Several years ago I worked for a man who had built a strong business and reputation over his 45 years in the corporate world; he asked me to help him hire an assistant. It was a small company with fewer than 10 employees, so the job wasn't only limited to assistant work, but would include some office management and event coordination to boot.

Having a sales office in New York has become a cool thing, especially since my sister and brother-in-law moved to the Tri-State area. I travel East at least once a month and get their guest bedroom, and now I get to see my niece and nephew grow up. I get to be Aunt Jory--the pinch story reader, bathgiver, and fun kink in the usual schedule for my niece and nephew.

I wrote before the BlogHer Conference about being a non-blogger (or sponsor) at the event, and even offered this up for male attendees: Men and women network differently. We often seek some form of commonality before we decide to team up with each other. (Men:) Careful of the hard sell, ...: Still, that didn't necessarily preclude men from trying to talk shop.

So, jumping on the bandwagon with the community's and Maria Niles's phenomenal guides to surviving BlogHer, I thought I would add one appropriate for the 1) sponsors, 2) networking non-bloggers, or 3) corporate bloggers trying to meet bloggers. All this stuff about introversion and wearing the right shoes seem irrelevant to you?

I've read Lisa Belkin's pieces for The New York Times for years, and Friday I had a chance to speak with her about how couples are finding innovative ways of managing their careers and households, how she got on the "Balance Beat", what was really the intention behind her now-famous article, "The Opt-Out Revolution," and her take on the question, will CEOs ever get flextime?