A Long-Awaited Engagement (and the usual Geeky Iron Man stuff)

It's finally happened, blog!  I am engaged to be married to Andrew.

This isn't a huge surprise since we've been discussing it for a long time, and picked out the diamond together... but it's still exciting to say that we're officially getting married!

Since I know everyone wants details, here's the story behind our engagement.  Warning: extreme nerdiness ahead.  (Also, I make no apologies for the crazy e-mail screen caps.  Right-click and "view image" if you want to see it full size, i.e., actually read it.)

So the first thing you have to know is that I'm a big fan of Iron Man.

Noooooo...

In fact, I enjoy doing some ghost writing / character acting / online roleplay as Tony Stark because why not, I do what I want.

Andrew decided to exploit this hobby obsession of mine and, with his usual extreme level of preparation, e-mailed me as Rhodey with a little puzzle for me to solve.  The puzzle involved figuring out a hashed ("encrypted") password to use with a username to open an e-mail.

Tony/Rhodey banter ensued.

Now, I don't have any experience with encryption, and only minimal experience with programming.  But like the Iron Man himself, I can't stand leaving a puzzle unsolved, and dedicated myself to learning what I could about hashed passwords.

Andrew, meanwhile, had set up a JARVIS account to help me.

But I didn't bother to use JARVIS and instead managed to get into the account on my own within about 48 hours.

The account's e-mails outlined a "hand-off" and gave the date and time and place for where Andrew wanted to meet me.

The attachment:

In other words:

You can read more about the puzzle's technical elements on Andrew's blog post about it.

So the date was set.  I felt smug that I'd managed to solve the riddle and gotten myself a little bit of practice with a computer puzzle.

We went to the Post and Beam restaurant on Crenshaw, where we ate dinner and talked about nothing in particular.

 

Here's the patio where we were.

Then Andrew got down on one knee and said, "Julie, we've known each other for about seven years now, and I love you.  Will you do me the honor of being my wife?"

And he busted out this bad boy.

(For those who don't get it, it's a reference to Iron Man 1, below.)

So then I nodded and he put the ring on my finger, and the restaurant exploded with cheers and clapping.

The bar tender popped open a bottle of champagne for us.

Lots of excited yelling and congratulations all around.

It took some getting used to, but now I can say Andrew is my fiance and the future is looking bright for us!

My parents are over the moon and I've never been closer to them; they both approve heartily of Andrew.  Meanwhile, Andrew's mother begrudgingly tolerates the situation, and my friends all gruffly agree that it's "about time."

Our marriage is tentatively planned for September and we have set up a website here, though warning, it's not nearly done yet... the upcoming months are going to be crazy!

Also, I cut my hair Tony-style pretty much immediately following the engagement.  (Pics to follow.)  (Justification: I can wear a wig to my wedding.  Captain America: Civil War premieres May 6th and I called dibs on cosplaying Tony months ago.)  (Andrew is going as Captain America.)

Wait, what?