This is by far my favorite time of the year. Penn State football, cooler weather, fall golf, and no more bees…what else can you ask for? It brings me great joy to see Joe Paterno on the sidelines every Saturday - he is truly an inspiration. I hate being hot so the cooler weather (50s-60s) is a treat for me. Fall golf is the best. The courses are in great condition, not as many people are golfing, the prices per round are cheaper, and I always play better with my 2 iron after September 1st. Not dealing with nasty bees is a dream come true because if you know me - you know I am not a bee fan at all. Good times!

I listen to music almost all day, everyday. Yesterday I grabbed the latest NIN album from: http://theslip.nin.com and it made me think about how the music stage is really evolving.

I realize there have been several recent changes that have really made everyone look at music and music distribution differently - but this was a big eye opener for me. I spent a good part of my life in music stores 60 miles away from my house (because that was the closest) while my mother was clothes shopping in the mall. I spent Saturday or Sunday afternoons leafing through CD after CD trying to figure out which one I was going to buy and then listen to on my Sony Discman on the hour ride home while my mother listened to her “oldies” on the radio.

I spent my college years doing the same thing, but this time I could walk to the record stores and I also had the option of looking at used CDs as well. Within the first six weeks of my stay at Penn State, I shelled out over $700 to buy all the NIN imports I could get my hands on. … [more]

I returned from a trip to my alma mater, The Pennsylvania State University, a few days ago after getting asked to speak at the History Department career fair. I was one of seven speakers at the event. We all had various non-traditional history degree careers (which was the point) and surprisingly we all had a very similar message to give to everyone.

Network. We all got to where we were by connections and relationships we had made along the way.
Get yourself out there. Most of our first job experiences were not what we wanted to do for the rest of our lives, but it gave us a place to start and a place to start networking.
Find something you love and specialize in it. This world is becoming a very specialized world and there is a job out there for just about anything. To separate yourself out - find a niche that you love and go with it. This really catapulted my business (WordPress and bbPress specialization)
Don’t wait for opportunities to come your way - make your own opportunities. So many people think “My boss will give me a raise if I work hard” or believe … [more]

I will be back in State College, PA in April to speak at the History Department Career Night. So, if any of you State College folks are around, I would love to get together with you while I am there (email me about my arrival/departure). I will be talking about my career outside of the typical History major norm (teacher, lawyer, etc) and how my studies at PSU prepared me for what I am doing now. I am quite honored and excited and look forward to seeing some of my old professors!

Nine years later to the month that I proudly graduated from Penn State and I have finally paid off my student loans! This is a big day for me as I thought it would never happen. Now I can put my student loan payment towards’ Evan’s future college fund so he hopefully will not have much to pay when he graduates in 2029.

Life does not get too much better than Penn State football Saturdays…and this year should be one of the best years of all time. Why? First and foremost - this will be the first full season for my son. He was born last December and saw his first Penn State bowl game (PSU won), but I really look forward to the entire season. Second, we now have the Big Ten Network. Third - we should have DirectTV HD installed as of next week. Here is to another great season with JoePa!

There are few people that I admire more than Joe Paterno (Penn State’s head football coach). He inspired me when I went to my first Penn State football game when I was three years old, and he still inspires me today. During our last game in Wisconsin, one of the plays ended up on the sideline, coaches and players were knocked over, but nothing out of the ordinary…until I heard and saw Joe Paterno was among the people who got knocked down. Joe, the tough guy he is, stood up, and as soon as he did, his leg unnaturally hyper extended and I almost got sick to my stomach. I yelled “his leg is broken, his leg is broken” to Amy and I watched him try to keep standing. Finally the trainers and other coaches got him to go over to the bench where they could look at his leg/knee.

What I love about Joe is he is such a strong and positive role model. He wanted to stay strong for the team by trying to stand. He did show his fear or his pain, or even want to sit down. … [more]