Dear Blog,

When people here ask me where I’m from, I now tell them that I am from Canada.   Not Ottawa because nobody seems to know where that is.  Not Ontario because people then think that I am referring to city of Ontario, California, near LA.  Not “five hours north of Toronto” because people surprisingly don’t know where Toronto is either.  It’s just much easier to tell people that I am from Canada and when they ask which part, I tell them on the east coast of the country.  I’ve found this approach to be quite effective and helps prevent a simple conversation from turning into a complicated one.  I think my colleague explained it to me best when he told me that people here don’t know much about Canada because they have never been there and that’s unlikely to change since most don’t even consider Canada as a potential vacation spot.  This makes sense but it’s a bit odd at the same time since I can’t think of a single Canadian from back home that has never been to the United States.

Tom.

Dear Blog,

I work at a private equity firm that invests billions of dollars in intellectual property (IP).  My job as an engineering analyst is to build IP portfolio bundles that can be used to generate healthy returns for our investors.  When creating these bundles, my goal is to find assets with tightly drafted claims that apply to core features of a products that will or have generated significant revenue.  It’s a very interesting job and I like it because it applies the knowledge and experience I have developed in the fields of technology, patent law and business.

My long term goal is to help make the patent system more efficient by using my experience to wipe out assets that are being enforced but never should’ve been issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).  I find that there are a lot of bad patents that are being enforced and as a result, valuable court time is being wasted on needless patent lawsuits.  I think it would be better if that time was spent prosecuting criminals to help keep our streets safer.  I also want to help inform the public on key developments of patent battles that are likely to have an impact on the price of consumer goods or the share price of a publicly traded stock.  From a consumer perspective, it’s unlikely that we will see gadget prices go down much further in the future since patent royalties are likely to get more expensive as a result of all the ongoing patent litigation activity.  From an investor perspective, it’s likely that a stock will jump as a result of a favorable court ruling or the completion of a significant license agreement or patent asset sale.  Overall, I’d just like to be able to make a positive professional contribution to society sometime in the next few years.

Tom.

Dear Blog,

Can you believe it’s been almost three months since I’ve made the big move from Ottawa to California?  In this relatively short period of time, I think I’ve accomplished quite a bit!  The first few weekends were spent touring the entire San Francisco Bay area.  In downtown San Francisco, I biked across the Golden Gate bridge where I saw breathtaking views of the city and surrounding mountains, ate at the historic fisherman’s wharf, had brunch at the ferry building, went for a walk in Golden Gate park, checked out the numerous ethnic communities and visited all the major museums and art galleries.  I’ve also ventured outside of the metropolitan area by visiting several artisan wineries in Napa and Sonoma valley, went snowboarding with co-workers at Lake Tahoe (Northstar resort), hiked up three mountains with friends and visited all the major attractions in the nearby cities of Monterey, Pebble Beach and Santa Cruz.  I’ve also had a bit of a food culture shock by experiencing a wide range of amazing foods.  I’ve tasted seafood, sushi and ramen like I’ve never tasted before.  I’ve also had food from the food trucks that I had seen on the Food Network such as the MoGo BBQ food truck that serves a Korean-Mexican fusion mix.  I also get my Korean food fix by visiting one of several local Korean food courts.  My experience here in the Bay area has been incredible and I feel very fortunate that I have an awesome group of friends down here to experience it with.

Life on weekdays is equally as busy.  Every Monday evening, I am at Adroit college where I am taking an advanced Korean course.  I love how it’s a small class of four motivated and friendly students and I think our instructor is fabulous.  I have learned a lot over the past five weeks and am planning to take a standardized Korean proficiency exam (TOPIK) later this year.  My goal is to get to a point where I can effectively communicate with Korean business people and potentially create business relationships with some key Korean players in my industry.  On Tuesday evenings, I play volleyball at the Sunnyvale community center with several of my friends.  It’s a great way to ensure that I see some of my friends at least once a week while getting some fun exercise at the same time.  On Wednesday evenings, I attend a Korean church fellowship in the South Bay called Pathway Redeemed.  I’ve only recently been attending this church and the Korean Americans here are really friendly, welcoming and surprisingly, all around the same age as me!  Thursdays are my free nights where I try to cook something new and experiment in the kitchen.  I’m definitely not a great cook but hope that over the next few years, I can refine my cooking abilities and make delicious dishes for everybody!  I’m also trying to use some of my spare time to develop my writing with the hope of publishing regular articles on technology and travel.  On top of this, I run 3-5km at least three times a week and hope to eventually sign up for a race in the coming months.

As much as I love life down here, I admit that I feel sad whenever I think about my family and friends back home.  I really do miss everyone and wish that California wasn’t so far away from home.  That said, I know that I am fortunate to be living in such a beautiful part of the world and am working hard to make the most of my time while I am down here.

Tom.