Last month QIC welcomed Dariel Tenf to the the team! Dariel is supporting QIC as a Data Scientist - Intern ​where he works with Research Psychologists and Human Factors Engineers to incorporate machine learning techniques into data processing, analysis, and visualization. Dariel holds an M.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of Central Florida with a specialization in Intelligent Systems and Machine Learning. Dariel’s work uses Natural Language Processing models in combination with more traditional machine learning models to gauge the success of a team-based effort based on communication and individual performance. Prior to joining QIC, Dariel designed a Toxic Comment Classifier, which was a machine learning system designed to read comments from social media and return whether the comment would be deemed as “toxic” based on the likelihood that the comment would cause someone to want to disengage from the conversation.

Catch up with Part 1: Morning Routine, Part 2: Daytime, Part 3: Evening Routine, and Part 4: Dating first!

After meeting three more people and multiple algorithm adjustments from SEAA, I finally found the person who I have been with for a year, and we are planning our first vacation together. However, we can’t agree on what we want to do. Do we go to a VR hotel and visit multiple time periods and locations while we’re there? We could even go to a fantasy world and ride dragons if we wanted to. Do we take a trip on the space elevator? Maybe even stay a night at a luxury space resort. After going back and forth and taking over a week to decide, we finally plan to take the maglev bullet train from Florida to Vancouver. Going 500 mph, we should be there even faster than when planes were the main mode of transportation. 

Before we leave, I make sure to inform SEAA of our travel plans so she can decrease the power and water consumption in our absence. Once at the train station, our suitcases follow us to the terminal, where they then roll off to our room while we board the train. Since this is an overnight train, we splurged and got a room for ourselves. The room is nothing too fancy. Double bunks and a small drop-down desk for eating and working. However, we do get to go to the luxury dining car, and this train begins to feel like a luxurious vacation on its own.  

Finally arriving in Canada, we step off the train and go straight to a pancake house for some authentic Canadian maple syrup. When we arrive at the restaurant, we see a kiosk where we can put in our orders, and the meal will be ready to eat in less than five minutes. Though there are no actual chefs here, we are assured this recipe is the same one the owner’s ancestor used when they owned this place and crafted the food by hand. It is nice to see tradition live on while evolving at the same time. 

The next day we plan a walking tour where we will be guided with AR glasses to see Vancouver through different time periods, from wars to scenery, the industrial revolution, and so on. There are even characters walking around and doing things from their time period. It is an interesting and immersive experience that I am glad we chose to do.  

My partner surprises me by taking me to Canada’s space elevator, knowing how obsessed I am with space, and when I get there, I am astounded at what it looks like up close. The top of it disappears into the sky even on a clear sunny day like today. I am so glad the price has dropped so much since the opening, or we would never have been able to afford this trip. The trip is said to take about three hours round trip (300 miles up), and I cannot wait to go up. I am pleased to hear that the cabin is pressurized so our ears will not be popping like they would in an airplane.

We start moving at a speed of 300 miles per hour. When we reach the top and look down to the Earth, I get a weird existential feeling. Not for the first time, I begin to fear that SEAA was wrong again. She convinced me to stay in a relationship I wasn’t fully content with, so what if the same thing is happening again. She helped suggest some vacations, but how do I know there wasn’t a better one?  

Having this view of the Earth is a crazy thing to have. We have about 30 minutes to sip cocktails and just stare out into the vastness of Earth and space before descending back into Canada. As I continue to look out onto the world, I realize I am just letting my mind run wild. I am happy currently, and that is all that matters. I know I am exactly where I should be. 

Food for thought: 
Does AR/VR ruin the reality of history like on this walking tour or does it enhance it? 
Space travel has been largely romanticized, especially in science fiction. If given the chance, would you travel out of this world or are you content to stay on this planet? 
Is it convenient to have your life connected by one thing (e.g., SEAA) or should some things be kept separate?