Mike,

I work from home (Wichita KS) like 98% of the time. I am technically affiliated with the Kansas City, MS office. My boss is affiliated with the Dallas TX office.

So, that makes me a California licensed lawyer working for a Missouri law firm for a boss working in Texas while I reside in the state of Kansas.

It's complicated!

Though it will become vaguely less so because the new firm is insisting that I get my Kansas law license. Which shouldn't be a problem. Unclear whether I keep my California license. Personally, I'd rather not be affiliated with the DPRC, but if the firm wants me to keep it (and will pay for it) then I will.

It's all possible because I exclusively work in patents, which is entirely a Federal jurisdiction. What I *have* to have is a USPTO practitioner registration number, a law license from any one state of the Union, a computer, and a communication device - and I'm good to go to work (physically) anywhere in the world.

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Friday, January 26, 2024 - 07:45 am: Edit

Patents are such a specialized area of law that the only one I know is ALSO a Major General in the Army Reserve.

Bill is about the coolest guy in America.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Friday, January 26, 2024 - 10:17 am: Edit

Yeah, all the good patent attorneys I know are pretty cool guys and gals. Very diverse interests.

Not surprising really, once you know what it takes to get to this job. You have to have a degree in a hard science just to have the right to sit down and take the USPTO practitioner's exam. And then you have to go to law school.

Not many scientists choose to go to law school. So it makes us a rare breed.

Put it to you this way. Every registration number is unique. Thomas Jefferson (as in one of our founding fathers) was Registration Number 1. 225 years later I got Reg. No. 48,504. In 225 years.

It's exploding in growth, because patent work has been exploding in the information age. Now I think it's up to almost 100,000. But most folks with Reg. Nos. below 40,000 have retired now - so that means rough and dirty there's only 50,000 of us potentially practicing - and I know plenty of folks who left patent law altogether, so prolly there's like only 30,000 of us actively working in the whole of the U.S. Sounds like a lot, until you realize there's like roughly 400,000,000 folks in the U.S. So that means active patent attorneys are less than 0.001% of the total population.

Even among attorneys we're rare. There's about 1.3 million registered attorneys in the U.S., making us about 2% of of the lawyer population.

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Friday, January 26, 2024 - 12:30 pm: Edit

And let's not forget that Calvin's dad (from Calvin and Hobbes) was a patent attorney.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Sunday, February 04, 2024 - 03:16 am: Edit

How Tiny The Odds

Only 23 seconds but so very profound.


Garth L. Getgen

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Thursday, February 08, 2024 - 03:26 pm: Edit

My wife and I went to Red Lobster for our 38th wedding anniversary today. The couple at the next table were celebrating their 60th anniversary. Sixty!! I'm impressed.


Garth L. Getgen

By Mike Erickson (Mike_Erickson) on Thursday, February 08, 2024 - 04:32 pm: Edit

Congrats Garth, and here's to many more happy anniversaries.

--Mike

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, February 08, 2024 - 04:56 pm: Edit

Congrats, Garth and Celestia!

By Kevin Howard (Jarawara) on Thursday, February 08, 2024 - 07:15 pm: Edit

And congrats to the couple next to him!

By Joseph Jackson (Bonneville) on Friday, February 09, 2024 - 04:37 pm: Edit

Happy Anniversary! And many more.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Wednesday, March 20, 2024 - 07:31 pm: Edit

Today marks the day forty-three years ago when I arrived at Lackland AFB to begin basic training.


Garth L. Getgen, MSgt USAF (ret)

By Lawrence Bergen (Lar) on Thursday, March 21, 2024 - 05:51 pm: Edit

I started with nothing and I still have most of it left.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Thursday, March 21, 2024 - 07:28 pm: Edit

Lawrence, now that was funny right there!

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Friday, April 26, 2024 - 01:28 pm: Edit

Today makes 45 years of raising my right hand and taking the oath of service....
First contract putting me in reserves for 6 wks or so occurred on 8 Mar that year...

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Sunday, June 23, 2024 - 11:35 am: Edit

Has anyone heard from Gary Carney (aka Nerroth) recently? I haven't seen him post here, and he has posted in his SFB Tech thread on Trek-BBS since November 2023.


Garth L. Getgen

By Nick Samaras (Koogie) on Sunday, June 23, 2024 - 11:40 am: Edit

Garth he has been active in the F&E countersheet updates

https://www.starfleetgames.com/discus/messages/37/41308.html?1719023306

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Sunday, June 23, 2024 - 12:00 pm: Edit

Thanks, Nick. I was beginning to worry that aliens abducted him or something equally bad news. Whew.


Garth L. Getgen

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Monday, June 24, 2024 - 08:14 am: Edit

Alien abduction… hmmm…

Boy, that sure would explain a lot!

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Sunday, June 30, 2024 - 01:03 pm: Edit

My wife is looking for a reasonably priced source for unusual / exotic wood to make wands. She uses a lathe to turn them, so ideally she wants between 10 x 7/8 x 7/8 inch to 14 x 1 x 1 inch, or 5/8 to 3/4 inch round. If it's a 2x2 or 3x3 block, we can rip it down.

She's looking for odd types such as olive wood, black limba, king wood, tulip wood, rose wood, just to name a few. She could also use "normal" woods such as cheery, apple, oak, walnut, maple, and the like.

The source she was using jacked the prices up to unreasonable levels. She gets $20 - $30 per wand, so paying $25 for the blank is out of the question.

If you know of a source (or have some to part with), email me. Thanks!!


Garth L. Getgen

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Sunday, June 30, 2024 - 02:44 pm: Edit

By the way, these are some of the wands my wife made.


Garth L. Getgen

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Sunday, June 30, 2024 - 04:11 pm: Edit

While I don't know anything for certain, Sgt G, there are a couple WAGs that come to my (alleged) mind; lumberyards and nurseries.

While lumberyards usually deal with the more ordinary woods (pine, oak, cherry, etcetera), they do sometimes have more exotic woods present. In addition, the woods that they have are invariably well cut and balanced for lathe work.

General "Contractor Warehouses" are less likely to have the exotics.

Nurseries frequently have deliveries of exotic plants and trees that won't survive the trip 100% of the time. Usually, those that don't are either covered by insurance or become a financial loss for them. It might be possible to get them for free (if their insurance covers the cost and they just throw them out) or at a reduced cost (hey, they have to try to recoup their losses SOMEhow).

A third possibility might be thrift stores that have some used furniture in a mark-down area. This, however, is FAR more unlikely (and is likely to be more expensive as well).

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandar) on Sunday, June 30, 2024 - 05:25 pm: Edit

Garth those wands are really nice. Good work there.

I have the same problem with leather. It helps having a business license. As most places offer a lower price for suh. The other is buying in bulk. A friend of mine and I will make a big order together for the lower prices. Good luck

By Mike Erickson (Mike_Erickson) on Sunday, June 30, 2024 - 07:29 pm: Edit

I rather like the darker colored wand at around the 16.5 mark. 23.5 is quite nice too. Cool!

--Mike

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Sunday, June 30, 2024 - 07:51 pm: Edit

Those look splendid, Garth.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Monday, July 01, 2024 - 01:06 am: Edit

Gregory / Jessica: Please note that those are my wife's creations.

If I had attempted to make one, assuming I didn't end up in the ER, they wouldn't be anything I'd be willing to post photos of.


Garth L. Getgen