A Project Called Rosie

Four

With a glass of red wine in his hand, Gene unlocked the door. I left my bike in their hallway, removed my bag, and went in search of the Wife Project folder, removing Gene's manuscript from it. It was reduced to 16 double-sided pages by me.

He said, "Relax, Don, there's plenty of time. "We'll have a formal dinner before filling out the questionnaire. You should practice eating dinner with someone if you plan to date.

Of course, he was correct. Gene has a sizable wine collection that is arranged by area, vintage, and producer, and Claudia is a fantastic cook. He took me to his "cellar," which isn't really underground, where we chose a second bottle after he showed me his most recent acquisitions.

He took me to his "cellar," which isn't really underground, where we chose a second bottle after he showed me his most recent acquisitions. I was able to avoid small talk by playing a memory game with Eugenie when we were eating with Carl and Eugenie. As soon as I finished dessert, I set my folder on the table with the label "Wife Project," and she saw it.

Don, are you getting married?" she inquired.

“Correct.”

"Who to?"

I was about to explain when Claudia sent Eugenie and Carl to their rooms, which was a wise move considering their lack of knowledge.

I gave Claudia and Gene questionnaires. All of us received port from Gene.

I clarified that I had used multiple-choice questions, Likert scales, cross-validation, dummy questions, and surrogates in accordance with best practices for questionnaire design. An illustration of the final of them was requested by Claudia.

"Question 35: Do you consume kidneys? The right response is occasionally (c). testing for food-related issues. They will answer, "I eat anything," when you explicitly inquire about their dietary preferences, but you soon learn they are vegetarians.

I am aware that there are numerous justifications for being a vegetarian. But since I consume meat, I reasoned that it would be more practical if my partner did as well. It seemed sense at this early stage to outline the ideal response and then, if required, go back and review the questionnaire. Gene and Claudia were both reading.

For an appointment, I'm assuming (b) a touch early, Claudia replied.

This was obviously erroneous and showed that not even Claudia, a close friend, would make a good partner.

I answered, "The right response is (c) on time. "Habitual early arrival is a significant time waster over time."

I'd start a little early, Claudia replied. She might be making an effort. That's not a problem.

A fascinating point. I noted that for future reference, but I also made it clear that (d) a little late and (e) very late were unacceptably late.

Claudia remarked, "I think a lady is a little bit conceited if she calls herself a brilliant cook. "Just ask her whether she likes to cook. Tell them you do. This kind of advice—subtle linguistic nuances that I was unaware of—exactly matched what I was looking for. It occurred to me that although the respondent would not have noticed the difference if she were me, it was unrealistic to demand that my future partner possess the same lack of subtlety.

Claudia asked, anticipating the responses to two queries raised by my recent conversation with the Dean, "No jewelry, no makeup?". She said, "Jewelry isn't always about beauty. "Skip the jewelry question if you must, but preserve the makeup question. But simply inquire as to daily wear.

Body mass index, height, and weight Gene was moving quickly. Can't you perform the computation on your own?

I responded, "That's the point of the question. "Establishing their aptitude for simple math. I don't want a spouse who doesn't understand numbers.

Gene remarked, "I figured you might have wanted to see how they looked.

There's a fitness question," I said.

I was considering having s*x, Gene remarked.

Claudia said, "Just for a change," which was odd as Gene frequently discusses s*x. Yet, he had a valid point.

I'll include a query about HIV and herpes.

Claudia said, "Stop. You're being too finicky, I say.

I started to explain why having an incurable STD was a serious drawback when Claudia cut me off.

"Just about anything."

It was a reasonable reaction. Yet, my plan was to reduce the likelihood that I would choose poorly, wasting time. That inevitably raised the chance of making a type-two error—rejecting a qualified applicant. Yet, given that I was working with a sizable population, this danger was tolerable.

Now it's Gene's turn: "Nonsmoker, okay. But what is the proper response to drinking?

“Zero.”

Hold on. You brew. He indicated my port glass, which he had recently topped off. You consume a lot of alcohol.

I said that I was hoping the endeavor would help me get better.

We continued in this way, and I got some very great comments. Although I thought the questionnaire was less discriminatory now, I was still convinced that it would get rid of the most, if not all, of the ladies who had previously caused me difficulties. The woman eating apricot ice cream would have failed at least five tests.

I intended to publish advertisements on conventional dating websites, but in addition to providing the customary unsatisfactorily discriminating details like height, occupation, and whether or not I enjoyed long walks on the beach, I would also provide a link to the questionnaire.

Gene and Claudia recommended that I practice my social abilities by going on some face-to-face dates.

I printed some questionnaires and went back to the dating process that I had thought I had given up on forever because I could see the utility of evaluating the questions in the field while I waited for online replies to come in.

I started by signing up with Table for Eight, a for-profit dating service. Four men and four women, including me, were given information about a city restaurant where a reservation had been made after a certainly flawed preliminary matching procedure that was based on glaringly inadequate data. I packed four surveys and got there on time, at 8:00 p.m. There was just one woman there! The remaining three were tardy. It provided astonishing confirmation of the benefits of fieldwork. These women may have responded with option (b) a little early or option (c) on time, but their actions clearly showed otherwise. Due to the possibility that one instance may not be indicative of their overall performance, I made the decision to temporarily permit (d) to be a little late.

Don, we all run behind sometimes, Claudia said, and I could hear her saying it. Two more men were also seated at the table. We extended hands. I had the thought that this was similar to bowing before a martial arts match.

I evaluated my rivals. The man who identified himself as Craig was approximately my age, overweight, and wearing an uncomfortable white dress shirt. His teeth were unkempt, and he had a mustache. The second, Danny, appeared to be in good health and was probably a few years younger than I am. His clothing was white. He got tattoos on his arms and added some kind of makeup on his black hair.

Olivia was the woman who arrived on time, and she initially (and rationally) split her focus among the three men. She identified herself as an anthropologist. Danny mistook it for an archaeologist, and Craig then made a pygmy-related racial comment. Even I could see that Olivia wasn't impressed by these answers, and for a rare moment, I wasn't ashamed of my lack of social skills in front of the group. Olivia turned to face me, and I was just about to answer her inquiry about my line of work when the fourth male, Gerry, a lawyer, and two women, Sharon and Maria, an accountant and a nurse, respectively, arrived. Mary had picked a dress with the dual benefits of being cool and overtly s****l show on a hot night. Sharon was dressed in the typical business attire of a jacket and jeans. They appeared to be roughly my age, in my estimation.

Since a crucial life decision was at stake, the others' small-talk was an astonishing waste of time, so Olivia picked up her conversation with me again. I had committed the questionnaire to memory, per Claudia's advice. She suggested that I try to gradually incorporate the questions from the forms into conversation rather than asking them directly because that would create the wrong "dynamic". I had reminded her that subtlety was not my strong suit.She advised me to estimate my weight, height, and body mass index on my own and advised me not to inquire about STDs. Olivia's BMI was calculated at 19, which is thin but not anorexic. I put Maria the Nurse's at twenty-eight and Sharon the Accountant's at twenty-three. 25 is the suggested healthy upper limit. Instead of asking about IQ, I chose to estimate Olivia's intelligence based on her responses to inquiries regarding the historical significance of variations in syphilis susceptibility among native South American populations. I thought the topic of our intriguing chat could even let me slide in the inquiry about sexually transmitted illnesses.Her IQ was unquestionably higher than the necessary minimum. We were eventually left alone by Gerry the Lawyer after he made a few remarks that I believe were intended to be jokes.

The missing woman finally showed up at this moment, 28 minutes late. I used the time Olivia was preoccupied to fill out three of the four questionnaires on my lap with the information I had already gathered. The newest visitor claimed to be "usually late," so I didn't waste paper on her. Gerry the Attorney, who likely billed by the six-minute interval and should have accordingly valued time highly, seemed unconcerned about this.

His talk started to sound more and more like Gene's, thus obviously he valued s*x more.

The server showed up with menus as Late Lady entered the room. Olivia looked over hers before inquiring about the pumpkin soup's veggie stock composition.

I missed the response. The crucial details were revealed by the query. Vegetarian.

She might have noticed my disappointed expression. I am a Hindu. I had previously assumed Olivia was Indian based on her sari and physical characteristics. I wasn't sure if the term "Hindu" was being used to denote cultural heritage or to represent a real statement of religious belief. I had previously received criticism for failing to recognize this distinction.

Do you consume ice cream? I queried. After the vegetarian declaration, the query made sense. Extremely cool.

Yeah, I'm not a vegan. as long as there are no eggs in it.

Nothing was improving at all.

Do you have a preferred taste?

“Pistachio. Without a doubt pistachio. She grinned.

Danny and Maria had gone outside for a smoke. My duty was virtually over after three women, including Late Woman, were eliminated.

After receiving my lamb's brains, I split one in half to reveal the inside anatomy. I called Sharon's attention to it when she was conversing with Craig the Racist. Do you value intelligence?

It's four down, mission done. Once the others had left in their pairs and I had continued my chat with Olivia, who was fantastic company, I even ordered another drink. We continued to chat until we were the last diners left. Olivia offered me her contact information, which I took note of out of politeness as I stuffed the questionnaires into my backpack. After that, we parted ways. As I rode home, I thought back on the meal. Although the process of selection had been utterly ineffective, the questionnaire had been extremely useful. Without the questions it raised, I would have definitely tried to ask Olivia out again.

who was a fascinating and pleasant individual. Maybe after our third, fourth, and fifth dates, when the restaurant's whole dessert menu was egg-based, we would have gone across the street to the ice cream shop only to find that they did not carry egg-free pistachio. Knowing this before investing in the relationship was preferable.