Popular demand

A few issues were raised with our recent survey so I have created this addendum survey to try to rectify a few of the problems.

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[Embedded survey]

Thanks for taking the time to provide us with your answers to these very important questions.

Ugh, I can't believe this happened

It seems that I let my guard down after a productive morning.

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[Embedded survey]

Now that this has happened I guess I am curious to see how this goes.

Oh, and I think it is clear that I have a pretty questionable sense of humour.

The results you have all been waiting for

A few days ago I posted a survey that I requested our readers complete to help me learn about the motivations for an upcoming trip that my grandmother, mother, and sister will be taking. The second half of the survey dealt with where and how we should celebrate my upcoming convocation.

I have given people a few days to answer and response numbers seem to have stabilized so I am not ready to release the results. Also, it took me a little while for me to arrange with Rebecca to have her create appropriate visual representations of the survey responses.

Question 1

1. My mother, grandmother, and sister will be arriving in Halifax in a few weeks for a period of time that coincides with my MA convocation ceremony, and also happens to be less than two months after Neil and Rebecca eloped in Las Vegas. Given these details, what seems to be the most likely reason for this travel?

Responses:

These three people are wedding crazy and want to see the bride and groom to celebrate the recent wedding (the convocation story is just a cover for their real intentions).
6.5%

The convocation and wedding are both motivating factors for the trip, though the wedding will be the cause of more celebrating and gifts than the convocation.
41.9%

The convocation is the sole reason for the trips as it symbolizes a real accomplishment, whereas the wedding was just a relatively sterile legal ceremony that doesn't merit celebration.
25.8%

The real reason was that all three women really just wanted to come to Canada's party capital, Halifax, for a crazy weekend on the town.
25.8%

Visualization:



Analysis:

I was very satisfied with these results as they basically confirm my position. Clearly the wedding, along with the convocation, were motivating factors for the trip. To suggest that the wedding did not play a part in the decision-making process would seem to be unfounded, certainly if we trust these results.

Question 2

It is likely that at least one celebratory meal can be expected during the aforementioned visit. Where should we go for such a meal?

Responses:

Saege - Not only is it where we went for Neil's convocation, but is also, arguably, nice.
32.3%

Cousins - The menu includes most of the classic North American meat dishes and most meals also include a serving of Jello and a roll.
12.9%

McDonald's - Inexpensive, quick service, and unlikely to be overrun with other celebrants.
35.5%

An apartment cooked meal - Would allow for more meat per person than any of the restaurants (and the meal could include carrot sticks if we wanted it to).
19.4%

Visualization:



Analysis:

The responses to this question definitely surprised me. I certainly didn't expect that McDonald's would receive as much support as it did (given that this was a convocation meal). I was pleasantly surprised to see how much support the home cooked meal had, though it turned out to be insufficient. Anyway, the good news is that I am not bound by these responses as that would mean that I couldn't go to the restaurant that I subsequently decided upon.

A Few Quick Notes 361

-Today was a near-perfect Fall day. It was cool, but perfect for walking, and clear. The only aspect of today's weather that may mar its near-perfection is that it seems possible that we could have frost tonight.

-As some of you will have likely seen, earlier today we posted a survey. So far the response has been pretty good. If you haven't taken it already and are interested in checking it out just head here.

-My father is in town for the weekend to attend a meeting. While looking through some of the schedules that he forwarded to us I noticed that the conference planners had made plans assuming that the family members of the principle attendees would also be attending. With this knowledge in hand I suggested to my father that he might try to snag us an invite to the dinner and comedy show tonight. Not surprisingly, he was interested in seeing if this would be possible.

Almost immediately I realized that I likely wouldn't be able to attend even if my father was successful as I would have school work to do (which I am actively avoiding at the moment). It turned out that Neil and Rebecca were free and were able to take advantage of the invitation to the event.

-A few days ago I read that MUNSU lost close to $100 000 on its September Snoop Dogg show. In the following days CBC carried the story and confirmed the size of the loss. Sadly, I am not particularly surprised that this show wasn't a success for MUNSU. Hopefully this loss isn't too problematic for them.

-For a few days it seemed that Gadhafi would be making a quick visit to St. John's. Now it seems that he won't be pitching his tent in St. John's, which I think is rather unfortunate. I guess such a visit isn't particularly appealing when you know that the foreign minister will be there to give you a lecture.

-I guess I should try to get back to reading I keep referencing.

We need your help

A few weeks ago I started to hear rumblings about my mother, grandmother, and sister taking a trip to Halifax to coincide with my convocation. Soon after Neil and Rebecca's wedding these rumblings began to sound a little more like a tidal wave that was about to crash down all around me.

Anyway, I have been suggesting one reason for the visit, a position that both Neil and Rebecca disagree with. Given our stalemate it seemed the only way forward was to create a web-based survey to try to ascertain the true reason behind these trips.

So if you would all be willing to complete the survey, which can be found here, we can get to the bottom of this rather important issue.

I am really looking forward to having things cleared up.