to stick with it. The thing is the later we wait this summer the more $ we have for the apartment. We would love to get a really nice TV and one of the new iMac’s and that will all really depend on our savings from now until then. The budget started a few days ago and already I am ready to be done with it. The good news is both Jenn and I are pretty good about our money so this plan should be one that really works out.

Joel Jenn, Myself

I started my new job at Southern California Edison at the beginning of December and boy has it been a wild ride ever since. I really enjoy my new job but I got put in part of a project that was already missing key dates and was put on the team to help get back up to speed and finish the project. Well this week marks the definite due date of this project and the last few weeks has been full of some really long hours. This is the second 50+ hour work week which is fine but it means I really have to maximize my weekend and this past weekend I feel like I really did.

Friday night I left work at around 9:45PM, I start at 7:00am and only had a 30 minute lunch through the day so as you can guess it was a long, long day. Saturday I spent the first half of the day relaxing and then Jenn and I headed out in the early evening to the local movie theaters and saw Slumdog Millionaire. I liked the movie a lot but I am one that thinks it might have been over hyped. The story was inspirational, and it was truly a well made movie but the way people talked about this movie I was expecting perfection and I just didn’t see that in this movie. It is a movie I will want to buy but I just don’t know if I would be so ready to give it the Best Picture nod for the upcoming Academy Awards.

So after the movie we decided to go for a little ice cream at this new place called Cherry On Top. It is a self service soft served ice cream shop where you can take your choice of toppings and you are charged on the weight of your creation. I had a chocolate soft serve with oreos, gummy bears, bananas and nuts. It was a really weird combination but it was really quite tasty.

After such a long week I just wanted to relax so Jenn and I decided just to drive, and of course we like to hang out down in the beach areas so we headed down to our favorite place, Irvine. We didn’t even head out for the coast until 9PM (after the movie and ice cream) so when we ended up in Irvine we actually went down to the Irvine Spectrum which is a huge outdoors mall with a Carousel and Ferris Wheel. Jenn had the great idea of going on the Ferris Wheel which was really beautiful at night. It was one of the many times I regretted not having my camera along with me. It was such a fun night we were singing along with the radio, grabbed some hot cocoa and just enjoyed a really relaxing and enjoyable evening.

Yesterday we also had our first week of a six week Pre-Marital class at the church we attend here in Riverside, The Grove. This is a requirement for us to have the pastor we chose for our wedding to do our ceremony. So we got through the first week and so far so good, it should be interesting to see how this course goes. Neither Jenn or I like these sort of things but we both agree that it can’t be bad for us. All in all it was such a great weekend I got to spend a lot of time with Jenn and just relax with her throughout the weekend. Now its back to the grind, another week another dollar!

Joel Church, Jenn, Movies, Myself Irvine Spectrum, Jenn, Slumdog Millionaire, The Grove

What an up and down year 2008 was. I could have never predicted how this year turned out, but boy am I am glad to sit here today knowing what an amazing year it was. The year started like many in the past, knee deep in college, trying to make the final push to graduation. Becoming under the realization that “real life” was just around the corner. I remember getting the word from my academic advisor that I was on the road to graduate in June 2008 and I had still to make it through College Statistics and Calculus 2 to graduate to of my most hated classes.

I remember having a job interview with Scottrade for an internship which I eventually was given the eventual turn down for, for not having enough time left in school. I remember being pretty let down by this, knowing that I would still be working at Bank of America until the end of college. I remember changing locations at Bank of America for a few months which was a huge blessing, I needed a change more then anything. More then anything I knew that this was going to be the year of big moments in my life.

Obviously graduating from UC Irvine was one of those huge moments of the year. There were times at UCI that I didn’t think I was going to make it. It was a really challenging time for me, UCI was a real test of patience and willpower and I can’t tell you that even to this day I am so happy to be done.

So now of course comes the part about Jenn. Wow what a year it has been for both Jenn and I. I remember being thrilled at the beginning of the year when Jenn landed one of the best jobs a college student could hope for as a research analyst for an intellectual property law firm. This job has been a huge blessing for both Jenn and I, they give her great hours, they work with her schedule, and it seems to be a great job to put on a resume. Plus she gets to work in a beautiful skyrise only a few minutes from UCI.

So Jenn and I both graduated in June of 2008 although Jenn had classes to take up until the end of 2008. I remember walking hand in hand with her to graduate and knowing that this was the women I was going to spend the rest of my life with.

Jenn and I looked at rings at Robbins Brothers in early 2008 and I knew that I was going to ask her to marry me sometime during the summer of 2008. I ended up buying her ring without her even knowing in April of 2008 and hid it from her for a good three months. Then came our big Europe Trip in July of 2008. I am not going to recap the trip because I have a daily recap on this blog of the adventure. But of course the biggest day was July 3rd 2008 on a partly cloudy afternoon in St. James Park on a beautiful park bench overlooking a very nice pond and the London Eye that I asked Jenn’s hand in marriage. Although I knew she was going to say yes, just hearing those words from her mouth made me feel like a million bucks and it truly was the happiest day of my life.

Jenn and I adventured through London, Paris, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, and Egypt on a trip that will give us memories for a lifetime. Then came a three month job search and a hunt for a wedding location. We ended up doing a great job of picking out everything for the wedding and I sit here today knowing that almost everything is in place for an amazing wedding in September of 2009. The wedding is set to be one of the most lavish and breathtaking events I have ever been to. And the best part is I get to marry Jenn, something I have wanted to do for over 5 years.

2008 ended with some more great moments with both Jenn and I land jobs at Southern California Edison. This was such a stress relief for a number of reasons. I for one was growing increasingly restless while working at the bank. Secondly Jenn and I really wanted to start our marriage off with a good foundation something which is now very possible with our new positions.

There is so much I haven’t recapped for 2008. Last night Jenn and I went with my brother Jake and sister Amy down to Orange County and spent the night down there to bring in the new year. It was a great time, a little tiring, but all in all it was a lot of fun. Jenn and I also had the spur of the moment trip down to Vegas with my great friend Chris and her best friend Jenna. It was one of those trips that you just don’t forget about.

Going into 2008 I had really no foundation for what was to come, I just knew I was ready for the next steps. Now I sit here on January 1, 2009 wondering where will I be writing this post from on January 1, 2010? How will the wedding go? Where will we live? Our honeymoon? Our first Christmas? Our first mortgage payment? Do we ever cook? How will 2009 go?

There are two things I know, trust in the Lord more then anything, and secondly I know I will be with Jenn and for that I cannot wait for what 2009 has in store for me.

Joel Jenn, Myself