The problems I ponder seem solvable. Finding a parking space in the U-district seems doable. Sisyphus' rock looks pushable. The weather outside seems tolerable. There is a reason why corporations like Microsoft and Starbuck's achieve global domination and why UW is something like the second most federally funded research institution in the country after Hopkins.
Smart people come here.
Because we know that nine cold, drizzly, depressing months a year, there's not much to do besides pound strong coffee and hang out in some kind of think tank dreaming up schemes. You can get work done here. I have recently found myself stranded in distant airports, far from the overcast land of attitude-adjusting brew. In true Seattle-corporate tradition, it's as ubiquitous as the Windows operating system. They even serve it on the plane now.