montecristo

The Saturday before last, in another country, I was having dinner with emmabovary at a Chinese restaurant. At the end of the meal, of course we opened the fortune cookies. The one I had, which I kept, at the suggestion of my dinner companion, said, "You are soon going to change your present line of work." My friend and McGuffin compatriot, Robert G. often uses an interesting word: "alevei," which he has informed me is a Yiddish word translating roughly to: "It should happen to me." That sounds like an appropriate term to use here, not because my current circumstances at the daily grind are onerous (far from it, it's interesting, the people are great, and the job remunerates me well) but McGuffin taking off would mean an even grander and finer adventure.

Yesterday around 4:00 PM, I got a phone call from Tom saying that our friend the lawyer from the law firm we have been eagerly, slavishly, obsessively courting/stalking since before December of 2004 had just spoken to him. I've been so buzzed on adrenalin since then that I haven't been able to write this down, much as I wanted to do so. I've finally collected my wits and turned my exuberance down to a low boil so I can post this. At any rate, we are trying to get this patent law firm to handle the filing and prosecution of one or more patents for McGuffin for us on contingency. The lawyers at this firm have been talking with us, and going to lunch with us for months now, trying to get a handle on this project and determine how and if they want to get involved. Last month, McGuffin went before their New Projects Committee, which determines which projects the firm will undertake. That committee meets every third Monday of the month. Last month they tabled us without making a decision because our deal is of a kind that the firm has never contemplated undertaking before, and doing so would be a change in their business policies. On Monday, they decided to go with the deal.

We're in. If we get "art in the patent pipe" now, it will mean that the intellectual property is protected, and that we can discuss this project with investors and consequently also assure them that our company has a handle on the ownership of this idea already. I am hoping that this rock we have pried loose will now start an avalanche. This opens the possibilities up enormously. I left several phone messages for Robert, who is vacationing with his family out of cell phone range in Mt. Lassen Park, and he finally got back with me today. Monday, when he returns from vacation, we have to start putting our next steps in order. Sometimes I find it shocking, how the circumstances of life can turn on a dime, when you work on changing them. Life could become something very new and thrilling, but also unfamiliar and scary, very soon now.