Schaumburg

Not all of my work travel is about exciting cities, seeing movie stars, or working with companies that I can only refer to by the first letter of their name (e.g. The Big G).

Sometimes I get sent to a tiny little place that is full of cookie-cutter houses, construction dirt, a strip mall with a box store or two, a few hotels, and tons of corporate American buildings full of cubicles and boardrooms… that strangely look like they come straight out of a Dilbert cartoon or the offices in the Matrix.

Want to see a really great example? Check out this hallway that reminds me of the scene in The Matrix where the Keymaker leads Neo and Morpheus through a hallway filled with doors meant to provide “backdoor” access to other parts of the Matrix.

I wonder if someone who works in this building secretly dreams of running down the hall as fast as possible while wearing a flowing medieval cape… like I do. Hell, I’d also settle for riding a unicycle or a Vespa from one end to the other.

Schaumburg is one of these tiny little places that I visit. It’s a city in its own right but many still consider it a part of Chicago. Call it what you want, but it’s the second place I’ve been to like this in less than a month.

But, at least in Schaumburg spring has arrived… and there are lots of blossoms… and the air smells great.