Joe Battista

I once asked my former Penn State athletics colleague and friend Bruce Ellis how he was enjoying retirement.  His response has resonated with me every day since. He said, with a big grin on his face, “Every day is Saturday, except Sunday!” I doggedly researched both the financial nuances and the quality-of-life aspects of retirement…

On Feb. 1-4, I had the chance to relive a very important part of my youth and time as a young adult, when softball was an integral part of life in the Battista household.  We traveled to all parts of Pittsburgh and throughout Western Pennsylvania and surrounding states playing “travel” baseball and softball. Tournament play…

“A writer is someone who has taught his mind to misbehave” – Oscar Wilde Well, folks, today is a milestone of sorts. This column represents my 300th since I first began writing for StateCollege.com in the fall of 2009. I was in my third year as the executive director of the Nittany Lion Club at Penn…

During our years in State College, we made regular trips to Tudek Dog Park with our dogs Sportster and Barkley. It was especially fun when I met up with longtime friend Jamey Perry, an academic advisor extraordinaire at Penn State, and we would catch up on family, work and Penn State sports. We’d laugh out…

I traveled to Alta, Iowa by way of Omaha, Nebraska last week to do a half-day training session on personal and professional development for Platinum Crush, LLC., a soybean processing company. During my three-day trip, I learned more about soybeans and the multi-billion-dollar industry than I ever thought possible. Let’s just say it impacts all of…

Happy Thanksgiving everyone — with an emphasis on “thanks.” I hope that today’s column will inspire you to take intentional quiet time to do an accounting of all the blessings in your life. I know some of you already do this on a daily basis, so keep up the good work. I also know that…