Goodbye, Heidi!

Well for those who don't know me, I'm terrible with money. Most of my purchases happen on impulse, such as my hamster freshmen year. This year I bought a fish tank. Being a broke college student, I couldn't fill up the tank with as many fish as I liked, so I started out with 3. I also got a crab for the purpose of eating the bacteria and keeping the tank clean.

Fish #1 died before I could name it.

I let my roommate name Fish #2, but I don't have any idea how to pronounce it (much less spell it). Anyway, Fish #2 lasted about a month. I was feeding these fish once a day, keeping the tank clean (or at least the crab was), and putting some chemical in the water to make the levels more....inhabitable.

Heidi was the 3rd fish which was named by Lindsay (because she was always hiding from everyone else). I am pretty sure Heidi was responsible for the death of the other fish but I'm not expert (seeing as I don't even know what kind they were---I had a yellow one, silver one, and a red one with a neon stripe. Boom.) Recently Heidi had been hiding more than usual. I was hoping for little baby eggs.

Instead, I woke up to my crab literally reaching in to Heidi's insides and eating her remains.... May she rest in peace...ces.

I'm an uncle!

I knew this day would come, I just didn't expect to be THIS excited about becoming an uncle.

Today, October 19, 2011 at 3:17 a.m., Hendricks Daniel Johnson was born--my very first nephew--weighing 6 lbs. 7 oz. and 19.5 in. long. Mom (my oldest sister, Rebekah) and baby are both healthy and doing very well...do I hear. I'm stuck in College Station...

I'm having to do everything in my power to keep me from getting I'm my car right now and driving home to hold the little dude. I have a test tomorrow, though, so I can't go home until Friday :(

I was very bummed that I wasn't going to be at the hospital for the joyous occasion. Thanks to technology (and my mom) I got to witness the whole thing via FaceTime. I wanted to see Bec (side shot, of course) during the delivery but she didn't feel comfortable. So instead, I just had sound and Mom's facial reactions to play off of. But it was still amazing.

Can't wait to see you little guy!

Downgrade iTunes from 10.5 beta to 10.4

I thought I'd go ahead and post this because it took me way too long to find it on the web. I was going to jailbreak my phone but I am a rookie when it comes to that and I never succeeded. So I needed to downgrade my iTunes back to 10.4. Here's what you need to do:

Open 'Terminal' from your Applications.

Paste following:

sudo rm -fdr /Applications/iTunes.app

It will then ask for your password (and you can't skip this step).

Boom. That's it. Go to apple.com/itunes to download the latest version. None of this going into the folders and changing extensions bull. It's as simple as that. Hope it helps!

Find My iPhone: An App Worth Getting

It's free.

Download it in the app store. Go to Settings>Mail,Contacts,etc. and set up a MobileMe account (even if you don't have an account in which you pay for. This is completely free). Sign in with your Apple id and turn Find My iPhone on. Boom. You're done. Let's stop all thieves.

Return of the iPhone!

There are still good people in this world.

At 4am, Daniel received a text message that read "I'm looking for Jon."

I prayed and prayed all week about this phone and the thief who took it. I know it sounds dumb, but I had a lot on this phone. After deactivating my sim card, the thief knew the iPhone was useless. For those who don't know, if you're iPhone is stolen, be sure to report it so that no one else can activate their own sim card in it.
The thief sold my phone to a woman around the age of 30 for $100. The woman received the phone with no sim card. My guess is that the idiot thought taking the sim card out would erase everything on the iPhone...well it doesn't work like that.
The woman turned on the phone and all the messages I had sent that night (and every one else's threat-messages) were right in front of her. The phone was connected to the Internet via wifi and the girl logged onto my Facebook and messaged the last person I had talked to, to tell them she had my phone. (The last person I had messaged, however, was a friend of the thief and I knew it.)
After thanking the woman over and over, I asked if she wanted me to pay her the $100 she lost. Her response:

"The guy who sold it to me works for me so I shouldn't have a problem getting the money back lol."

(stamp, stamp, stamp) IDIOT.


(the picture attached was taken by the thief)

"Jon David Album of Honor"

I am all for trying new things. I've had a Google+ account since July but didn't start getting into until more recently (as in this last week). It's been pretty lame so far but just like everything else--a party, school, wherever else--If you had to do it alone, I Am Legend Style, you would find it pretty lame as well.

So with this new social network that Google is pushing hard to get noticed, I have created a little game for myself and hopefully for my people in my circles. Please note that it was 4 in the morning and I had finally finished my excel homework that I had to do after a test I had yesterday.

Of course I'll post random pics when I see something worth it but I've decided to dedicate each album to somebody special. My first album and and winner of the Jon David Album of Honor goes to Lindsay Irwin. Lindsay is probably the bestest (I know that's a word, spellcheck!) friend I've met in Aggieland. I have never had a closer relationship (friend-relationship with no feelings whatsoever) with anyone else in my entire life. I don't even have guy friends as close as Lindsay and me. Anyway, if you read my description of the Lindsay Irwin Honor Album, I explain why I took pictures of the sky on different days during various times of the day. Lindsay is obsessed with nature and if the sky is anything but blue, she freaks out. Might sound annoying (hehe) but it's hilarious. So while Lindsay was in Australia over the summer, I took pictures and dedicated this album to her. Congrats!

Go Phones can Go Die: I Hate Thieves

My iPhone 4 was stolen.
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(moment of silence)
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Thank you. Indeed... it WAS stolen. Usually I say my things were stolen even if I know that I just lost it, but not this time. Realizing at 3:00 am that I didn't have my phone (I was at a birthday party), I decided to call my phone. It rings twice...then voicemail. We ALL know what that means...

The douche was ignoring my calls, although I don't blame him.....or her (can't be sexists). I then told my friend to text my phone to see if anyone would reply. My friend, Daniel, sent a message that isn't appropriate for blogs and/or its bloggers. But I DID get a response back:

"Ooga booga...eat my shorts."


Ah now I'm pissed off. But instead of threatening to slit this guys throat, I thought begging would be a smarter way to attempt getting my phone back. I won't say the whole conversation but here are some responses I got in return:

"First of all, I'm not a dude honey." ---Probably a guy trying to throw me off.

Douche: "Your phone was given to me. I'm not a condoner or thief."
Me: "If you're not a condoner or thief then why do you still have my phone?"
Douche: "Cause I believe in making your own, and learning from your mistakes."
Me: "What do you want?"
Douche: "Money talks, friend."

As if I would just walk up to the guy and PAY HIM for my iPhone back...freaking idiot.

Just thought I'd throw in some bible verses for people like Douche. Here ya go:

Exodus 20:15

"You shall not steal.

Leviticus 19:11

" 'Do not steal. " 'Do not lie. " 'Do not deceive one another.

Deuteronomy 5:19

"You shall not steal.

Proverbs 6:30-31

Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving. Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house.

Proverbs 30:8-9

Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the LORD?' Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.

Matthew 6:19

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

Matthew 6:20

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Matthew 15:19

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.

Matthew 19:19

Jesus replied, " 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.' "

_______________________

I'll definitely pray for you, Thief. I'll learn to appreciate the small....crappy things in life (ie. Go Phones) whilst simultaneously wait patiently for karma to come back and bite you. And I hope it hurts.

ps. That's why I haven't blogged (....bleg?) in a week. Darn Go Phones don't even have games, much less all my awesome apps!!!! AhHuHHhggghorilkcFyeYoJgHBmvdkgjfRBghahHGwisuhgyghbqwlr!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Final Cut Pro Update 10.0.1

I have to say I'm so glad Apple came out with SOMETHING to get the "pros" to shut up. Okay, okay, if I were a professional at fcp then I'd call myself a pro, too.

Ever since the day that Final Cut Pro X was released, every article I read about the $300 software emphasized that this update wasn't in fact an update; more like a completely new application. I also read a lot about it being a less-professional...which, of course, pisses off the professionals. Why wouldn't it?

Now that the update released a trail version, I thought I'd give it shot. I'm not gonna sit here and complain about the little tiny features it does or doesn't have. The biggest things that bother me is how they got rid of FCP 7 and Final Cut Express 4. So if you deleted those to get FCPX..I am so sorry. If you didn't delete it, then quit whining, ask for a refund, and get on with your life.

I LOVE the chroma keyer in FCPX. So much easier. I don't like how it resembles iMovie. I LOVE how it renders in the background. I hate how it's so hard to keep your files organized. I like and love and hate a lot more but it's 12:30am and this guy's gotta test tomorrow! Prayers are welcomed!!

Wix.com: Don't do it!

If you’re wanting to make a free, flash-based website for the heck it, or for a class assignment, by all means pick Wix.com do create it. If you’re getting more serious about your website or blog, it is in your best interest (and mine) to PLEASE go with another web hosting site.

To give you a better idea of Wix.com, I thought I’d break it up into categories: The Good, The Bad, and The OMG Get Me Outta Here. So let’s first start off with the things I liked about Wix.com.

The Good:
1.) It’s free (if you’re okay with having “www.yourdomain.wix.com”)
2.) It’s Flash-based which means there are many cool effects/layouts/templates/widgets you can put on your website.
3.) Its Site Builder is one of the easiest to use out there; and you have freedom with it! Most website builders (1and1.com, any website running ‘Plesk’ as a site builder) won’t let you click and drag items where you want it and it’s so frustrating!
4.) Many cool templates to start off with! If you’re anything like me and are too lazy to start from scratch, this really comes in handy.
5.) Have a way to make a mobile website.
6.) You can get a refund within 14 days of order.

So there are some really cool things about Wix. But obviously there’s a reason why I decided to post and entire blog about the website…

The Bad:
1.) Although it’s free, every page you goth on the site suggests you should “update” to a premium account which costs about $13/month. I can understand them trying to make sales but it was annoying.
2.) There’s no way to view the website in HTML format. Because it’s flash-based, it’s unable to open on smartphones (in particular, iPhones). Yes, they have a way to make it mobile-friendly but the mobile version is very basic and there’s no way to edit the layout. All you can edit is the text, number of pages, order of pages, etc. There are also a limited number of templates to use (like 7), even for a premium user.
3.) No live chat–unless you’re trying to cancel a package… Then they’ll do anything to keel you to stay. I was offered unlimited bandwidth when I tried to cancel my package.
4.) No 24/7 support. This is a big one. If your website goes down after 5 pm on Friday, we won’t be seeing it until sometime after 8am the next monday. But the wait on the phone is long because of all the people calling as soon as they open.

There are some other bad things but because they made me so mad, I decided to put them in my last category…

The OMG Get Me Out of Here:

1.) You can’t point your domain to another web hosting site. I called and complained about this (because they website said nothing about it) and they said I had to wait 60 days after my domain was created. Isn’t that how long you have to wait to TRANSFER your domain? Yes. I let them know I didn’t want to transfer it, just point it to HostGator.com. Nope. They said they couldn’t do it. They didn’t have that “option”… So now I have to wait 60 days and you better believe when that happens, I will TRANSFER my domain as far away as possible!
2.) If you call and are on hold waiting for somebody for 10 minutes, they automated message will have you leave a message and they’ll call you back. I’ve left 3 voicemails and I’ve received 0 calls.

I literally feel trapped. Please just don’t do it. Comment for any questions or concerns.

Internship? Hmm...

      So now that I’m finally at Texas A&M, it was time for me to start getting involved. I didn’t realize how big a deal internships were until everyone around me and their dog had one. Well I really enjoy filmmaking and was bummed A&M didn’t have a major even remotely close to film. Then God sent me an email…

The email was really from Abbie Cole (but y’all know what I meant). Abbie always forwards me emails she gets relating to film (thanks Ab!) The email had a flyer attached: 

If you read it, you’ll notice that this internship is absolutely perfect for me! The flyer also said to have a copy of my resume and portfolio…and I didn’t have either.

After a week of being a hermit, I made a website via iWeb that had both my portfolio and resume. You can view that site here: http://jonathancarroll.tk

I was pretty proud of myself 

Two days later, I get an email back from John Zollinger saying he wanted to set up an interview. And THAT’S what I did today. The interview went VERY well and I’m in the running with 2 other “videographers”.  John is doing a “test” to see who he will pick by having us create a 2-3 minute video of whatever he says.

So that’s where I’ll be the next few days…

Visit The Texas A&M Foundation on YouTube to watch their videos.

I'm new! I'm new, I don't know what to do!!

Yes, that was a Joe Dirt quote. Thank you for asking.
In the past week, I have created my own website (with my own domain), switched between three hosting sites, and lost my domain in the process…

I have only Wix.com to blame but that’s a-WHOLE-nother story and I’ll save it for another blog.
Speaking of blog, this is my first one! Sort of.. I’ve started one on iWeb (also within this past week) but I never officially posted my iWeb page to my personal domain–so I don’t count it. 
When making my website, of course I wanted all the extra buttons, widgets, gizmos-a-plenty to make it look more….more up-to-date, if you will. In order to add all these extra thingamabobs, I told myself I actually had to use them. So here we are.

I really wanted to use Blogger (cause they actually have a cool widget or button or whatever). Does wordpress even have a cool button like that to put at the bottom of a website? Is the blog just built within the website? Maybe. But I don’t know. I know another guy named Greg, you want me to call him up?

Yes. Mr. Deeds. (You’ll find that I enjoy quoting movies/shows/people). You know how I be. (And I’ll end it with that Michael Scott quote.)

I’m here til Thursday people.