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rhit2004's LiveJournal:
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| Sunday, April 26th, 2009 | | 11:39 pm |
| | Saturday, August 30th, 2008 | | 12:12 pm |
| | Thursday, April 24th, 2008 | | 6:53 pm |
Patent Bar
I guess I never really provided an update to my faithful reader(s) regarding my experience with the Patent Bar. I Passed!!!! Since then I have had to fill out some forms, sign an oath in front of a public notary, andy pay more money to continue the process of becoming a patent agent (and later patent attorney once I finish law school). Now I am basically in a holding pattern for 6-weeks while my name is posted for public comment about if I am a bad person and should not be allowed to represent people before the USPTO. After all that I will finally be given my registration number and I will officially be a patent agent. I have been looking for a place to live in St. Louis. This is the first time I have really ever looked for a place to live with more than a couple weeks advanced notice before I intend to move in. The extra time is nice but also tough because I seem to spend way too much time researching and looking for places. In the past I would just find any place that has a spot at whatever price and lock in a lease. I really want to get a "loft-style" place. I can actually afford one in the St. Louis area but once I graduate and move to a D.C. (hopefully) I will no longer be able to afford such a place. I want to have the loft apartment living experience while I still can. I also found a place above a bar which is quite appealing. | | Friday, March 28th, 2008 | | 9:14 pm |
Law School
My law school admissions cycle is basically over. I will be attending Washington University in St. Louis. It was a tough decision because I had acceptances to several schools with generous scholarship offers from many. However, the full-tuition scholarship from Wash U. ultimately swayed me to pick them over the others. Studying in Anheuser-Busch hall (the name of the Law School building) doesn't hurt either. My deposit is paid, my official transcript is sent, and I am ready to start my legal studies.  In the meantime I decided a couple months back to take the Patent Bar (Examination for registration to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office technically). Since then I have been studying virtually every night after work. I actually sit for the exam in two weeks and it is going to be great to have my life back afterwards. | | Sunday, December 9th, 2007 | | 12:51 am |
I had another messed up dream the other night. In this dream I bit off the ends of most of my fingers. It didn't hurt but I knew that it was a bad idea when I was doing it. Once I bit off the ends on one whole hand I got pissed at myself because I fully realized that they were not going to magically grow back or anything. I am not sure what prompted my brain to come up with such a wild dream. The only theory is I watched the movie "I know who killed me"a couple weeks back and in the movie peoples fingers are removed. | | Thursday, November 1st, 2007 | | 5:48 pm |
| | Tuesday, September 25th, 2007 | | 10:18 pm |
I think I have a serious psychological problem. Whenever I walk past a fire alarm pull handle I have a serious urge to just pull it. I just imagine the energy rush and the power you have from simply pulling a little plastic handle. Such a simple act can get literally hundreds of people to respond. I also think the fact that causing a false alarm is taboo makes the desire so much more. The opportunity to pull the alarm is a rare treat in life so the urge to do so prematurely is strong. Much like I sometimes wish I could call 911 just to test it out. You never really have an opportunity to do so for real. I literally have dreams where I see something and get to call 911 and it is quite exciting. I actually get very excited in those dreams and it is basically a dream come true in my dreams. Of course there is always a problem with 911 in those dreams and I have to keep re-dialing and switching phones. But back to the fire alarm issue ... the desire is so strong at times that I literally have to run a risk/benefit analysis in my head to convince myself that it is a bad idea. However, I did once have the opportunity to pull an alarm during a fire drill and it still ranks as a highlight of my life. | | Thursday, August 30th, 2007 | | 2:37 pm |
Netflix sucks. They have now shipped my last two movies from Tacoma, WA and Reno, NV. The reason they always give is “ is not available at your local shipping center. Instead, we will ship the DVD from .” You will not convince me that the movies I wanted were not available someplace between New Jersey and the West Coast. Maybe the shipping center right by me is out but how about one in PA, NY, CT, DE, MA, etc? Then to rub salt in the wound they tell you they will ship on the next business day. I am pretty sure that between the time they realized the movie was not available in my time zone, the next time zone, or the one after that they could have processed the DVD in NV or WA for shipment that same day. They have 3 hours of extra buffer time before the mailing cutoff on the West Coast compared to the East Coast. I need to look into what happens if I send the “West Coast Movies” back to my local Netflix shipping facility. They may screw me on the shipping time here but then I will cause their inventory to start building up on the East Coast by sending them all back to the wrong place. | | Friday, August 3rd, 2007 | | 2:39 pm |
Last night I hit up Kevin Smith’s 37th Birthday Q&A in Red Bank, NJ. It made for a very long but enjoyable day. I worked my normal day and then drove down to Red Bank for the 7:00 pm showtime. Of course Kevin Smith is not exactly brief with his answers so the “Evening with Kevin Smith” goes for a very long time. I bailed out at around hour 5.5 because I had to drive home and at least sleep a couple hours before work today. Plus I was really hungry because in my rush to get to Red Bank and park I never ate any dinner. The night was made even more exciting because they were filming for the next “Evening with Kevin Smith” DVD and cameras were everywhere. There was a boom cam, hand held cameras, and tripod mounted cameras all over. Amazingly Kevin was able to do his thing without even really acknowledging the cameras were there even when he had them in his face, swooping in over his head, and just a general bustle of activity all around. You can tell that he gives long answers from the DVDs but they must be edited for time because he rarely gave a response under an hour. The highlights of the evening included hearing about J.Lo potentially using Kevin Smith’s bathroom hand towel as toilet paper because she stormed out of the house and a hand towel was missing, Jason Mewes basically wanting to buy a Days Inn motel room as his apartment, and dozens of other priceless stories. There is another Q&A in the area next Jan/Feb (I believe), which I may be forced to attend after last nights wonderful experience. | | Friday, July 27th, 2007 | | 9:05 pm |
Somehow this developed out of a conversation at work this afternoon. The productivity goes out the window at 4:30 on a Friday. If I had my own airline it would have one of these major improvements over the current system. Idea 1) The entire cabin would be filled with Nitrous Oxide at take-off. It would knock you out and you would not even care that the flight lasted 18 hours. You could even add a couple more seats (remove the lavatory) and have far fewer flight attendants because with the whole plane asleep nobody would need a flight attendant or to use the restroom. Idea 2) Install bunks like in army barracks so people could sleep the whole flight. I figure in the space of three current seats you could stack at least three bunks. This would make the flight more comfortable because you could actually sleep and stretch out. It would be like those lay flat beds in business class but without the added expense. Idea 3) Install seats rotated 90 degrees so when I/others recline there is no impingement of those around me. Two long rows of seats on each side of the aisle would be perfect (3 or 4 long rows of seats on aircraft with two aisles. After that discussion, as always happens with life, I was reading a message board at 5:30 (we are done at 5:00) when my boss' boss walks into my cube. my instinctual reaction was to minimize the window because that is what you are trained to do. He proceeds to say "Oh message boards, I like to visit those sometimes" in that haha I caught you voice inflection with a taste of why the hell were you not doing real work. I am thinking - crap! So it get called into his office for my performance review at this point. Nothing as good as getting caught surfing message boards when the director comes to get you for your performance review. I got to hear all sorts of stuff about "We are still figuring out what you are capable of ... kicking your tires ... etc". Moral of the story: leave work on time because if you stay late to surf the web you will get caught at the absolute worst time to be caught surfing the web. | | Saturday, June 30th, 2007 | | 2:50 pm |
I got my LSAT scores back today and I did ok but not as well as I had hoped. I pulled in a 167 (95th percentile) on what seems to be a harsh grading scale (you are also provided a score band that indicates where your score could fall based on statistical analysis and that is 164-170 for me). A 167 is approximately the 25th percentile for admission at many of the schools I am looking at which really stresses me out (my GPA appears to be about the 45% but I can't know for sure since they only provide 25th and 75th percentile data). I want to desperately attend a top 15 school because it makes a huge difference on getting employment after law school much like with MBA programs. I guess I can at least apply and then just hope my file passes the admissions officer when they are having a good day and I squeak in someplace. The problem is the Law School Admissions Council provides you with a copy of your answer sheet, the correct answers, and the test questions so you can go through and see exactly what mistakes you made. That just means you get to have a "doh" moment when you realize that your true abilities mean you should have scored higher. They also give you a sheet where it tells you what number of questions missed resulted in each score so you know that you would have scored "x" points higher if you had not messed up on those "y" questions. Well at least I know my score and what my options truly are now. I am better funded than last time I applied to professional school and will not cheap out on # of applications submitted which should help my odds of getting in tremendously. Here is a tricky stats question ... If I have a 25% chance of getting into each of 10 different schools do I have a 94.2686485% chance of getting into at least 1? {1-(0.75)^10} Of course it is not really that simple since the likelihood of being accepted at school A is really not independent of being accepted at school B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, or J. | | Wednesday, June 27th, 2007 | | 5:37 pm |
Today we had a company blood drive ... and it made me appreciate my blood donation experience while at Rose-Hulman. To put it bluntly the phlebotomists sucked. The experience began with a the phlebotomist jamming the needle in too far resulting in the need to back out. The bruising seems minimal so I can handle the slight screw up there. Then she proceeded to reprimand me for squeezing the ball too hard and too fast. Excuse me crazy blood lady but I am a professional blood donater and I know how fast I can safely eject blood from my veins without passing out. When she yelled at me I wanted to just get off that table (about 1.5 feet too short for me) and start jumping around to really get my blood moving. Of course, since she pissed me off for telling me to slow down, I only bleed faster as my blood pressure spiked (and I squeezed extra hard and fast when her back was too me). I may have set a personal speed record with how fast I was pumping blood out. I was stabbed and finished quicker than it took to prep another girl to be stabbed. I can forgive the blood nazi for the stern correction in my squeezing pace because she was not familiar with my bleeding abilities and she did just deal with a bleeding mortal who was bitching about how he though he was going to die after he donated. However, the straw that broke the camel's back, the last nail in the coffin, the grand finale was when she didn't even clean off the extra iodine from my arm. I had to walk around all afternoon with a yellow arm ... I am not Homer Simpson ... I don't have jaundice ... I should not have to deal with a yellow arm. | | Saturday, June 23rd, 2007 | | 5:08 pm |
Today I finally took advantage of one of the things that New Jersey has to offer ... Kevin Smith movie locations. I make the pilgrimage down to Leonardo, NJ to visit the Quick Stop and RST Video made famous by CLERKS. I was amazed at how small the Quick Stop really is on the inside and upon reviewing my DVD of CLERKS I see how Kevin Smith used some creative camera positioning and angles to give me such an impression. When I first rolled up to the Quick Stop there was actually a kid sitting on the sidewalk out front that had a striking resemblance to Jay and I had to laugh to myself. After my stop at the Quick Stop I continued on and visited Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash where I got myself a Mooby's "Fun"ployee shirt from CLERKS II, a signed Dogma poster, and some other odds and ends. It was cool seeing all the movie props in the store. I had been meaning to get down to Leonardo and Red Bank, NJ since I moved to the area six months ago so it was nice to finally make it down there. The whole journey was then made more surreal by the fact that the check-out guy at J&SB Secret Stash is none other than Walt Flanagan. He is one of Kevin Smith's friends and fellow former counter Jockey at the Quick Stop. He is more commonly known as Walt Grover the Fanboy from "Mallrats", "Dogma", and "J&SB Strike Back" and also appears in "Clerks." as Woolen Cap Smoker, Egg Man, Offended Customer, and Cat Admiring Bitter Customer. Kevin Smith has said that the character of Brodie is based upon the real life Walt Flanagan. The experience really takes Kevin Smith's movies and makes them real opposed to fantasy.  | | Tuesday, June 19th, 2007 | | 5:33 pm |
I got mail today that is competing with braille on drive through ATMs for stupidity. It is information from the water company concerning the levels of pollutants/chemicals/feces/etc. in the drinking water over the last year. The stupid part is it is labeled on the back "This report contains important information about your drinking water. if you do not understand it, please have someone translate if for you." Am I overstepping by assuming that if you can't read the report in english it is highly unlikely that you could read their disclaimer about seeking translation? | | Sunday, June 17th, 2007 | | 1:25 pm |
I have to say this quote from a prominent Right-Winged columnist is quite funny and true. "Bush keeps claiming he's dying to enforce the border, but he just can't do it unless we immediately grant amnesty to 12 million illegal aliens. I wonder if that worked on Laura Bush: Laura: George, it's time you quit drinking. George: OK, honey, let's discuss it over cocktails." | | Thursday, June 14th, 2007 | | 9:52 pm |
Whomever invented those two sided DVDs should be put before a firing squad. There is no need for those two sided atrocities because there is no more data on them than a standard singled sided dual-layer dvd. Just put it all on one dual-layer disc and have a nice menu that asks if I want widescreen or full screen. The whole SNAFU is compounded by the labeling system on the discs. They provide printing on only one side and in the very center which I can handle. The problem arises in that their labeling scheme is aimed at some under educated retard who can't handle inserting a dvd without a label. If a side is labeled "widescreen" the date contained on that side should be widescreen (ie. I place that side toward the reading laser more commonly know as face down into the player). Somehow if seemed logical to the people of DVD land that labeling a side "widescreen" means that side actual contains the full screen data and the dvd should be placed in the dvd player with the full screen label toward the laser and the widescreen label away fro the laser in order to see the intended widescreen presentation. Of course this whole situation would be fixed by just giving me two separate DVDs. The actual replication cost for a profession DVD can't be more than $0.10 since I can buy DVD+/DVD- for under $0.25 Charge me an extra $0.15 for the dvd and give me two discs. The studio makes $0.05 more profit and I am happier. | | Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007 | | 3:54 pm |
I think airlines need to mandate an age limit on those they allow to fly. The age limit should be 25 years of age (with an exception for those from 16-25 that are enrolled in college or have a degree or 10-21 with an escort over the age of 25 for each 10-21 year old). My rationale for this is it would eliminate the immature high schoolers that can't seem to behave from the plane but are still able to fly without supervision under the current system. The annoying high schooler provision arises from an experience back in March flying back from Nashville when an entire school/club soccer team was on the flight running wild (along with their very immature coach) and harassing the flight attendants. I finally, told a pack of the little bastards to treat the flight crew and that shut them up for a good 2 minutes. That was the best 2 minutes of the entire flight. You will also notice the plan bans all those under the age of 10. This provision arises because they are annoying as hell when they play their Disney movie on a portable DVD player with the volume all the way up and no headphone in the row directly in front of you at 7:30am. Yes this happened on my flight to Atlanta yesterday morning and it got to the point that I was wishing the plane would crash just to rid the world of the annoyance. While on the subject of flying ... it seems stupid that the first class passengers board first. While the airport lobby is not the most comfortable, a stuffy airplane cabin sitting on the tarmac with no air conditioning is far worse. They board the 1st class passengers into the hot stuffy airplane cabin so that every other passenger has to walk past them and ram them with their luggage/purse/laptop on the way by. The only reason people in steerage (commonly referred to as coach by the airlines) fight and jockey for position at the gate is to claim the precious overhead bin space but the royalty of 1st class have their own set of overhead bins making that a non-issue. Also I am sure in the catastrophic case that 1st class filled their bins the flight crew would just take some poor persons stuff from row 89 out and throw it on the tarmac to free up room for 1st class carry-ons. Finally, why can't I have the whole can of coke? The cup of ice with a shot of coke on top just does not cut it. | | Monday, May 21st, 2007 | | 8:39 pm |
When you get sent on a business trip is it asking to much to fly back to the same airport you flew out of? I am flying out of Newark-Liberty airport in Newark, NJ for business and for some stupid reason the company booked me on a flight back that goes to Laguardia. Granted Newark and Laguardia airports are not really that far apart (45 minutes to 1.5 hour drive depending on traffic) but my car will be at Newark airport. Now I have to pay $32 for a shuttle bus to haul my ass across NYC to Newark (ok the company really is going to be paying the $32 but it is still my evening being wasted with this asinine flight plan). This is all on top of the fact that the travel department gave me my flight/hotel/rental car info 15 hours before my flight leaves, nothing like planning ahead. I also tried to get the company to just fly me to Indianapolis for Rose's Commencement this weekend instead of back to New Jersey but that didn't fly ... now I get to Laguardia Thursday evening, have to shuttle to Newark, drive home from Newark and then be back at Newark for my 8:30 am flight to Indiana Friday morning (leave my apartment by 5:00 am). I am half inclined to just spend the night at Newark Airport to cut out the driving and traffic in the morning. | | Sunday, May 20th, 2007 | | 12:55 pm |
All people over the age of 65 should be locked up and not let out in public. I just got back from buying a few items at the grocery store and decided to use the u-scan. As I am pulling my cart into the checkout aisle this old man sprints in front of me and cuts me off. I was not in any hurry so it was OK but then he took forever to buy his 2 (two) items. You don't use U-scan when you are old and buying items from the salad bar that need special codes, weighted, or an act of Congress to get purchased at a U-scan. These U-scans have a belt system like regular checkouts where you place the items on the belt after scanning and the proceed to the end where you can bag them. This allows you to scan items efficiently and then do the bagging at the end. However, the belts do have sensors so if items get backed up the belts stop and don't push the items forward. The old dude finally gets done and I slowly pull forward and go through the huge process of actually getting to the point of scanning (choosing my language, getting the computer's welcome message, scanning my shopper card, having the computer tell me that my car has been accepted). Then I start scanning; light items first such as my candy bar and package of cookies. I proceed to scan the only items I have left such as my 12-packs of coke and bottled water. Turns out this old fart had not bagged either of his two items yet and got pissed when my water came down the belt and ran into his fruit from the salad bar. For Pete's sake, this man had enough speed and energy to cut me off in line but then was so damn slow that he couldn't bag his 2 items without a lunch break. That man was lucky that he caught me off guard because I would have not been as friendly as I was if I was not so shocked. He even said "are you in such a hurry that you couldn't wait?". It was not an issue of me waiting; it was an issue of I didn't think it would take him so damn long to bag his two items and clear the belt. Standard procedure the other several dozen times I have used these U-scans is that the next person stars scanning as soon as they can because with the U-scan max of 12 items you can clear the belt and bag your items before their first item arrives at the end of the belt. This pile of decaying flesh had two items and was not able to complete his transaction in time. Because he can not use U-scan in a timely fashion he should be banned from the U-scan aisle and maybe even locked in his house for his own good. | | Saturday, March 17th, 2007 | | 6:58 pm |
Retarded snowplow
I was one of the few people that actually went to work yesterday from my apartment complex so my car was clear of the 12 inches of snow/ice/slush that we recieved. My car was also able to freely move in and out of my parking spot since I had been in and out during and after the snow. I always park in the corner spot because it is close to my door and is generally easy to get in and out of ... then today the snowplow driver for my apartment complex must have gone retarded. He literally plowed my car into the spot. I understand a small pile behind my car as he passes by with the plow but he literally piled the mound behind my car ... and then plowed a huge mound into the side of my car. In other words the four side of my car have building, building, snow mound, and snow mound. It is trapped. I just spent an hour trying to dig it out but it may be hopeless. I have to just hope it is warmer tommorow and that it will melt down enough to let me free. Edit: Still buried. I spent another couple hours this morning with a hammer to try and chisel the ice away from my car. The weather also indicates that it will only have a hight of 41 so the remaining ice isn't going to melt too fast (and then drop to 20 overnight to all refreeze) Edit #2: My car is free. A neighbor saw me killing myself trying to dig out with a hammer so he brought me a shovel over. With the shovel work progressed much better and I had the area right around my car clear and I still could not get free. Turns out my car was sitting on a 3 inch thick pad of ice. Next on my order of business is to go to the store and buy a shovel to protect against this problem in the future. |
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