Sleep for a couple of days please

I want to sleep for a few days. I am pathetic. I have been working for only 10 weeks (approximately). And I already want a long vacation weekend to sleep. I need more exercise.

Remember all those people yelling about nutrition and exercise, etc. It's especially important for a young associate.

And I have a neighborhood full of kids, but no trick-or-treaters yet (7:15). I bought gobs of candy so all of it is going to the office tomorrow.

The downside to this job

I am working at home instead of going to a Halloween party. It's kind of my fault. I was so scattered last week that I am behind in a couple of things that I need to get out by Monday. So weekend working is the way to go.

Alternatively, I am in PJ's and not showering. So all is not lost.

Long hours makes me fat and pimply

So those of you that know me or read this, know I am already overweight, well fat. But my weight had started going down over the summer. Now I am struggling to hold on to the loss and expand (subtract) on that. But my office is against me, they are all against me.

Candy in all the offices.

Doughnuts in the kitchen.

Pizza to help us get through the evening. Or sandwiches. Or chips. Or greasy Chinese.

I feel gross. I feel tired and not from overwork. I feel ick.

How do the attorneys in my office stay so trim, fit, clear-eyed, and well, clear skinned? How do they eat well and seem never to be all that tired?

And how is it that I can be this smart (don't laugh, my mom told me I was smart) and still eat crap, ignore exercise and ignore my health. That's the conundrum. When you look at the statistics, I should be thin, healthy and athletic. Well-educated combined with career choices. But nnnnnooooooo.

To work long hours, really put those hours in the billable column, I need to have a radical change in attitude. Your health is so important. And being older, I can't just function on adrenaline, coffee and cigarettes any more (no worries, I don't smoke any more).

And my skin looks like hell.

Yes, I am shallow. My skin bothers me more than the burgeoning heart attack.

What the hell is up with this mole?

Okay, I really think that I am becoming a troll. A huge zit on my neck, my freakin' neck, on the side. My face is getting redder, blotchy. Broken blood vessels on my nose and cheeks. Dark circles. And now moles. One on my neck growing in leaps and bounds. Two just appeared on my jawline.

It's time that I sat my parents down and asked what the hell!!! I mean, why am I becoming a troll. Is it some bizarre pact they made with the devil to be comfortably middle-class. They really shot low.

I am having one of the ugliest days I have had in a long time. I think it's time to find a cosmetic dermatologist to do lots of things to my face and neck.

Why a Start-Up Company REALLY Needs Intellectual Property Advice From the Beginning

The biggest surprise of being an attorney (I passed the bar, so I am an attorney now!!), which it shouldn't have been, is that people do not think of so many issues when it comes to their own businesses. My example is going to come from the inventor's perspective.

A person, scientist or engineer, develops a great idea, truly something revolutionary. They find the money, either from a private investor, a bank (HA!!), or family and friends. They put together a business, rent space, hire help, file taxes. And along the way they do not set up a way to actually protect their intellectual property. The issue is, they do not need to immediately file for patent protection. But they do need to figure out a way to keep things secret. And for academics they really need to NOT PUBLISH A PAPER on the issue.

There are ways they can do this. And if they would take a few minutes with an IP attorney, doesn't have to be a patent attorney, just someone that knows about licensing, employment contracts and nondisclosure agreements.

Okay, so if you are developing a new business you aren't usually flush with cash. I just wish that these folks understood that the money spent now could save them from basically losing everything later. The consequences of making mistakes at the beginning can lead to:

1. An employee taking your IP
2. An inability to get a patent
3. Reverse engineered out from under you (which is not illegal)

And the ultimate ending is that you are sitting there, having completed all the research and development, put in the sweat time, and you have bupkiss.

I have seen the results twice now and each time I almost want to cry. Just imagine for a minute what that person (and you) feels like coming into your office and you have to tell them that there is little you can do. It sucks a lot.