joshua

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May 12, 2005

Moving on Up

So I finally got my offer letter and 'paperwork' a couple weeks ago. So it's all official and crap.... I'm a patent examiner. And paperwork is in quotes because I don't think you can call something the size of a book paperwork. I have to fill out forms galore. It's literally .75 inches thick... no joke. I didn't count the number of pages, but I would estimate aroud 70 pages. Of forms. Forms full of check boxes and places for me to put inane information such as my eye color, kindergarten teacher's name, number of hairs on my left areola, how many different colors I can differentiate, the size of my erect penis, how many cats I've petted in the past 6 months, etc. Oh well, let the beurocratic, tree-killing (woot, I like killing trees.... not to mention all sorts of Bambis and itty bitty squirrels), paper-pushing and signing government work begin!

I start June 27th... the day after my birthday. I recently returned from a weeklong trip to DC to find a place to live. I had a blast there, driving around, meeting people, and looking at overly priced apartments, condos and houses. I settled on a very reasonably priced apartment in Alexandria, just south of the beltway on US-1. You can actually see the patent office from the complex. It's within walkign distance to a metro stop, and they have a shuttle to it if I need to use it in bad weather, or whatnot. The complex has 3 high rise buildings and is called Riverside Park and it's the largest 1BR I saw... and I looked at a LOT of properties. It just happened to be the cheapest. They had a government discount, and since I agreed to live in an apartment that would be rennovated next april, meaning I'd have to move out the end of march, I got another discount. But I also get first pick of the apartments that are currently being rennovated. Woot. And by then, I'll be established enough, and be making more money, so I can maybe upgrade to an even bigger place. Double Woot!

I had a blast in DC. It was fun being by myself for the most part and being all independant and crap. I navigated the metro like a pro, not needing to use my pocket guide at all. Not that it's hard or anything, but at least I didn't look like a tourist. At least I didn't think so. I probably stuck out like a sore thumb to everyone else. I met up with a couple friends in the city a couple days. They took me to a couple restaurants, etc. I went to a party at a friend's house in Ashburn on Friday night, met some cool people, and probably made some great friends. I even spent time with Joel and Katie on Sat and Sun.

Sunday was great cause we went to Ikea... which is a great home furnishings store. I think we ended up spending like 3 hours there or something insane like that. But since JnK have a new place they're moving to in june, and I just signed my lease for my new place, it was a planning day at Ikea for everything we needed. I was definitely impressed with the design of the furniture... however the quality of them seemed a bit lacking, which is why the prices were fairly reasonable, I guess. I'm not so big on particle board with laminates on top... they tend to fall apart very quickly. But, I will be on a budget for now, so I will have to sacrifice quality for lower price. At least everythign I want will look nice and will coordinate.

Posted by josh at May 12, 2005 02:53 AM

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Posted by: Joshua at May 12, 2005 01:57 PM

Posted by: Courtney at May 13, 2005 12:39 PM

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