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

We travelled to New York City and back on Wednesday — for a farewell luncheon for our ‘day job’ boss, who, get this —was recently laid off. The food at Acme restaurant on Great Jones St. was awesome (blackened catfish sandwiches) but the undertone of the mood was somber, as Marie has been the best person to work for and she will be so sorely missed, it can’t be put in words. She made the company a family, we’ll leave it at that.  The company was recently purchased by private investors and between merging and integrating divisions and the downturn, our “family” was fractured. NYC itself seemed a bit somber; people dressed in heavy wintry dark colors and the stores a bit empty …

Good luck, Marie; we know you will be invaluable wherever you land!