Rahul Krishnakumar

Apparently I have yet to announce this, but I've been testing out another blogging service while also running this posterous account, and before I degress into that account and why I'm doing it, I just want to make sure people who read this understand that I am NOT shifting away from posterous. I have begun blogging on http://rkrishnakumar.wordpress.com recently, and the main reason I've been doing this is due to:

• the high level of customization Wordpress offers its users, in terms of multiple pages (Home Page, About Me Page)
• the pure html coding, and possible pasting of widgets and so on.
• the Wordpress iPhone app. This thing is really cool.

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Merry Christmas to all of you out there on this great day, wherever you may be spending this day. I am here at home, caught up in the recent cold weather that has been hitting the Bay Area relaxing and getting some work done and playing games all at the same time. The weather does bring about a good representation about what it should be like during Christmas time, so I really shouldn't be complaining... :p

Not a big believer in spending big on Christmas, so the presents this year were $25 towards Borders, $15 towards iTunes (iTunes Giftcard, which I plan on either buying applications for my phone, songs, or the Dark Knight), a corduroy pant which is like my trademark (lol), and some pajamas. Writing what I got down should be interesting because I really can't remember what I asked for last year, but if I'm not mistaken it was just a hope that we could switch to at&t so I could get an iPhone, and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. I eventually got the iPhone 3G upon its release. Noting it down this year should allow for a nice reflection next year. Once more I have some personal wishes that can't be fulfilled by my parents. 

Here's one for Posterous:

 -Allow HTML Editing, and plug-ins so I can use Google Analytics and my facebook badge. Maybe even facebook connect for commenting.

Other wishes:

- Qik on the iPhone, or video recording in general.

- Flash/Java on iPhone to play some nice games and videos on the web.

Here's hoping they come through. I'm going to go catch up on my college applications and go play some Blockles (http://www.blockles.com)

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For this past five years or so, in school I have been signing my name on papers as Rahul Kumar, and in my cases even been called by fellow peers as Kumar (due to the immense popularity of the Harold and Kumar movies). However, with all the college applications I've been going through lately, teachers calling me "Mr.Krishnakumar" and never-ending questions on my why I right my name as Kumar. So with all this, I have finally decided to change my last name almost everywhere to Krishnakumar, including web services. So far it's been this blog and facebook. Even the URL for this blog has now changed from rahulkumar.posterous.com to rkrishnakumar.posterous.com . Please take note of this update, for all those with blogrolls, and favorites links, if any.

Other things I have been up to lately are pretty much the same as always. Band is going great, and we are headed to the Fiesta Bowl National Band Championship and that will be exciting, like almost every other band trip I've been on in my 3 years so far. Last time, I talked about ONE Club, it was going great, with a huge City Council Resolution that fortunately worked out in our favor. As I mentioned with that under our belt, we are envisioning big things, and hopefully they all go through in the coming months.

Got many college applications still to go, equivalent to the number of UC's and CSU's I applied to (11), fortunately I am getting a college done a night for the easy steps, however the essays will as always be complex, so I will have to really budget my time more finely. 

....and my final thing is technology as always. I've finally built a connected ecosystem using my Phone, the Desktop at home, and the Internet. It took a while, but my Calendar is the first item that has been connected all around. Through Google Calendar, the Calendar on my Phone, and Outlook the information is synced all around. Email is up next, and eventually all other items will do this. The only reason it took me to do this was because I needed a copy of Outlook (which is for businesses) so the consumer substitute, Windows Live Mail, was not able to do this. Nonetheless it's happened.

I've taken the additional features of Google Calendar, and added it to my facebook account now such that a tab on top of my profile, next to..."Wall" and "Info" now has "Calendar" which displays my google calendar. Similarly, there is also a tab called "Posterous" which shows this very blog on it. Essentially facebook now shows more information about me than I expected. 

That is all I have for now.

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In the News As of 12:00 a.m. PST • $14 billion bailout for U.S. automakers collapses in Senate• Asian markets fall as Senate rejects auto bailoutDollar down• Explosion rips through mine in northern Russia, killing 9 workers• Ecoterrorist gets home confinement for plot to destroy dam, lab• Alcatel-Lucent plans to eliminate 1,000 white-collar jobs• Sales of video game hardware and software climb 10% in U.S.•  Pasted from my iPhone! http://pastebud.com

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apparently facebook is now allowing users to embed video, so i thought id try it out myself with the only video ive ever put up there. it also does hd now, but i can't afford a camcorder/camera that nice so ill stick to the embedding

neatest feature id say is that i can put alot of privacy blocking on it. i can only allow my facebook friends to watch it, which means they would have to be logged into facebook to watch it. very cool stuff

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Yesterday was a very important day probably not only for myself, my friends, but also the citizens of Pleasanton,CA. Someday this importance can hopefully extend to the Greater Bay Area.

Essentially, the City of Pleasanton, and it's City Council (who were all reinstated of their positions after the November 4th elections) agreed to support the small club that we have built at Foothill High School, called ONE Club. ONE Club acts as a smaller chapter of the ONE Organization, in attempting to eradicate poverty to a somewhat extensive degree.

With the cities backing behind us now, the club in my mind has truly become successful. Yesterday we distanced ourselves from the other fifty or so odd clubs that can be found on Foothill's campus. Many clubs have overlapping ideas and thoughts, and others work towards something alltogether different.

Yesterday, the club was still a place where my fellow peers and I discussed ideas on what we could do. Tomorrow, is a day when we can do it.

My first idea/concept in motion will bring the club and the city's local businesses both in downtown Pleasanton, and the mall together. I plan to kickoff an idea with the owners of Stoneridge Mall (Simon Malls) and the Pleasanton Downtown Business Owner's Association to host small coinboxes by the register, so as shoppers pass by, the change they deem unnecessary may be dropped in this box. With this idea, the club begins generating a substantial increase in revenue, through which we can donate to local organizations that serve the poor, and homeless.

One such organization would be Open Heart Kitchen. With the current economic downturn, the kitchen is facing a bleak 2009, where they will be put out of operation due to poor donations from citizens. With the small money we raise, even a few hundred dollars can put food on the table for many individuals. So far ONE Club has only tied up with Open Heart Kitchen in doing community service by providing volunteers to serve the good and so on. With the additional funding, we can really change the way we operate, and get things done. This is the future for the club as I envision, and how does the city's stamp of approval play into all this?

In my mind, I believe we have become a legitimate organization now, that can properly walk around and show that we have recognition. Previously, we were groups of high schoolers with no backing that could not possibly not convince anyone what we are about trying to do, for we had no proof or examples. With the city's backing I think we no longer match that description.

Truly significant moment for me and my friends, but it is only the beginning of many more great things to come.

Also my first blog post to have some HTML editing in it, rather than theWYSIWYG

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Happy Thanksgiving to all those out there reading this blog on this fine morning. Be thankful for all the great things we all have in life, rather than what we don't have, and think of those who live this day in uncertainty or crisis. 

There are many out there being thankful for what they have, and here is a sample:

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It's a mixed feelings day today. Thanks to much assistance at the last moments, and school break I have fortunately been able to finish up my UC application, submission pending my parents arrival from work. Other than that, I've most of today just staring at Twitter, and CNN. For the first time I've felt citizen journalism come right at me. The event of course being followed is quite saddening, Terrorist Attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai.

It's really saddening to see your fellow Indians in immense danger because of the silliness that terrorists find as proper justification for their problems. Overall, it just raises much more anger within, that these people still think violence is a justifiable act, and killing innocent people is acceptable. On a slightly different note, something less obvious, is the following of this news on Twitter. 

A twitter feed has allowed thousands of people all across the world come together and discuss the situation, but also spread information. With hundreds of different sources for information, whether it be primary or secondary sources, or media outlets, Twitter is really a fantastic way to aggregate this information. The Indian news channels are offering a much more informative viewpoint then that of CNN, as they are on the ground with the problem. Surprisingly enough, I realized that I'm likely the only teenager on Twitter, following this feed, because a stark difference is facebook, where no one seems to be following it. I find that to be saddening but it seems no one is looking at their computer screens right, nor are they flipping to CNN. Twitter truly is a different crowd. Attached is a picture showing the craze.

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I've been thinking ever since the rumors came out that Apple might be building a search engine what it could be, and I've finally begun to think that to compete with Google's Android offering, Apple will embed some sort of search into the iPhone (such as Spotlight in Mac), that will allow phone users to search everything on the phone. 

Whether it be a contact, songs, a facebook friend, or contents of an email, the search will manage to swift through the numerous amounts of data, and find exactly what the user is looking for. The programs through which it would swift can be customized in the settings window, so whether or not to include facebook friends, or twitter messages can be determined easily.

Though this is all a guess, and a whole lot of daydreaming this would be a really neat feature in mind, because Apple has already done it with the Mac, so why not bring it over to the phone is my question. Other than this daydreaming, which I'll have alot more of now thanks to hanksgiving Break, I will be continuing to write essays for colleges, at this stage UC's.

-Rahul

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