Over the last year or so I've been on a path to take better care of myself. As I move from months to days away to turning 30, I've spent a lot of time reevaluating how I take care of myself. It started off right around my 29th birthday last year and has continued throughout 2016.

Hello my name is Joel and I'm an Apple Fanboy. There I said it. Now it's out there. Not that anyone who knows me or read this blog doesn't already know that. But it feels good to say it. More then any other Apple purchase I've ever made, the Apple Watch felt like a purchase only the fanboy side of me would allow to happen. Do I really need a smart watch? No. Do I like having an Apple Watch? Absolutely. 

I'll never forget the day that Steve Jobs stood on the Apple stage and unveiled the iPhone. Never would anyone have imagined how much the introduction of the iPhone would have changed the world. Since his passing I have always wondered who would be the next big innovator. I think we have our answer, Elon Musk. 

OK Joel have you really run out of things to talk about? You're really going to have a post dedicated to light bulbs? My answer to anyone asking those questions is absolutely. In the pursuit of a smarter home one of the most popular ways to start is with something everyone has and needs lightbulbs. There are two companies hitting the "smart lighting" scene Phillips and Belkin. After doing a lot of research there seemed to be very little difference between the bulbs themselves, the difference came down to their iOS apps and expandability. For me Belkin seemed like the frontrunner there so for Christmas this past year I was lucky enough to get the Belkin WeMo LED Lighting Starter Kit.

I absolutely love technology. It excites me. I'm fascinated by it. I want more of it. A lot more of it. Unfortunately being an early adopter is expensive. And often times the newest latest best isn't all its cracked up to be. However here are 5 products that no matter where I'm living, or what I'm doing, are five products I could see in our lives in 2015. 

When I was still in High School I used to spend a ton of time reading tech blogs. Each year when these websites would do their predictions it was that home automation was going to be the next big market. However there never seemed to be the adoption that was expected. That was until the iPhone. Now you go to any home improvement store there are tons of options for connected hardware. The biggest product in the home automation category of the last couple of years has been the Nest Thermostat.