I was confused when I was at Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital last week.

I knew I wasn’t intimately familiar with the Bassett campus, but I couldn’t figure out why the hospital’s cupola _ or at least a very good replica of it _ was sitting on the ground near one of Bassett’s buildings on Fair Street.

The cupola wasn’t supposed to be on the ground, I thought to myself. I remembered reading on Bassett’s website _ this is what a health reporter does when she is procrastinating from doing homework _ that the cupola was lit when Dr. Mary Imogene Bassett died in October 1922.

"(Bassett’s friend, Edward Severin Clark) directed that the light in the cupola be lit every night in memory of her _ and it is to this day," Bassett’s website says.

If that were true, I wondered, why was the cupola on the ground? So I asked.

Unbeknownst to me, there are several cupolas floating around Cooperstown. The one I saw last week was not the real one, or anything like it. Rather, said spokeswoman Karen Huxtable, it will be part of Bassett’s float for the Cooperstown bicentennial parade Sept. 8.

The original cupola is on permanent display at the New York State Historical Association in Cooperstown. Another cupola remains on the top of a campus building _ and is still lit.

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It’s not often that I read an Associated Press story about someone I know or have met.

It’s even less frequent when I can read a title on such a story and know immediately whom the subject of the story is.

That happened for the first _ and probably the last _ time in the middle of August. As I looked through the state Associated Press wire, I found a story titled "Stonewall Steph."

I immediately thought it must be about a middle-schooler who presented a documentary on Stonewall Jackson at New York State History Day in May. I was one of the judges for the first round of "junior" documentary competition and remembered the Stonewall Jackson video.

What were the odds that there were two such videos floating around New York?

Sure enough, I was right.

Stephanie Mackowski, of Limestone, presented her video at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park’s Chancellorsville Visitor Center in early August. That apparently caught the Associated Press’ attention.

Stephanie had put together an impressive video. It won first place at the state competition and received a special award from the National Archives for her use of primary sources.

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My job really is fun some times.

In the past few weeks, I’ve gotten to see some events I never would have attended as a "civilian" _ much less enjoyed.

I was pleasantly surprised with what I saw at the Oneonta Community Alliance for Youth skateboarding competition in Neahwa Park.

It was amazing to watch the competitors at the skateboarding competition. These teenagers were serious about their art _ and were very good. I planned to stay just for a couple of minutes to take some pictures but got hooked.

I stayed for close to two hours.

Of course, the random questions I get while covering events also add to the fun. I got one of those questions while taking pictures at the skateboarding competition.

As I waited to get names and ages of some of the competitors, a young girl asked me a very serious question.

"Is there ever stuff about pets in The Daily Star?"

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Staff Writer Amy L. Ashbridge covers health and business.