Our trip to Virginia was partly for pleasure and partly so that Ken could visit the US Patent Office.  He met with the patent examiners who were reviewing two of his patent applications and received some guidance as to what they were looking for in his applications.  One examiner said that Ken was only the second inventor that he had met with.  He said that usually he only met with lawyers.  As of this writing the patents are still pending, but Ken was encouraged by the interaction he had with the government agency chartered to protect entrepreneurs with new ideas.