Traveling Watch

[FuzzyB]

It's Take Your Bob to Work Day!

Today, Bob will get a day in the life of a patent lawyer. Fun times ahead, Bob! But why are we getting up so early?



Lucky for Bob, I actually decided to sleep in a little longer. Strong storms last night led to multiple weather advisory warnings for flash floods throughout the night so it was tough getting out of bed when I first woke up. (Something no one bothered to mention when you have kids--you no longer need an alarm clock to wake up early.)

On our way out the door. This was supposed to be a magnificent sunrise over Ambler shot. Too early and too cloudy. Oh well.



And we finally made it to the office. Looks like parking will not be a problem today.



Looks like we are the first ones here today. No surprise. Patent attorneys are not known for starting their workdays early. It won't get busy around here for a few hours.



At least not busy elsewhere. See that pile of files on my desk, Bob? All of those need to go out today. Yikes.



Stayed tuned for more adventures in patent land... (gripping, I know)

[FuzzyB]

Bob lucked out! Most of my work is of the typical engineering/chemistry/pharmaceutical stuff that doesn't exactly excite at parties. I do, however, have a special client of particular interest to the folks around here. Due to confidentiality and all, I can't share photos of the current work, but here is a photo of Bob with a screenshot of an issued patent I worked on.

[mlcor]

Great work, mlcor! And looking good Brian! Love this thread - makes me smile every time I open it.

Thanks, Geoff. This is such a cool thing, can't wait for the next installment.

[watchdaddy1]

AWESOMENESS Brian

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[FuzzyB]

Job well done, Bob! I think you deserve a vacation. I can't believe we got it all done.



A few sites on the drive home. King of Prussia's insanely large mall. Currently getting even bigger. I believe it will be the largest shopping center in the U.S. by the time it's done. Home of Tourneau, Omega, Tag and Montblanc boutiques, as well as Swatch and every other store you can imagine.



Stopping for the train in Ambler. I'll provide a better story about why the train is significant in Ambler tomorrow when I hopefully take Bob on a walking tour of town.



And my favorite, the Ambler Theater. Again, more details to follow.



Other than working on the application for a watch design, Bob wasn't too impressed with the world of patents.

[FuzzyB]

Today, Bob had a tour of Ambler with one of Ambler's cutest residents. We loaded up the wagon and headed to town. It was a hot day, so Bob switched to his Nato. It looks good on him and the purple stripes compliment his orange and red accents.



Our little tour guide was a bit tired, so she took it easy along the way and tried to catch up on some sleep. We live about half a mile from the center of town, so it wasn't a long journey.



Ambler is a quant little town of about 6500 residents. Pennsylvania is quite peculiar because we have boroughs, townships, cities, counties, and whatnot. Technically, Ambler is a borough. It's fun to live in a borough.



The town of Ambler has been around for a while. As I hinted at yesterday, the train tracks are significant to Ambler's history.

Back in 1856, two trains collided head on in what would later become known as Ambler. Up to that point, it was the deadliest train wreck ever, killing around 60 people. It is known as the Great Train Wreck of 1856 or the Picnic Train Tragedy. You can read all about it here. One of the rescuers of the day was a Quaker woman named Mary Ambler. She worked to tirelessly to help the injured that her deeds became legendary. As I'm sure you can guess by now, they eventually named the town after her. That makes Ambler one of the few towns in the U.S. named after a woman.

The old train station has been turned into a model train store.



The train tracks are still functional and we can easily hop on the train to Philly from the Ambler station.




The other claim to fame is asbestos. Ambler was once known as the asbestos capital of the world. Pretty awesome, huh? Actually, if it weren't for the health issues associated with asbestos, it is an amazing material. In the 1870s, Dr. Richard Mattison discovered that a mixture of magnesium carbonate and asbestos would adhere to a hot metal pipe and could be used as an insulation material for steam pipes. In 1881, he moved the company from Philadelphia to Ambler, which at the time had 70 houses and 250 residents.

Dr. Mattison built a castle for himself as a homage to Windose Castle, as well as 400 houses for his employees and executives. The best part of it all, Dr. Mattison didn't do anything half-assed. He brought in stone masons from southern Italy to build the houses. Rather than cookie cutter style houses, each house is fairly unique. There are a few basic floorplans, but the stone masons made each one a little different with eccentric rooflines and columns. We actually live in one of the houses that he had built back in 1900. We live around the corner from the castle, but the trees are now so grown up that it is hard to see from the street.

Here is Dr. Mattison's castle. It is now a home for troubled women and children.


(picture borrowed from the web)

Here are a few examples of the houses that he had built.





Here is a painting by a local artist that shows off some of the houses from the street above.



As I mentioned, it's a quaint little town. Boy Scout Troop No. 3 meets in the church across the street from us, and the little league field is a block away.

[mlcor]

Very cool! We don't have a castle.

[FuzzyB]

Ambler is actually an up-and-coming little town. It has a bustling main street (all four blocks of it) full of restaurants and the arts.



I took Bob on a little tour of all of my favorite eating places.

Feedstore is a brand new burger place this year.



The Lucky Well is actually run by a chef who starred in one of Food Network's TV shows. It's a great BBQ place.





Bridget's and KC's Alley are both excellent, too. People come from far around to dine at Bridget's.



We have two Mexican restaurants not more than a block from one another. I'm not sure if their window display attracts diners or scares them away.




Next up... Ambler's art scene.

[Jeannie]

I'm not sure where I want to retire: Saskatoon, Libertyville, or Ambler!

Jeannie

[watchdaddy1]

This thread is more & more interesting w/ every stop.
You guy's rock

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