In the world of tech, I have reluctantly accepted my role as the person who comes into the conversation long after it's begun (though not after it's completely over and the others have already moved on to another topic), just as I've accepted my role as the mother who sits in the balcony at the 9:30 Club rather than down below with the cool, young people. Of course, it's a matter of perspective. In the context of my very traditional profession (law), where people are a little slow to embrace new technology (I still know lawyers who use dictaphones and expect their secretaries to take dictation), I can pose as someone who's right there on the blinding edge of innovation.
For instance, I can still impress many of my colleagues with my Treo 600, my usb jump drive the size of a lipstick, and my lime green iPod mini, all of which I'll write about here as if they weren't yesterday's news.
If we're going to talk about tech to non-geeks, there's a benefit to having someone on board who can test gadgets in a real-life setting, and report on whether they're truly idiot-proof. When a techie shows me a cool gadget and dismisses my concerns about how to use it with a casual, "It's easy," I take that with a huge grain of salt. While I may not be the Amelia Bedelia of consumer technology (there's someone else we have in mind for that role), I'm probably fairly typical among female, non-tech professionals. We're eager and ready to learn about fun technology, and have the money to buy it (in fact, we do buy it in greater numbers than men do), but manufacturers and retailers aren't knocking on our doors looking for our business.