Patented Happiness

I wanted to quickly spotlight my dear PC and his latest triumph. PC has been studying for the patent bar for the last few months. This is a test that, if passed, would allow PC to be a registered patent agent and prosecute patents and such. PC wants to practice patent law which would enable him to not only prosecute patents but to litigate them also. Anyway, passing this test was a necessary step in the process of eventually becoming a lawyer. After hours and hours and HOURS of studying (and many missed date nights...) the test day arrived. Poor PC could hardly eat his breakfast (and apparently his lunch). The test would take 6 hours from start to finish. I bid him farewell at 8am and he didn't come home until 4pm. He stepped through the door with a big smile on his face. I said, "Well?! How'd it go?" He responded with, "I'll find out my official results in a few weeks" and continued smiling. He handed me a piece of paper with a bunch of numbers and jibberish that I figured had all his testing info on it and set it down. A few moments later he said, "Did you read the sheet?" My eyes opened to the size of golfballs and I ran to the sheet and quickly scanned the text. It read,

"Preliminary test results show that you passed the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Registration Examination for Patent Attorneys and Patent Agents. You will receive your official examination results from the USPTO in due course."

He passed!!! The little scamp didn't tell me because they weren't the OFFICIAL results. He's already qualifying his statements like a lawyer... He received the official results a few days later and passed! I'm so proud of him and all the hard work and studying he put forth.