Bruce Li (aka Yuan Li) visits AWeber.com - We visit A-Z Thrift Shop in Hatboro, PA

What a perfect opportunity for my Chinese foreign exchange student - Bruce, 17 - to see an IT company firsthand.

My son Dan works at AWeber.com.

 We checked in at the Reception Area where Heather had us each sign in on the IPod, which took photos of us - we were too comely to resist - and we pressed a button, which Bruce found in a flash - he's very tech-savvy - and it printed out our nametages.

This IT company makes the most of technology.

Dan, our tour guide, introduced us to Tom Kulzer, the owner and founder. It was 'wear-your-PJs-day.'

These IT companies - IT stands for information technology - often have a very relaxed, playful attitude toward work.

Look, I work from home. Here I am sitting in my PJs, listening to WXPN radio, noshing on peanuts, entertaining company, knowing I'll get all my work done today.

Same is true at AWeber. They have work spaces - no private offices - which make it quite democratic. Conference rooms, large and small, are everywhere.

Dan stands by a desk whose height can be raised or lowered by a lever. We know sitting for hours on end is terrible for your back and legs and blood flow.

Dan said he often works standing up.

Everyone has Apple computers with huge monitors.

Informative TVs post up-to-the-minute information.

"Light rain" read one of the monitors. The rain was quite heavy as we drove down County Line Road. Bruce asked me what we call this type of rain. "Heavy rain," I said.

Bruce was particularly interested in tornados. I told him we had one a couple of years ago and that I blogged about it.

Bruce requested I take his pic in the cafeteria to send to his friends in China.

He has never seen anything like this place! Few people have.

Rec areas include all sorts of video games, which Dan and Bruce love, a billiard table, and

Bruce puts a spin on his gnip-gnop serve. He won two trophies in China.

One of Dan's colleagues is married to a Chinese woman who comes from the very same province as Bruce.

Bruce ordered his fave food - a bacon cheeseburger.

"It's GOOD!" he said.

It's always nice being with Dan. His magnetized nametag gains him entry to various locked doors. It senses the magnet and the door unlocks just as he arrives.

I had seconds of everything: New England clam chowder and salad.

While some of the 120 employees eat - everyone eats in shift - the TV played a recent interview of AWeber talking about their unusual working conditions on an ABC morning show.

Restrooms at AWeber.com are like that of a four-star hotel.

When I chatted with Tom, the owner, for a second, I told him how beautiful the entire place was - a mural of painted Lego people greets us as we ascend the staircase to the second floor and splashes of color on walls throughout the building.

The English phone booths are in the Marketing Dept.

 This erasor board has been painted a special white that allows writing and drawings to be erased. Bruce wrote something on the left that says "I love being here at AWeber" - Bruce Li

Hmmm, maybe I should give him my I LOVE AWEBER T-SHIRT.

On the way home, I stopped at the Hatboro PO.

As we walked toward the PO, Elena - above - saw me through the window of her thrift shop and ran after me.

I did some Xmas shopping there yesterday and she accidentally overcharged me. She was having trouble with her credit card machine when I was there, so that's why it happened.

I bought a crock pot there, the only woman in the country who has never had a crock pot. 

Elena and her husband Dmitri, a Greek name, he told me, own the shop. They're from Ukraine, as is their son Alex

Chatchkes for the ages.

In China, said Bruce, they have thrift shops but people prefer buying new things.