I entered the Reed Building through a west entrance adjacent to the courtyard. I was on a mission to look in on the Bronto Software folks. I had photographed their very interesting space prior to their occupancy, and I wanted to meet the guys who camped out on the sidewalk the night before they moved in the next day.

The front door for this new tenant in the ATHD is on Blackwell Street. Going through the ground floor of Reed, I approached Bronto's rear door. Looking in, I could see a small prehistoric scupture and a coffee table near what had to be their front entrance. The back door was locked; so I made my way through McKinney's space out onto Blackwell Street where I would try Bronto's front entry.

There I came face to face, but not eyeball to eyeball, with a much larger pre-historic being.

Duh, prehistoric creatures, Bronto Software, as in Brontosaurus.

After seeing the full effect of Bronto emerging from a hallway as he would be approaching a small computer station in the lobby, I regained enough composure to engage the humans present who were all busy with mice and keyboards. (I don't think one would use mouses for the plural of a computer mouse.)

Word has it that dinosaurs became extinct because they had small brains relative to the size of their bodies. It didn't take long to realize that the humans at Bronto Software would not be going extinct any time soon. Some people just have intelligence written all over their faces.

The real story is not the IQ of the Bronto humans. The real story is that a group of humans with such intellect have not wasted it all on computers. They have expended some of their brain power on the creative personality of their business. They fit so very well in their office of new hardwood floors, very old brick walls and yellow pine posts from the original post and beam construction of the Reed Building.

It's one more example of how the original vision of the restoration of the American Tobacco Historic District has come to fruition. Saving the very best from the past, these historic buildings have a new life of great vitality for the future.

Bronto Software is a leading email management software company with clients across North America and Europe. Organizatiions use Bronto's web-based software to manage email contact lists for sending email newsletters, email surveys and other email marketing communications. Features include automated email list management, email templates, list segmentation and real-time tracking of mailings.