Last September I took a trip to Silicon Valley.  One of my good friends from college grew up in the area and lives in Mountain View now working as a senior consultant at Google.  He was an awesome host, showing me the sights and introducing me to a ton of great people.  It was amazing to experience the vibe and unbridled enthusiasm that is pervasive in the valley, to know around every block was another tech startup, every coffeeshop filled with developers and designers.  I visited some of the big campuses like Google, Apple, and Facebook.  These places are set up so you basically never have to leave, or would want to. The free food is better than you could imagine – Sushi and Noodle bar at Facebook, wood oven pizza and grilled items at one of Google’s many cafeterias.

It was very enticing but at the same time it made me appreciate Chicago more as well.  Chicago is a great city with an up and coming tech scene.  Places like 1871 are on par with the incubators in the valley, and there are plenty of talented people trying to build the next great thing.  Who knows where the road will take me, but I know I don’t have to move across the country to pursue my dreams…