As we move into June, our Oneonta event calendar is filling up; we hope you are checking it weekly because there are new happenings as well as some traditional June events listed below:

• Meredith Dairy Fest, June 12 & 13, in Meredith, NY.  We’ll see you there!
• Jonathan Wood Raptor Project show with Birds of Prey you can see and photograph close up:  June 12 at the Joseph L. Popp, Jr. Butterfly Conservatory, www.OneontaButterflies.com
• Oneonta Outlaws baseball season has opened. Check their web page so you won’t miss any home games.
• There is a free concert with The Bowmans (Sponsored by Five Star Subaru of Oneonta) on June 12 celebrating the opening of the Foothills Performing Arts Center theatre. Check the website to find locations where you can pick up the free tickets.

There are so many events in June that you may want to check our calendar www.OneontaOnTheMap.com for Oneonta Farmers’ Market Events, auction listings, Cooperstown Blues Express Train and more live music venues. We’re looking forward to the July grand opening and scheduled concerts at The Oneonta Theatre.

Having fun at Oneonta area events,

Mary Robinson

www.OneontaOnTheMap.com
with a calendar of Oneonta happenings

Buy Local: Contemporary furniture (mahogany chair and white oak outdoor futon chaise longue) made in USA right here in the Oneonta Cooperstown area

Are you planning to visit the Oneonta Cooperstown area? Perhaps you’re a baseball family whose children are taking part in one of the upstate New York baseball camps: Cooperstown Dreams Park or Cooperstown All Star Village. Or your musically inclined teen is attending Oneonta Music Camp, the New York Summer Music Festival. If you enjoy combining vacations with shopping for unique local products, you won’t want to miss Nikita Indoor Outdoor Convertible Furnishings at 7 Elm Street (607) 267-4623 (next to Mama Nina’s Pizza), Oneonta, NY.

At the Nikita showroom in Oneonta you’ll find beautiful contemporary furniture reminiscent of Danish Modern style. Nikita beds, sofabeds, chairs, chaise longues are custom made according to your choices of size, style, wood, cushion and fabric cover. Designed and manufactured by Nikita Grigoriev, an innovator of indoor and outdoor furniture since the early 80s, this furniture has a patented lean back design. The Nikita website mantra is “just lean back” and your sofa with infinite recline will morph into a bed. Every piece of furniture Nikita makes can be made for indoors or both indoors and outdoors depending on the materials. Mahogany and white oak are suitable for outdoor pieces and work with outdoor cushions and Sunbrella or Outdura fabrics.

So if you appreciate good design and excellent craftsmanship and products locally made in USA, Nikita Convertible Furnishings will fill your needs for your den, bedroom, living room, deck or poolside. It’s amazing furniture and there is something for everyone: the graduate moving to first apartment who needs a space saving sofabed or newlyweds furnishing their first home to people downsizing who want spare room options.  Have fun shopping in Oneonta and Nikita has a store in Saratoga Springs as well (508 Broadway, Saratoga Springs, 518-796-1887).

Thanks for listening,

Mary Robinson
Nikita furniture customer for over 7 years
now official blogger for Nikita Indoor Outdoor
www.JustLeanBack.com/blog/

This post is for all Oneonta businesses:

Welcome to April. Things are really picking up in Oneonta;  the weather is warm and downtown is  bustling even though the students are on break.  At www.OneontaOnTheMap.com we’re noticing more traffic on our website.  People are looking for coupons as well as information about lodging, restaurants, events and Oneonta children’s events.

Here’s a heads-up — try our free Create Coupon feature today. You will find the button on the white bar just below the OneontaOnTheMap header.  I’ll bet it will take you less than 5 minutes to create a coupon using our automated feature.

The beauty of our coupon feature is customers will click on your coupon link and the coupon can be sent to their cell phones (there is a print coupon alternative). Then they just show you the cell phone screen and voila, you will know that they found you here on www.OneontaOntheMap.com. Both you and OneontaOnTheMap will benefit — you’ll find new customers excited to check out your business and we’ll gain return web visitors looking for more coupons.

We don’t want to disappoint people who arrive at OneontaOnTheMap.com website because they searched using the keywords “coupons Oneonta.”   If your business doesn’t ordinarily use coupons, you may use our CREATE COUPON feature to leave info about a daily special or in store sale.

More coupon benefits for you: coupons mean VISIBILITY on our OneontaOnTheMap website. Your listing will appear in a special COUPON category (top of our business listing bar) and your business will automatically “float” to the top of all categories where it appears. That’s right, we break our alphabetic order code to make way for businesses leaving coupons.  We’re currently programming more features to call attention to Oneonta businesses leaving coupons; and should have them ready shortly.

Stay tuned for further Oneonta promotions,

Mary Robinson
www.OneontaOnTheMap.com

e-mail mr@OneontaOnTheMap.com with any comments or suggestions about  our CREATE COUPON feature.

Where do
we come from?

Creators: Rick & Mary Robinson
moved to Oneonta, NY from Rhode Island 20 years ago

Background Info:

Rick:
Software Architect II
Telecommuter
27 years same co. (now Nielsen)
Autodidactic, School of Hard Knocks, some college

Mary:
2006 SUNY Oneonta alumna
Human Ecology Major
Computer Art minor, Almost Secondary Education major
Worked on Wall Street, Drexel Burnham Lambert, ‘78-’82

Books Influenced Us:

The 4 Hour Work Week
Important because we both work full time
This is a part time effort for us
Outsource your life
Automate
Make a ton of $, little bit from many

The New Influencers
paper comparing viral & guerrilla marketing
Blogs – Tool I used in college: Parent Ed., Computer Art Showcase
I liked blogs as giving little people a voice and anonymous comments, discussions

2006 www.PitbullMommy.com documenting experience

ZEN SLAP – Blogs more important than I ever realized because of search engine relevance (Rick “Why a blog?”)

Most Recently:
Groundswell
Taking social media marketing
to the next level

Random Thoughts & Things We Learned from Experience

“Programming is 10% of the job.”  Rick wrote Auction-Eze application when e-Bay first came out; did not succeed because we dropped the ball on marketing. e-Bay partnered with a Binghamton firm:(  MARKETING IS KEY TO ANY BUSINESS

Execution is everything. Everyone has great ideas, you don’t find out how great (or not so great) they are until they come to fruition.  (And if you’re working part time, you’re never done and you will constantly be refining your product – Running a software business on 5 hours a week)

What
Are We?

www.OneontaOnTheMap.com

• Web Business & Event Directory of fun things to do, interesting people, places, museums, arts, sports, all things local Oneonta and environs.
• Map is our Information Design Organizer
• Community/Contests/Coupons/Collaboration
• Promote by blogging, Twitter, coupons to your cell phones, social media
  (I heart Twitter, not so much Facebook. Probably would have done better on FB as Oneonta NY has over 2500 fans. I still love Twitter community of 210 OOTM)
• Community Built (can add business, events, coupons online)
• Integrate with YouTube and of course more features wish-list

Where
are we going?

• We are a Free Service, influenced by Wired Magazine article New Economy of Free
• Wanted to provide demonstrated value/metrics before selling service

Possible $ Models:

• Prototype, sell program
• Sponsors – little $ from many
• Charge for Coupon Service – gives customers reason to return
• “Twitter” Model - possible businesses pay for enhanced listings, ability to edit
• Poss. collaborate with another website & use as vehicle, networking promotional marketing tool
• Didn’t want traditional or obtrusive advertising

What would you do?

Designing local: competition fierce (but friendly), limited upside.

Fix what’s wrong: not strong enough brand, not edgy enough, design issues?

Keep working & design mobile OR

Move on to site selling product rather than depending on changing media
LinuxHighway?

Conclusion

Successful Online Businesses:

Small Game Studios compete with Giants

Bingo Card Creator

Buy My Book Recommendations:

Oneonta, New York has the privilege of welcoming Canadian Fiddle Champion Ivonne Hernandez (www.ivonnehernandez.com) and internationally acclaimed British jazz violinist Ben Powell (www.ben-powell.com). The workshop and concerts are free and open to the public. Free and open to the public; sounds so amazing that I had to restate it.

On Tuesday, March 30, at 10:00 a.m., the duo will perform a public concert in the Hunt Union Ballroom on the campus of SUNY Oneonta.    Following the performance, at 12:30 p.m., the duo will teach an improvisation workshop to any interested musicians from the community.  Be sure to bring your instruments to the afternoon session.

A second concert will be performed at 7:30 p.m. in IRC 3 (Instructional Resource Center) on the SUNY campus. The evening concert is part of the Hewitt Pantaleoni Memorial Concert Series and is partially funded by the Catskill Conservatory.

Julie Signitzer, music director of LDYE, invited Hernandez back to Oneonta after hearing her play last year with the Folk Arts Quartet who accompanied Eugene Friesen in the annual workshop.   “Ivonne is a young, hard hitting fiddler who has five times been declared the Grand North American Fiddle Champion.   She is also an amazing step dancer. (I was there last year and she was awesome!)

In addition, LDYE invited her friend, 23 year old Ben Powell, to join her.  He is a stellar jazz violinist who has already performed throughout much of the world.  The contrasting styles should inspire the students to explore their instruments in many different ways.  I am sure it will be an exciting event for all who participate”.  The two young fiddlers are recent graduates of the Berklee College of Music in Boston and have successfully launched extensive performance careers.

This residency is sponsored in part by the Foothills performing Arts Center, The SUNY Oneonta Music Department, the A. Lindsay and Olive B. O’Connor Foundation, the Future of Oneonta Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts Decentralization Program administered in Otsego County by the Upper Catskill Community Council of the Arts and the Catskill Conservatory.

Thank you to these wonderful organizations (and Julie Signitzer) for making these concerts/classes possible to enrich our children and our community.  My daughter is a former member of LDYE so this thanks is heartfelt, and why I especially call attention to Little Delaware Youth Ensemble events.

I do have to warn you, however, if my daughter can’t attend, I may borrow her violin this year, and I’m a little rusty …

Hope to see you there.

Mary Robinson
www.OneontaOnTheMap.com

Welcome back SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick College students.  Are you looking for ways to chill out in Oneonta this semester?

If you like the cold,

• Check out Plattekill Mountain Ski & Tubing Resort’s website for special events such as $15 lift tickets (Jan. 27-29).
• Hanford Mills Museum’s Annual Ice Harvest claims to be the region’s “coolest tradition.” It’s happening Feb. 6 from 10:00 am-4:00 pm.
• Ice Skating on Hodges Pond in Neahwa Park is an Oneonta tradition, call 432-7997 for daily updates regarding hours and conditions (website: www.Oneonta.ny.us/government/)
• Brrr, it’s time to register for the 15th Annual Goodyear Lake Polar Bear Jump (Feb. 20) benefit.  A Chinese Auction will be held Jan. 31 at Milford Central School to benefit this event. Check the website for Polar Bear Jump pre-registration info: www.PBJump.com; you must pre-register in order to participate.

If you’re the warm-blooded type, looking to hunker down under covers or stay in more temperate indoors, these Oneonta area activities may be just what to do until spring break comes:

• Eat, Sleep, PLAY Oneonta — check out Neverdaunt N8, a MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) video game created by Oneonta local Calvin Goble. I’m trying to arrange a coffee shop gathering with Calvin; if you’re enthralled by his game and would like to tell him in person, e-mail me mr@OneontaOnTheMap.com.
• Feb. 3 – 21st, Hartwick College’s Department of English and Theatre Arts is presenting DEARLY DEPARTED, Bottrell & Jones’ rip-roarin’ redneck farce about the Turpin family, proving that living and dying in the South is seldom tidy and always hilarious. Check www.OneontaOnTheMap.com’s event calendar for the dates and times and reserve your tickets online at www.hartwick.edu/x1197.xml
• B. Sharp Gallery is having an Art Exhibition Opening Reception Feb. 6 from 4-8 pm (The exhibition runs through Feb. 21). Plan to attend the reception to schmooze with local Oneonta and NYC artists.
• Feb. 7 is the Sixth Annual UCCCA Chili Bowl Competition; watch for upcoming details.
• Feb. 12 is SUNY College at Oneonta’s Tenth Annual Faculty Research Show.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this smattering of events and things to do when Oneonta cabin fever has got you down. Keep checking our website calendar or follow us on Twitter for continuous updates.  And feel free to add your college events to our calendar by clicking “add event”; we’re a website built by the Oneonta community!

Finally, OneontaOnTheMap.com’s  ”Coupons to your cell phone” business promotion is up and running. Tell your favorite local stores/merchants to add their specials or coupons to our website so we can blog & Tweet about them and you can save $.  How great would it be to have all the Super Bowl Party Pack Specials listed on www.OneontaOnTheMap.com?  Spread the word; let’s have fun with this!

Thanks for listening,

Mary Robinson
www.OneontaOnTheMap.com
SUNY Oneonta ‘06

Neverdaunt (N8) is getting rave reviews and Calvin was recently interviewed by a U.K. gaming magazine  (I’ll add the link when the interview is published). This is impressive for a self-taught programmer/artist attempting a formidable task: creating a MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) game as his first project.  He’s had the game idea for many years: designing a game around players making up their own games to play, so participants can create and teach each other something new. After three years of full time designing and coding,  Neverdaunt is a reality.

I had hoped to enter the world of Neverdaunt before writing this post, but due to our new location and slow satellite Internet, I am not able to play MMO games from home.  OneontaOnTheMap followers, I am counting on you to check it out and spread the word about Neverdaunt (N8);  I hope to see you in that world shortly. This news is so important, we’ve put the Neverdaunt link on our www.OneontaOnTheMap.com front page, making a new right hand section with news from our blog. Neverdaunt is for ages 13+.

P.S. – If you’re interested in meeting up with Calvin at a local coffee shop to talk more about Neverdaunt N8 or game design programming, let me know (leave a comment or e-mail info@OneontaOnTheMap.com ) and we’ll try to arrange it.

Holler Oneonta,

Mary Robinson
OOTM your Un-official Guide

For those of you who fear I have dropped off the face of Oneonta, this is not the case — although I’ve spent the last 8 weeks moving 25 miles outside the city to Roseboom or Pleasant Brook, NY to be more specific. The genesis of this unexpected, impulsive move reads like a Rube Goldberg chain of events: obtain funds to buy camper van- visit dogsitting daughter Rachel – dog bites dog- unexpected vet call- have to pick up cake – find out about property for sale – check it out, decide to buy–  bye bye camper van– three weeks later we’re the new owners of an 1840s schoolhouse and church. Whew.

People always ask, "What are you going to do with the church?"

It’s an adjustment (understatement) being back in the country, especially in dealing with satellite internet, our telecommuting jobs and website businesses. How will this move affect OneontaOnTheMap; should I change Oneonta Town Blogger to The Virtual Oneontan? Beyond the satellite internet snafus, I already miss the close proximity of our Chestnut St. home office to Main Street Oneonta restaurants and the hop, skip and jump to local events. I’m still in Oneonta several times a week, but find myself rushing to get errands done; I don’t have the same relaxed feeling of  “think I’ll go check out what’s new at the Salvation Army store”.  I fear my friends at the Undercover Eggplant may have forgotten what I look like, and with each passing week, my day job substitute teaching seems like a distant memory.

Thank goodness we designed www.OneontaOnTheMap.com to be an automated web portal built by YOU, Oneonta. I want to holler thanks to Hartwick College Theatre Dept., SUNY Oneonta Alumni, Main Street Oneonta, Hanford Mills Museum, The Artisans’ Guild (Happy 10^th Birthday), our Twitter community and ALL the Oneonta businesses who have given us links or listed events. I survived the move and with your help have kept abreast of Oneonta events. I hope to continue to do so as The Virtual Oneontan.

Thanks for listening,

Mary Robinson

www.OneontaOnTheMap.com

Woman walking her pet pot bellied pig at the Oneonta City of the Hills Art Festival

This past Saturday (July 18, 2009) was a fun day — Holistic Health Day at the Oneonta Farmers’ Market, then the Leatherstocking Buzzards Remote Control Aircraft Mini-Fest Hospice Fundraiser (they do some crazy flying!) and in the evening the new B. Sharp Gallery Art Exhibit Opening where we met some interesting artists in a close personal setting.  I usually have to coax Rick to attend art openings, but after this experience his interest in art is piqued.

It’s been a year since we launched* www.OneontaOnTheMap.com; each week as I reflect on developments: businesses adding listings and events, local Tweets from Twitter, photograph entries for July’s contest, and stats and feedback from people who’ve found our database of Oneonta happenings helpful … of course I see so much more that could be done. One of my favorite proverbs, “All beginnings are hard” aptly applies and most computer people will second that notion. I feel overwhelmed by the lofty goals of creating an online community in concert with the Oneonta NY business community, and trying to provide the elusive interactive Internet experience that will keep visitors returning. When I’m in an overwhelmed state, just reading about the numerous exciting events taking place in Oneonta stresses me out.

But Rick, being the pragmatic programmer, brings me back to reality and our original goals: to help people find business and event information and directions quickly, and support the  Oneonta business community by enhancing their web presence (free listings, exposure, social media marketing). I think we’re on the right path, so I’ll relax and enjoy — have fun with our website and around Oneonta.

Rick enjoyed mingling with artists at the B. Sharp Gallery Exhibition Opening.

So yes, we are having fun with this, and hope you’ll hang in with us as we tend our database and watch it grow.  If you’ve found our website and information helpful, let businesses or event organizers know you found them here. Now it’s back to work as we have some new features we’ll be announcing soon.

Thanks for listening,

Mary Robinson

www.OneontaOnTheMap.com — Telling you what you want to know & where to go!

*OneontaOnTheMap.com has been up and running for over a year; however, we officially launched it in Dec. 2008.