Stonington Connecticut, watching C-SPAN with my grandparents. Ash reads a manuscript and Betsy strokes princess Pearl. We sit in a pool of newspapers.

Katharine Weymouth, Washington Post Media Chief Executive is being interviewed.

Her wisdom: If you admire someone, take them to coffee and ask for their advice. People are always thrilled to know they're admired.

Who would you ask to coffee?

I came to New York to network. Unfortunately, changing coasts has not assuaged my constipation in doing so.

Traditionally speaking, if a man is interested in a woman, he pursues a relationship with her, he courts her. The same strategy is used for networking in the professional world. They should really call networking, professional dating. For some reason, however, I cannot apply the practices of dating to non-romantic relationship, it feels wrong. Why is that?

If I'm at a party and I meet someone who I'm interesting in and I ask for their number, am I hitting on them? Outside of the thematic confines of this conversation, I believe the general answer would be yes.

Much of networking has to be done at a grass roots level. You can't jump the gun and ask an executive to have coffee. I want to connect with some of the other interns I work with. So how do I network with them, while avoiding the awkward implications of professional dating? Do I preface myself by establishing that I want their number for strictly non-romantic purposes? Wouldn't that make the conversation more awkward?

I feel like everyone else has taken social networking 101, and I skipped class that day