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When Community Wasn’t Cool

January 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I have always been interested in computers. From the day I saw my first Vic-20, to those awful bulky CBM machines in elementary school, through my first Commodore 128, until now – computers have been part of my life for what seems forever.

Not just computers, the “social” aspect of computers. From my first sign-on to a Bulletin Board System (BBS) to being one of the youngest hosts on QuantumLink, to hosting events for AOL, to coordinating the online chat with the creators of The Matrix – I was community before community was cool.

The community boom really began in the late 1990s, when The Ultimate Bulletin Board (UBB) took hold and pounded competitor THREADS into the ground. During this time I was not only the community liaison between AOL and Warner Bros. (yes, THE Warner Bros.), I helped form the community department at the motion picture studio.
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Filed Under: Featured, Social Media

Who Do You Serve?

January 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I enjoy watching Gordon Ramsay.  So does the rest of the world it seems, judging by the popularity and variety of television programs he hosts including Kitchen Nightmares and Hell’s Kitchen.  But while some people turn into his shows to see him yelling and dropping the F bomb, not to mention educating us Americans with off-color British slang , I enjoy watching his programs for his business sense.

Running a business, any business, is a lot like running a restaurant.  I’ve blogged about it here a few times, and tonight I came across another instance of brilliance from the TV chef.

“The golden rule of a restaurateur – you serve your customers, not yourself.”

That truism was uttered in Season 2 of the U.S. version of his Kitchen Nightmares program.

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There’s an app for… well, me.

January 14, 2010 By 1 Comment

Following in the tradition of so-called “vanity apps” I just had to give the process a try.  So last December, shortly after Chris Brogan released his, I contacted MotherApp and began the journey to my own App.

I sent in the rss feeds for my blog and my twitter, as well as my YouTube account and Flickr feed, just in case those could somehow be integrated as well.  It was fairly painless, and the only other thing I had to provide were photos of various sizes for the icon, loading screen and the iTunes page.

So now, almost 4 weeks to the day, the app is released and out in the iTunes store.  Do a search for “Rutter” or even motherapp and you should find it.  Or click on the link below:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/troy-rutter/id349450153?mt=8

Now are these vanity apps actually GOOD for the iTunes store, or the net in general, that is a whole other discussion.  But for now, yeah, it’s kind of neat.

On a side note, since the app went live, Ive had about 30 Followers added.  I assume mostly through the iTunes store.

Filed Under: Featured, Social Media

A Lesson From Hu-Hots and Gordon Ramsay

January 4, 2010 By 2 Comments

After a very good meeting with a small group of Central Iowa Blogger members, I headed over to Hu-Hots to get a good lunch.  For those who don’t know, Hu-Hots is one of those places where you put everything you want into a bowl and they grill it up on a giant grill in the middle of the room.  In some places it is called “Pot Stickers” and some places it is called a “Mongolian Grill.”

A couple friends and I arrived shortly after the place opened for lunch thinking it would be better than at night.  You see, it is a very popular place, and sometimes you can get stuck waiting for your turn in line for several minutes (or longer).  And that is AFTER you get seated.

Seating was not an issue however, and we were quickly seated just as the place was getting very busy.  It seems everybody had the same idea to go there for lunch on the holiday.

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It’s The Way Things Have Always Been

January 3, 2010 By 2 Comments

It was a small, condensed group at the Central Iowa Bloggers meeting January 1st, but that didn’t stop the creative juices from flowing.  During one conversation, Mike Sansone told the few of us assembled about a children’s book he uses as a tool called “ish.”  Basically the story is that a boy draws pictures, only to have his older brother laugh at them when they don’t resemble what they are supposed to.  So the boy crumples them up and throws them in the trash.  But his little sister collects them and proudly displays them in her room.  When he discovers this, he asks why she likes them, when they don’t look like anything they are supposed to be.  He tells her the picture of a vase doesn’t look anything like a vase.  “But,” says the sister, “It looks vase-ish.”  So the boy starts drawing pictures that look tree-ish, silly-ish, etc.  His creativity has been let loose by just being “ish.”

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Filed Under: Blog, Featured