Seattle is miserable.

It’s rainy and cold, and the meetings drag endlessly another boring board of directors and another dull, meaningless round of chatter. Working in my new role, I’ve learned how much business people like to set up meetings to discuss nothing much, and it will take several sessions to conclude on something minor.

The hotel is like every other one we have stayed in, and, as usual, we have a grand, opulent, modern penthouse suite. Jake insists that we have ...