What have I been up to lately?  It’s obviously not blogging.  Nor is it housecleaning (alas), body-building, knitting, or staring at the ceiling.  It’s not even much eating of chocolate.  No.  It’s prepping for a Vanderbilt class I’ll be auditing come January – EECE 262 – smartphone programming.

In other words, I’m learning how to develop apps for Google Android and Apple iPhone.  Then in the spring semester, I’ll be doing it with a large group of incredibly smart and enthusiastic Vanderbilt engineers.  Can you see how this might grab my attention?

It’s no secret: the future is all about mobile.  And these young engineers, many about to graduate into what I have no doubt will be brilliant careers, know it.  They already have teams and team leaders for projects ranging from Android Dining to iPhone Augmented Reality.

Then there’s me.  I haven’t taken a class in approximately 200 years, and when I did it was oh-so-genteel – library science.  I had to work up the nerve to ask the professors, but once I did, oh my goodness.  They and the student leaders have been so very welcoming.

I’m a far cry from the normal demographic.  Not only am I female, I’ve got gray hair.  But repeatedly they’ve made it clear they’re happy for me to join in their fun.  It’s been markedly different from the stereotypical female-in-IT-land experience.  And this in the hottest area of technology.  All I can say is – wow.

So here is to Professors Jules White and Doug Schmidt, Vanderbilt Computer Society President Hamilton Turner, and all of the Vandy Mobile Teams.  You all are amazing.  I can’t wait for January.