Fun at the US patent office site

[tkwetzel]

For those of you who have submitted patents, I have a few questions:
How much time, effort, money, and resources does it take to submit a patent? I know there are a lot of variables and you don't even need to have anything tangible to patent, but based on what you did what are the answers to that question? Any other general information about submitting a patent would be appreciated (though I have read the a lot of stuff on the Patent Office website). Thanks.

I did search the forums and the internet in general and have found some general information, but I would like to know how far you went with your design process , how much of the process you did yourself, how much you had a patent attorney do and other things of that nature.