I work out in Des Plaines, but today I was going on a road trip of sorts. I had some laptops I had to swap at the "corporate" office downtown. I've never been there. In fact, I have never even met anyone from downtown. I grab the laptops and hit the road. What a gorgeous day - not a cloud in the sky. The drive downtown was great - until I got to the Ohio ramp, which was backed-up. I followed everybody's directions and pulled into the parking garage. that's when I realized that the address of the building didn't mean too much - the building was called One Magnificent Mile. I knew this building! There's a lot of retail in here and a few good restaurants. I head for the elevator, get my guest pass and go upstairs. I walked into the office area and introduced myself and everyone seemed delighted to see me! This, of course, made me very suspicious. I swap one laptop, and the person brought me around and introduced me to everyone and, of course, everyone was nice. I've talked to all of these people on the phone before, so now we were both placing names and voices with faces. I had one more laptop to go - the CFO's, so we went up to that floor, played the same introductions again and was received the same way again. All it all it was a great little trip. It was good meeting everyone, and even a little valuable having a few minutes to talk with the CFO about a small incident that happened last week (that I don't think I talked about here). When I was driving back to my office, I had thought back on my impressions of the "corporate" office itself. Not the people, the office. For where it was located, and for being a "corporate" office, quite frankly - it sucks. Visually, it does absolutely nothing to enhance the image of the company, and I think it actually detracts. Plain walls, no trim, crappy brass nameplates. No color. Very nondescript. Not great office furniture. A lot of clutter. The design is a rat's nest of narrow corridors that wander everywhere. It feels cramped. I'd rather work in Des Plaines than in the office. I hadn't realized that in all of the companies that I've worked at, they all had a certain look at "corporate" that established the feeling of the company. Let's just say - I don't like the feeling of that office. Someone needs to spend money on this place to change this "austere" look - and it's not a "good" austere either. Yuck. But still, great day outside. The CEO's admin's window overlooks Oak Street beach. Very cool. I really didn't want to leave the downtown area, but I had to get back - after all, no one was answering the phones at the Help Desk...