happy hour at straits

hung out with the girls and a new friend, elaine, at straits. just when i meet kool new people to hang with, i gotta go back to school! met a bunch of her girl friends who were a riot to hang with. the setup couple got to talking (at last!) . met another fellow grad student from CMU. phd in electrical eng from CMU, now is a professor at harvard but on a year sabbatical while doing some consulting all over the world. gotta keep in touch with that one. (always the networker....i know) i actually met a lot of really cool people that nite.

something i realize - being a girl makes networking really easy. but i like to think i'm able to prove that i'm actually a substantial person who is worth keeping in touch with. for instance, i know the prof wanted to talk cuz he was hitting on me. if you don't know anything about a person in a networking situation, you will select people to talk to who are either attractive or look like you may have something in common. in the business world, unfortunately that means that if you're a woman then most of the time men approach you based on appearance. so i always feel like i need to prove something to them. prove that i actually do know what i'm talking about and that i am a good contact to have. and so that is what turns me into the networking fiend that i am sometimes. i always feel the need to show i have some value. people always comment on what a great networker i am. but maybe it's not so much that i'm good, but that i always feel compelled to network. once upon a time in HS, someone who didn't talk to me much said that she thought i was an air head. *shudder* i abhor the thought of being known as a ditz. i know how to install and configure oracle dammit! hahahaha....