#5 Best Place to Work and Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

#5 Best Place to Work in the Federal Government
This week the United States Patent and Trademark Office received special recognition as one of the best places to work in the United States federal government. The Best Places to Work in the Federal Government® rankings draw on responses from nearly 700,000 civil servants to produce a detailed view of employee satisfaction and commitment across 362 federal agencies and subcomponents. With a score of 80.3, the USPTO ranked #5 out of 290 in the agency subcomponent category.

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party
Some of my coworkers and I attended an ugly sweater party at an apartment in Alexandria.  The theme of this party dictates everyone who comes must wear an ugly Christmas sweater.  Since I do not have any such sweaters because of the good taste of people who buy my clothes including myself, I went to Christ's House Thrift store in Alexandria.  They had the perfect sweater for the party.  It was red with houses, trails, trees, "For Sale" signs, and the best part keys for the buttons.  When I wore the sweater half-way unbuttoned with a tie, dress pants, and dress shoes, I looked just like a dad in the 1950's.  All I was missing was a pipe.  During the party, I won the award for the ugliest ugly Christmas sweater.  I was proud of all of the work (10 minutes asking people where to buy the sweater and 5 minutes actually buying the sweater) that was put into winning the award.

Example of an Ugly Christmas Sweater

Salvation Army Food Truck and Meal of the Week

Salvation Army Food Truck with Caroling

On Saturday, I joined other members of Bethany Lutheran Church to prepare a meal for the Salvation Army Food truck.  We made a hearty meat, vegetable, and noodle soup and packed brown bag sacks with a sandwich, banana, and cookies.  I have never made the previously mentioned type of soup, but I learned and it did not taste bad.  After cooking, we delivered the food to the Salvation Army food truck who dispersed the food to homeless of DC.  The group who made the food would follow the truck as it made its trip around DC stopping to serve the prepared food.  When the truck stopped to serve the food, we would get out of the car and sing Christmas carols.  It was a fun experience!  I am sorry, I forgot to take pictures of the people or the salvation army truck. :-(

Our Soup

Meal of the Week

Back from its 1 week break is the meal of the week!  This week I prepared a supreme lasagna in the crock pot.  It was not the best lasagna, but I did my best and now I have my meals for the next few days.

Coming Home and Volunteering

Coming Home
I am coming home to Davenport, Iowa for Christmas on Thursday, December 20th and returning to DC on Tuesday, December 25th.

Volunteering
This week I completed my first shift at the Christ House Food Pantry.  There were 8 other people who joined me to pack 40 lb boxes to be distributed throughout the entire area the Arlington Diocese covers in northern Virginia   The lead guy was Vince who leads the Knights of Columbus every 4th Saturday to work the food pantry.  First I was on making boxes, which included taping the bottom of the box with the cross and putting the Arlington Diocese's sticker on the side.  Next I put cans of vegetables in the box.  Then finally after we made all of the boxes we were scheduled to make, we resupplied the shelves for the next group to come in and box.  Below are a few pictures.

One of the Volunteers Boxing Veggies

Boxes for the Food

Law School Application

I met with an admissions consultant for law school to assist me through the law school admission's process including my personal statement.  The consultant is the same person as my LSAT instructor.  His insight into the process and what schools are looking for have seemed helpful so far.  The biggest impact so far was his advice of the topic for essay.  The topic will be able to tie together some of my experiences under an underlying theme that law schools want to see.

Christmas Time at the Townhouse

Boy Scout Wreath on our Front Door

My Room with Christmas Lights

I am not in Iowa anymore

"I knew better," was what I was saying to myself on my bike ride home.  Today I went to Georgetown Law School for an informational session and student led tour of the law school campus.  I decided to take my bike to metro because I would bike to work after I returned to Alexandria.  About a month ago I purchased a nice, 300 lumen bike light.  It was the best.  I could bike in complete darkness with this light and have no problems seeing the potholes on the street.  The light is detachable from the bike.  So I usually I take the light off the bike when I leave it unattended for any period of time.  However lately I have become more laxed in this practice.  I was not taking the light off of the bike every time because I would lock by itself in front of a big window of the grocery store or in front of Best Buy.

So when I was biking home from work in the evening, I went to turn on my light, but it was not there.  I told myself the rest of the way home "I knew better not to leave the light on the bike."  Whoever took it even took the connector between the bike and the light, which was screwed tightly to the bike frame.  Obviously this was prepared for what he set out to do.  So the moral of the story is I am not in Iowa anymore, there is crime in DC even in Alexandria and need to more aware to not to make the same or similar mistake again.

The visit to Georgetown Law School was a good experience for me.  The Dean of Admission came talked to the group about common questions he receives from applicants including the characteristics of a quality personal statement, how Georgetown decides to admit applicants rolling admissions, and early decision.  He gave a good analogy for how people are admitted to Georgetown Law School. The decision is divided up into thirds, which are undergraduate GPA, LSAT, and soft stuff (personal statement, letters of recommendation, activities, and work experience).  He said the undergraduate GPA and LSAT set the bar as to how good your soft stuff needs to be in order to gain acceptance.  The higher the GPA and the LSAT, the lower the bar for your soft stuff to get over.  Then after he left us, an Assistant Dean of Admissions talked to us and we were able ask questions.  Afterwards I went on a campus tour led by a student.  The campus is like a mini campus.  There is 1 cafeteria, 1 dorm, 1 bookstore, a fitness center with a weight room and swimming pool, law library, and 1 large hall where most of the classes are held.

Tomorrow is my first day in the Food Pantry at Christ's House.  I am excited to work!

David Kappos announced he is stepping down from his position as the Director of the USPTO in January after serving for 4 years.  I wonder what his next position will be?

The USPTO put up its Christmas Tree the week after Thanksgiving in the main building of the USPTO.

Christmas Tree in Madison Building Atrium

Volunteering, Thanksgiving, Computer Problems

Volunteer at Christ's House Alexandria
This week I signed up to volunteer at Christ's House.  It is a combination soup kitchen, food pantry, thrift shop, and lodging for homeless in Alexandria run by the Arlington Diocese.  The food pantry is where I will be volunteering every other Saturday from 9 AM to 12 PM starting next Saturday.

Thanksgiving
This is the first major holiday I have not been with my family, making it a little emotional for me.  However I took steps to mitigate my feelings.  At 10 AM, I went to the Bethany Thanksgiving Day service.  Afterwards about 12 adults and 7 children gathered at the house of one of the members of the Bethany congregation.  The meal was a potluck with people bringing a different part of the meal.  Since I was a late addition to the group, all of the traditional food was taken.  So I improvised by bring chips and salsa, brownies, and a gallon of milk.  Each one was well received   The chips were completely eaten!  Then after the food everyone relaxed watching football and talking.  Also, I participated in a two hand touch football game.  Additionally, I talked to my Mom and Grandma in the morning.  It was great to hear their voices.

Today, I am going to another Thanksgiving get together in the afternoon.

Computer Problems
On Wednesday, my 4.5 year old laptop computer finally decided to kick the can.  I tried to turn my computer on, but it would not be able to get past the boot screen.  So that evening, I went to Geek Squad at Best Buy to see what they thought.  After being there for about an hour, I realized I would need a new computer because of the time, money, and effort to fix my old one would more then buying a new laptop.  However there were files on the old laptop that needed to be recovered.  Those files were not properly backed up by me.  Fortunately, the files were able to be recovered.  My new laptop is a Samsung with Windows 8.  Overall I had to make 4 trips to Best Buy over 2 day with 3 of the trips being by bike.  The store is not close to my townhouse either.  Round trip the bike ride was a little over 4 miles.

Meal of the Week
This the meal was homemade meat loaf with instant potatoes and baked beans.  All three of us, Jon, Ryan, and myself, helped prepare this meal from buying the ingredients, cooking, and clean up.  It was delicious!

Another Week in the Neighborhood

George Washington Masonic Temple
This week I went to the George Washington Masonic Temple in my town of Alexandria.  It is only about a 10 minute walk from my townhouse.  The temple towers above everything else south of DC.  The tower is tall and it is built on top of one of the tallest hills in Alexandria.  Where ever you are south of DC in the VA section of the DC metro area, you can always look for the temple and get your sense of direction.  I use it when I am on the bike trails to know how far I am away from home.

There are many interesting things to see in this building.  There are statues, paintings, replica lodge rooms, museum type rooms for George Washington and Masons in general, and actual present day lodge rooms.  In my opinion, one of the more interesting items were the hairs of George Washington on display.  There is so little hair that I was unable to get a clear picture of them with my camera.   If you want to get to the top of the temple and see the George Washington museum type room in the tower, you need to buy a pass for the guided tour.  If you are ever in Alexandria, VA, I highly recommend stopping at the temple.

The Temple

Figure in Masonic Garb

Bible Signed by George Washington

George Washington Museum in the Masonic Temple

Patent Office from the top of the Temple

My Townhouse from the top of Temple

Old Town Alexandria and King Street from the top of the Temple

Looking in the direction of DC

George Washington Statue

George Washington's Chair He brought to His Lodge from Mt. Vernon

Cooking of the Week
Chicken breast with cream of chicken soup and milk topped with chicken stuffing.  It tasted much better than it looks on the plate or crock pot.

Fall

9Nov12 Post

Information
Ryan went to MA for the week to work on a congressional campaign.  Jon is in WV helping someone at work with a land dispute.

This week I moved into my permanent office in the Technology Center (TC).  I am on the 5th floor of Remsen with design patent examiners.  My roommate is in a different art unit, but is still in the chemistry area.  He worked at UOP for about 7 years and then went to law school at Boston University.  Eventually he accepted a position at the USPTO as a Patent Examiner like myself.  My office still needs so decorating, but I have plenty of time to get around to it because I will be there awhile because I plan to be at this job for awhile and people don't change office often especially for people at my low grade level.

Also this week I attended the USPTO Toastmaster's International meeting.  It was interesting, it was nothing like I was expecting.  I actually had to speak to the group for 1-2 minutes based on a on the spot prompt.  I may join to group to practice my public speaking and have an opportunity for leadership opportunities.

DC Travels
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress was fun and has a story all of its own, but I was a bit underwhelmed.  It may be because I was not allowed to take any pictures of the main reading area and the Gutenberg Bible, I did not take a tour, the lack of things to see, or the limited area of access available to me because I did not have a reservation to go into the library itself.

Supreme Court
This is a beautiful building, but it was covered up by scaffolding from the restoration of the marble.  There was a very informative video about the building and the Supreme Court in general  which runs for about 30 minutes every 15 minutes in different theaters.  The building/museum has a very good flow, neat look, and gives a comprehensive look into the history of the court.  I was not able to attend an oral argument or enter the actual room of the court because I came in the afternoon (oral arguments are in the morning) and I came at inopportune time for the next session to enter the room of the court.

Library of Congress

Library of Congress

Inside Roof of the Library of Congress

Supreme Court

Supreme Court's Courtroom

Zoomed In View of the Supreme Court's Courtroom

Great Hall Leading to the Supreme Court

Slow Cooker Meal of the Week
Chili

Family Chili Recipe

Hurricane Sandy, LSAT Score, and DC Trip

Hurricane Sandy

I was able to survive Hurricane Sandy relatively unscathed.  However that was not true for everyone.  On Monday and Tuesday, the federal government was closed to public so I did not go to work during the storm.  I probably could have gotten to work ok, but other people who travel from further way or metro would have had a difficult time coming into work.  The Metro was closed on Monday and all day Monday and Tuesday it was raining hard with constant forceful winds.  The power was out at the townhouse for about a day from Monday night to Tuesday evening.  On Tuesday my roommates and I went to Starbucks for power, internet, and heat.

LSAT Score

I did not receive LSAT score on the day I supposed to because LSAC, the organization that organizes the LSAT, is based in New Jersey, which took heavy damage from Sandy.  They were running on generators and their workers were probably effected by the storm.  So I received my score on Thursday night.  The score was I think an accurate reflection of my skill and ability, which is exactly what I wanted to happen.  So the class I took served its intended purpose in my view.

DC Trip

On this DC trip, I ventured off of the National Mall a little into the Penn Quarter and Chinatown.  I went to the National Postal Museum, National Building Museum, National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum, Ford's Theater, and National Museum of Natural History.  I did no go into the Ford's Theater, I just walked by it.  For lunch I went to Legal Sea Food.  I got a crab cake sandwich.  After I was seated nobody talked to me for 15 minutes even though I was right next to the kitchen and multiple waiters and waitresses walked right past me without giving me a look.  I considered leaving, but then a waitress came and saw I had no drink and I had put the menu done.  She took my order right away.  During my meal of a crab cake sandwich, the manager came by and talked to me for a little bit and apologized for my wait.  Then further into the meal the manager came back and told me to save room for desert.  So I had I chocolate pudding filled cake with ice cream on top and a coconut macaroon.

Below are some pictures of the visit.

Post Office Vehichle

Mail Plane

P.O. Boxes

Stamp Collection

Mail Coach

Crab Cake Sandwich and Mashed Potatoes

My desert from Legal Sea Food

Hello Kitty Running for President

New Ford's Theater

Old Ford's Theater

J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building

Bush Elephant

Hope Diamond

Hurricane Sandy

As you probably know Hurricane Sandy and other unusual weather events are occurring on the east coast right now.  For everyone's peace of mind, I am safe and I have all of the provisions I need in case of an emergency. Since about 8 PM last night, there has been steady rain with the wind constantly blowing, but at a wide range of speeds.  The power has stayed on the whole time. Due to the weather and its projected effects the federal government offices have been shut down.  So I am off from work today.

The View from my Room During Hurricane Sandy

GW Law School, National Mall (Art Museum and Tidal Basin), Ribs, and Bike Ride

GW Law School
This Friday (26Oct12) I went on a tour and meeting with admissions of GW Law School in DC.  Before the tour, I walked around the campus.  The campus is in a very urban environment with little open space, which stands in stark contrast from the University of Iowa.

The tour started at 11 AM by second year law student.  We went throughout the whole building including the law library, moot court room, and classrooms.  Throughout the tour the tour guide talked about her experience at GW law school, what makes GW such a great school, and what opportunities are available all law schools (journals, clinics, moot court, mock trial).  After the tour, we were able to sit in on a first law school contracts class.  It was fun and interesting.  The professor talked about the fact pattern and result of 2 cases the class was supposed to read before class while asking questions to the students.  One of them was from MN involving Jesse Ventura.  Everyone had a laptop.  The room was filled with the clickly-clack of people typing in order to take notes.  To end my visit, I went to the admissions office to talk about questions I had regarding the admissions process.

GW Law School

National Mall (Art Museum and Tidal Basin)
Since I was so close to the National Mall, I decided to go after my visit.  I went to 2 art museum (Hirshhorn and Freer Art Gallery).  The Hirshhorn was primarily filled with art from Ai Weiwei who is the Chinese artist who designed the bird's nest stadium at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.  The Freer Gallery was filled with art from Asia.

To finish the day, I walked around the Tidal Basin and saw the MLK, FDR, George Mason, and Thomas Jefferson Memorials.

Washington Monument from Across the Tidal Basin

George  Mason Statue

Jefferson Memorial from Across the Tidal Basin

Thomas Jefferson Memorial

Thomas Jefferson Statue

MLK Memorial

Meal of the Week
Pork Ribs in Sweet Sauce (BBQ Sauce, strawberry preserves, Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper)

Pork Ribs

Bike Ride on the Mt. Vernon Trail

On Saturday, I took a small bike ride south bound on the Mt. Vernon Bike Trail south of Alexandria.

Potomac River from Mt. Vernon Bike Trail

Mt. Vernon Bike Trail South of Alexandria