The new year is a good time to see what readers want more of on Catonsville Patch. This site turned 15 months old Sunday and we're always changing and tweaking what we do to serve you better. So, take the time to tell us, what do you want to see more of on Catonsville Patch? Do you want to see more sports stories? More profiles of interesting people in Catonsville? More ways to get involved in your community? Or something we haven't even touched on yet? As always, you can reach out directly to me, editor Penny Riordan, at penny.riordan@patch.com.

It's been 16 months since I set up residence in the great 21228. I was a little nervous about the transition, I'll be honest. Granted my last permanent residence was only six miles east on Frederick Road in Union Square in Baltimore, but moving outside the city line to sign a lease seemed like a big step. It's not like Catonsville was unfamiliar to me though, as I have had family in Arbutus for 10 years and would often shop at the Catonsville Giant because it was better than the neighborhood Safeway in the city. But after one move and more than a year in Music City, Maryland, working in a …

It's hard to believe it's been a year since Catonsville Patch went live, less than three months after I was hired by Patch to run the hyperlocal news site. On October 8, 2010, we had a quick story and photos from Catonsville High School's Homecoming Pep Rally as our lead story, less than three hours after the event ended. A few months later, we covered the Baltimore-area man who was caught trying to set a bomb off at the military recruiting center on Baltimore National Pike. We celebrated Thanksgiving with this touching piece by one of our columnists. We were there when a new coffee shop in …

It was just about a year ago that I was sitting in a conference room in AOL's offices in New York City for two days of training for my new job as editor of Catonsville Patch.  There were sales representatives, editors and regional editors from across the country in the room, as well as some of the company's higher-ups, including Brian Farnham. I was hired a few months before Patch rapidly expanded and hired hundreds of journalists across the nation, so it still seemed like a start-up at the time. I was excited, but also still felt like I was taking a big risk signing on with a journalism …

If you have been following the news in the past week, you might have seen that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was using a state police helicopter to go to his son's baseball game. The story was actually broken by Patch, as the event occurred in a town where there is a Patch site. Patch's editor-in-chief Brian Farnham wrote about Patch's role after the event gained national attention. In his blog, Farnham talked about how the story was reported locally and how it meant different things to the national media covering it. Patch's role was to report the facts and cover the story, as it was …

This week we added some new voices to the site in the form of bloggers. Patch has opened up its website to add more local voices. Why are we doing this? Because at Patch we believe in creating a community website that is the hub of everything going on. For Catonsville, that means adding more voices. For many people who are blogging for us, the blog platform on Patch allows them to reach a wider audience. So far we've had some great local stories and I look forward to reading more. If you're interested in blogging for Patch, here's what you need to know: This isn't a reporting job. It's …

If you've been on the site recently, you've probably seen the contest we have been running the past two weeks involving reviews. In addition to all the news on Catonsville Patch, there is also a comprehensive directory of local business. This directory is meant to be a resource for you, as you look for a good restaurant, mechanic or just want to see what new businesses have opened up. We also want you to share the good experiences you have had with local businesses, so we've been running a contest. We’ll focus on a new category each week. Write a review for your favorite place and you’ll be …

When you're the new "media outlet" in town, you spend a lot of time explaining what you do and exactly who you are. Some people have called Patch a "blog." They've asked me if there is a print version of the website (fair question). They've also simply confused me with other long-established media outlets, which I credit for faithfully serving the community before Patch arrived. I don't mind the confusion; after all we've only been live since October 8 of last year. And with a name like Patch, some may be confused by what we actually are. Allow me to explain. My job title is editor of …

A week in the life of a Patch editor seems like two or three weeks in any other job I've had. Looking back over the past week, I have to tax my memory to think back to what was up on the site way back on Monday. This week, we had a lot of great stories on the site, including coverage of the budding arts project 'Create in 21228,' as well as more controversial topics like the 10 townhomes proposed on Thistle Road. We also had a short but very significant story on Catonsville Middle School Principal Michael Thorne receiving the Principal of the Year award from the Maryland Association of …

It's been two weeks since I have written Patch Chat, because I was actually away on vacation. I had one last hurrah with winter, spending the week in Missoula, Montana with friends. Needless to say this week was filled with catching up on lots of email and missed things. But many of you have asked me if I ever take vacation, so now you know the answer is yes! I've talked about how this site is not only a place for news, but for things going on in the community. Yesterday a big event was going on in Catonsville, which was a cleanup of the No. 8 Streetcar Path. We had promoted the event on the …

I've worked in a lot of newsrooms over the years. The very first one was at the Frederick News-Post, which was one of my college internships and also my hometown newspaper. They really are odd places, filled with messy journalist desks, volumes of reference material (phone books, crisscross directories, old documents) and lots of computers. The sound of the police scanner is constant in the background. And there's usually a lot of yelling across the room between reporters and editors. This is the first job I've had where I work from home. I do miss the quirkiness of a newsroom, but I enjoy …

Hello and welcome to Patch Chat. This is a new weekly feature we are going to do every week that will serve as a dialogue between me (the editor) and you (the reader). Tuesday actually marks the four-month anniversary of the site. At Patch, time does fly and it seems like forever ago that I was rushing from the Homecoming Pep Rally at Catonsville High School with a notebook full of quotes to post just before the site went live at 3 p.m. I’ve been in journalism in some form or another since my freshman year of high school. Working with Patch is by far the most exciting job I’ve had in my …