Week 8
Not a whole lot happened the week before last as I was mostly preparing for my trip to Ann Arbor, Michigan. I did see some McDonald's delivery trikes so I guess that counts on the scale of eventfulness but I digress.
In any case, after saying goodbyes to coworkers at Sony on Friday, I went home and packed for my trip. On Saturday I left my apartment at about 11 am and paid ~$30 for an express ticket to the Narita airport where I would be flying from. The express trains are faster and much nicer than the normal trains in Tokyo and have reserved seating so you can chill in your seat and use the free wifi while looking at the beautiful scenery. The last time I was going through the outskirts of Tokyo was when I first arrived in Japan and was so tired that I just didn't care, so this time was a fresh look at the landscapes.
After arriving and noting the posted warning reminded me that smuggling not only can get you arrested but can terminate all your life, I walked around the airport and grabbed some Japanese snacks for my lab mates back in Edmonton who would be meeting me in Ann Arbor for the conference.
I then boarded the plane where I was given a little candy before take off. Like my first flight to Japan, there was food offered on the flight and now having had 3 pacific flights in my recent experience, I can say that I have no idea what old comedians were getting at when talking about airplane food. I got 2 complete meals in addition to a snack with flatbread, cheese, and a brownie, which all together was more than enough to keep me happy. Perhaps those old airplane jokes actually improved airplane food.
Also, because of the direction I was flying, I happened to be flying rather close to home, as ironically labeled by the in-flight-screen map.
After landing and meeting up with some lab mates, we went to a popular locally owned american burger joint called Blimpy Burger, which is over 63 years old!
The burgers were good and went well with the deep fried veggies that were offered as well.
After eating, we wandered around Ann Arbor looking for the grounds for the conference and discovered that the conference was being held during the Ann Arbor Summer Festival so there food trucks and bands to watch. The conference was also conveniently being held in the building just behind the stage.
Before heading to our airbnb, we stopped at a grocery store where I bought some stuff to make omelets because if I don't eat within an hour of getting up, I'll be sad and disappointed with myself. I finally got to bed after being up for about 30 hours, which would eventually catch up with me.
In the morning, I had some coffee and made a wonderful omelet as the morning sun leaned through the dining room window, essentially establishing that I can very nicely fit into the Millennial stereotype.
After eating, I started the 30 min walk to the conference grounds, passing through a park which had both ducks and sword fights.
The rest of the trip was mostly staying in a big auditorium listening to presentations about something relating to reinforcement learning and decision making.
To those who aren't really sure what reinforcement learning is, in broad terms its what happens in a dog's brain when a trainer is training it how to sit. I study how that same learning process can be done on robots.
I was able to present my own work, along with hundreds of others, and had a great time talking about new research ideas, referencing old ones, and just nerding out about artificial intelligence.
On my second night of the conference, there was a banquet which a wide selection of food followed by a speaker retelling some kinda story or something.
As my jetlag was catching up with me, I decided to change tables and move to the overflow room where some of my lab mates were just arriving from cleaning up their robot demo. I threw on my sunglasses and passed out for 30 min during which they kindly tucked me in with napkins.
I had to leave the second last day of the conference because I wanted to attend work on Friday at Sony to have an experiment run over the weekend. So I boarded a plane to go back to the future and was very thankful that there is a direct flight between Detroit and Tokyo and that I got a window seat.
After landing and taking the express train back home and feeling like a much more competent traveler than the last time I had flown to Japan, I stopped by Mos Burger to get some food and ordered what I would later find out was a burger with a bun made out of rice. I might be a competent traveler but I still can't read the kanji for rice. In case you are wondering, it is difficult to eat a burger when the bun is made out of rice, especially when you are exhausted and have recently gotten off a transpacific flight.
On Saturday morning, I left the house early for a morning walk and found that Saturday is garbage day and sometimes people will put out large items that they no longer want. One of those items was an office chair which was still in good condition. When I found it I picked it up over my head and giggled all the way home. It looks much better in my apartment than on the street :).
