First Day of a Real Job

Today was my first day of work!  The excitement was so overwhelming that I was waking up every hour from 1 AM to 7 AM when I got up.  Then I prepared for the day, which included showering, eating breakfast, reading the Bible and praying.  By 8 AM I was out the door with white dress shirt and black pants, which were brought together by a maroon and black tie with a messenger bag hanging across my shoulder.  It was warm and humid all day in Alexandria.  I almost broke out in sweat walking to and from work.

After the 17 min walk, I arrived at the meeting room in the main building, the Madison Building, where the Director of the Patent Office, David Kappos, has his office.  There were many people in this large room, probably around 130 with about 20 more in Detroit the new PTO satellite office who were watching the proceedings over a webcam.  Many people looked older than myself by a wide margin.  The dress code varied widely, but after looking at some of the people who thought could do well, I will stick with the dress clothes and tie.  Also a majority were male.  Sitting at my spot at a table of 20 was mountain of paper work including a binder that has important information and forms.  Most of day was orientation in the large group.  Many forms were turned in.  We watched some videos and listened to presentations from many groups at the USPTO including ethics (2x), IT do's and don'ts, health insurance, life insurance, Thrift Saving Plan (like a 401(k)), safety, emergency action plan, and equal opportunity activities.  There are special rules for federal employees like myself and even more for patent examiner who may have inside information about a company.

During the lunch break, I picked up a salad ($0.38 per ounce) and talk to a couple health insurance providers.  One of them was an HMO and the other one was an integrated HMO.  There were other options available and I picked up their literature, but those were the two people who were available when I moseyed on over to the group of tables.  I have a large amount of literature about the different health care options.  It will take me some time to go over them and make an educated decision based on my situation and what is available.

Then we broke up into our lab section, which for our technology group was 16 people.  Our technology group included Biotechnology and organic chemistry (TC 1600)  and Chemical and Material Engineering (TC 1700).  A link to the different technology centers is here.  We have two trainers (I didn't know I was a pokemon :-) ) who have worked for the USPTO for awhile.  They rambled for about 45 minutes about themselves, stuff going on at the PTO, how the PTO works in more detail, and the plan for the next week and month.  Over this 4 month, Phase I training we will mostly be in this room with cubicles set up for us all with dual monitors, laptop, pull out keyboard, and nice office phone.

After that I walked home in the heat and some DC traffic.  It was bumper to bumper and nobody was moving and this was on the city streets not the highways or Beltway.  Eventually I got home and put together my desk and side table after cleaning them.  Now I just need to pick my bed stuff, another dresser, and coffee table for the living room and then I will be set on furniture.

As a side note, on Sunday Jon, Ryan, and I went to the National Zoo (free!) and met up with some of Jon's friends.  It was not the best situation with going near when the zoo closed and it raining, but was fun to do something and bond.

David Kappos: Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office David Kappos Bio

Smithsonian National Zoological Park