Grace Hopper Conference

Wednesday I was able to fly to Atlanta, Georgia for the Grace Hopper Conference.  Before last week, I admit that I had never heard of Grace Hopper.  Now I know she was a "mathematician, computer scientist, social scientist, corporate politician, marketing wiz, systems designer, and programmer".

The conference was great and I learned the importance and need for computer science and the grave shortage of computer science in our nation's education system.  The keynote speakers were outstanding.  Duy-Loan T. Le arrived from Viet Nam with little more than the clothes on her back.  She said that not being able to speak English was her biggest handicap.  Four years later, she not only could speak English, but graduated from high school as class Valedictorian at the age of 16. At 22, she was the first woman to be elected to the rank of Senior Fellow at Texas Instruments.

I also learned that computer scientists are not always all about numbers and sitting in front of computer screens.  They also know how to have fun.

Dancing on Thursday night!

Dancing again Friday night!

I managed to see some sights of Atlanta and have some fun.  Found a great place to eat Southern cooking.  I ordered the house specialty of Peach Waffles and Chicken Wings.  Between Einstein Fellows, Erik Russell and Camsie Matis and I, we also shared collard greens, mac and cheese, summer squash casserole, and the best sweet potato cheesecake ever.

Gladys Knight's Restaurant 

Gladys' blue shoes.

We also visited the World of Coke a Cola where we experienced a 4D movie about Coke around the world and tasted 50+ different Coke products.

I stayed in the Marriott Hotel on the 27th floor.  The view was beautiful, inside and outside.

Looking down from the 27th floor to the lobby below.

Outside my window.