fern12

If going the small business route:

-Make sure you qualify as a “small business” under SBA regulations

-Make sure you have the necessary accounts (DUNS number & CAGE code) to accept Purchase Orders and be awarded a government contract. https://www.sam.gov/portal/SAM/#1#1

-For instances in which the agency may pay you via credit card, make sure that you have some way of accepting credit card payments that does NOT use a third-party intermediary like PayPal.

Isn't this what Google's trying to do in downtown San Jose?

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1Q8JPbI1GRBRztAAI1i...

When you submit a patent application, it becomes public forever, even if it's rejected. You will have paid legal fees with the end result of granting competitors access to your ideas.

Not entirely true. If you don't want an application to publish, there are options available. Under certain circumstances (i.e., you are 100% certain that you do not want to file for foreign patent protection in other countries), you can file with a non-publication request, and the application will not become public until it proceeds to issuance as a patent.

If it never proceeds to issuance as a patent, then filing it with a non-pub request will at least make it harder to find. It will then only become publicly available (in this case, in the USPTO's Public PAIR database) if it's referenced as a priority app in another published application or issued patent.

If it's abandoned and never referred to again in any application, then you have to file a petition to gain access to the file wrapper contents.

True. But occasionally, it does happen.

https://www.ipethicslaw.com/pto-suspends-ptab-atty-who-filed...

I'll bet it's pretty easy for two companies to make a deal to pay bonuses to each other's employees when patents are granted.

With regard to the moonlighting patent examiners, I'm fairly certain this is illegal. See MPEP 309 and MPEP 1702.

https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s309.html#d0e1919... https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s1702.html

My favorites were VersionTracker and the MacAddict forums. A lot of the comments here on HN remind me of the MA forums, which is great.

That's an interesting point about social environment and engagement. As a native Californian, I struggled socially when I was living in the DC metro area for 5 years. Simply put, it was the weather. If there was rain (which was nothing like the light sprinkle I was used to) or a slight dusting of snow, I did not want to go out. I slipped on icy sidewalks (breaking my tailbone); got regularly drenched while walking to the metro; and had my fair share of heart-stopping moments driving in inclement weather. As someone who's already introverted, it became very easy for me to just hole up in my apartment.

Have you considered looking at room rentals on Craigslist? If you're within walking distance of Castro (downtown), you may not even be at home that much, because you'll be steps away from the library, coffee shops, restaurants, etc. In a way, I think shared living can often be a form of networking, because so many people here work in tech.

I mention it only because in my experience, cheap studio rentals in MV are not worth the paper their leases are printed upon. They have thin walls, which are my biggest pet peeve. When you can hear everything your neighbors are doing (or conversely, have to walk around on tip toes to avoid irritating them), any privacy-related benefit of having your own place kinda goes out the window. Again, that's just my experience. When I first moved to MV in early 2016, I rented a studio for $1900 (a decision I ultimately regretted because of noisy neighbors/thin walls). In hindsight, I wish I'd just rented a room in a house from someone with a personality similar to mine (quiet introvert). Good luck with your search:)

What is your price range? Will you have a car? Where is your employer located? Do you prefer newer construction, or are you OK with older, garden-style units? Any "must-haves"? (i.e., in-unit washer-dryer)

Sorry, to pepper you with questions. I live in the area, and am very picky about where I live. These are all factors I considered when looking for an apartment.

Agreed. I used to watch reruns of Law & Order. Hearing the beginning intro would remind me of a time when life was less complicated, and the plot was engaging enough to distract and lull me into sleep. Sadly, Netflix removed it, so I now rely on podcasts.

I'm also a middle-aged introvert. Outside of work, the only people I really talk to are my sisters, neither of whom live nearby. One thing that's helped me is fostering rescue dogs with a local organization. I only foster for a few days here and there, but it really makes a difference to feel some life around my apartment.

I agree. Moving is a big decision, and it's hard to gauge what a person is like after only one meeting. Also, as I've learned the hard way, many people have different understandings of what it means to be "quiet."

Link to paper: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01944363.2017.14...

Ballet dancers are trained to do turns (fouette [0], pique [1] and pirouettes [2]) by "spotting" (i.e. picking an object in the near distance and spotting it until the next turn). I'm not sure the chicken video does this term justice, hence the links below.

[0] https://www.instagram.com/p/2ZOLkkHMKU/?taken-by=devon.teusc...]

[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/BeoYE2DlTXF/?taken-by=tilerpeck

[2] https://www.instagram.com/p/BT4WSbmDMKM/?taken-by=devon.teus...

For NASA, almost all excepted employees are those involved in protection of life or property, as defined in this 1981 OMB memo:

https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/furlough...

Sorry, I know it's not that detailed.

Add a link to your LinkedIn profile. I just searched for you, and came up with a over a dozen guys with the same name, many with a similar background.

I was a huge fan of Dixon Ticonderoga pencils. They were lightweight, and I could sharpen them to perfection using my cheap manual sharpener. I had to google the name to remember, but Eberhard Fabers were my least favorite. Very clunky, the barrel always felt coarse, and the tip always broke in the sharpener.

We use Concur for reimburseable travel. I can't stand it. The interface is very confusing, especially when it comes to approving a travel voucher. I work at a large government agency, so change occurs at a glacial pace, but I imagine other employers face similar frustrations.

Keep in mind that it takes 18 years to progress from Step 1 to Step 10.

This is true in some cases, but not all. I was hired at the GS-11/2 level without any prior government/military experience. A coworker of mine worked as a contractor for a few years, and was hired as a GS-15 last year. This is all in Silicon Valley (although he has a tech background, while I do not).

Keep in mind that in the US, HR reps will sometimes forward the CV of an applicant to the prospective team that they'll be working with. So, while it may be possible to lie one's way past an HR rep with a non-STEM background, it may ultimately backfire on you. Your prospective coworkers have much more incentive to scrutinize your CV for accuracy.

This was my experience as well. I disliked dogs all throughout my teens. I thought they were dirty, smelly, annoying, etc. Then during college, my dad and sister (who both love dogs) decided to get an Old English Sheepdog. He was the most in-your-face, helpless dog, always needing someone to wipe his chin or pay attention to him. He was incredibly affectionate, and would literally shove his snout under someone's arm to force them to pet/hug him. After him, I was sold.

...and then showed me how Warbyparker dispensed the lenses.

Can you clarify this portion of your comment? I'm interested in hearing whatever insight he gave. I had a similar experience with WP, but I assumed it was due to my tough prescription.

Thanks. Later, my parents tried explaining that he was only trying to prove I could speak English. But yeah, that was the first and last family vacation we took to Mexico, lol.

This is my case as well (i.e., not a stutterer, but introvert prone to social anxiety). When I was a toddler, my family took a vacation to Mexico, and on the way back into the US, a very stern border patrol officer (who I realize now was just doing his job), started barking questions at me one after another. I immediately froze, and refused to speak. He pulled us over to the side, and it became a tense situation with my parents freaking out, and everyone pressuring me to speak. Fortunately, my sister is a chatterbox and resembles me enough that he let us go (plus, I had my passport), but the experience left a strong impact on me. After that, I felt like I relived the moment in school, every time the teacher called on me to answer.

Later on, I became a bookworm in part because through reading I found that I could pick out words and phrases to reuse in normal conversation.

I love RSS, and have been using Inoreader since Google Reader's demise. Well worth the $15 annual subscription fee.

In the subway, it's not about interaction, but you feel a little bit more a part of humanity and all the interesting people doing all their interesting things.

I rode the Blue line in the DC metro area for 5 years, from Arlington/Alexandria to Farragut West. Coming from car-centric LA, I hated many aspects of it at first (walking on icy sidewalks, sitting next to people picking their noses, etc).

But it was a fascinating exercise in people-watching, which I love. I saw so many of the same people every day - a young man with ankylosing spondylitis (which I didn't even know of, prior to seeing him), a grumpy-looking lady who always wore black flats with no socks, even when it was snowing, etc. It was always interesting to see who gave up their seats to pregnant women, and who was too buried in their smartphone.

One time, the Blue line got stuck before the Rosslyn tunnel, and I saw one guy get so worked up about it, I thought he was going to have a meltdown. Then, there was an elderly Korean man who would get on at different stops, and start singing in Korean, and you would see people from all walks of life trying to exchange furtive glances with one another. I kind of miss it, at times.

This is the backstory of Belsomra.

Agreed. I don't have kids, but speaking for myself, the internet has shot my attention span to the single digit range. And I grew up in the 80s.

Suggesting that the entire homeless population are criminals is disingenuous at best, and this kind of fear-mongering distracts from productive discussion about how best to help.

I never said that the entire homeless population are criminals. I merely provided a single, real-life example of someone for whom current policies and institutions have failed, then asked you as to what you think should be done.

Meet Travis. He's a notorious vagrant who likes to terrorize businesses in the Alameda business district of San Jose.

https://video.nest.com/clip/cc20a6ffc52d485696c62b1708ffe5d6...

https://video.nest.com/clip/7c5ff8b138d44bafb1ff3f44ef8154be...

(warning: 2nd link has profanity)

-He has been sent by the court to literally every possible program in Santa Clara County for assistance, and has left everyone of them intentionally (usually after a few days) despite being ordered by the Court to complete the program(s).

-As a result of constantly violating the Court's orders regarding these programs, he ended up spending the maximum amount of time in County jail that the Court could impose before being released.

-Travis has made it very clear that he does not want help in any form, and that he likes his lifestyle and enjoys harassing people.

-After he left jail, it did not take long for him to revert to his old bad behaviors - substance abuse, aggressive panhandling and petty theft, and harassing local businesses.

The clips above are of him harassing the owner and patrons of Hannah's Coffee and Sweets. More recently, he emptied a trash can full of dog poop bags on the sidewalk, and kicked them all in front of a hair salon's door on the corner of Julian and Stockton.

What is your solution for people like Travis, who continually harass and endanger people and businesses in San Jose?