Two Hundred and Eighty - Alumni do's

You've probably gathered that the diet has taken a back seat during summer. Less of a back seat, more of an order to get out of the car on a long dark highway and told to walk home from there.

Well, it's stumbled in the front door this month and said 'I'm not doing that again. It's time to get serious bucko'. So good intentions slowly crept in with it and now I'm resetting to hit my target.

Unfortunately, work events crop up that tempt you once more to go down that long lonesome highway, but this time hit the back seat passenger over the head with a shovel.

There were two reasons to go to Alumni events. The first was to play the jousting match between envy and smugness when it came to finding out how far up the corporate ladder your colleagues have moved in comparison to you. But now that LinkedIn exists, you can cyber stalk them so that thrill is gone.

The second is to find out if they've moved into positions of buying power and can be suckered into an easy sale. Of course, there's no such thing as an easy sale, but an Alumni who respects you and has a problem is a whole lot easier to deal with than a procurement department that doesn't even respect itself.

Of course, the other reason to go is that the drinks are free. Ahem.