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The Engagement

November 18th, 2008 by Derek

I’m engaged! I proposed to Joni last night and she said yes!

How did I do it? Well…

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It was Monday night, after class. We both got done around 8:00 and headed home. While Joni waited unsuspectingly at home, I set my plan into action. After getting everything set up, I called her and asked her to come over.

I intercepted her before she got to my place, and I told her I had to mail a package. The post office is just a couple buildings down, so we made the walk down there. On our return, we walked through the water park, just by my building. You can see it on the map above – it’s the circle below the stick figures.

As we passed through the park, I reached into my pocket and with my iPhone, signaled the show to start. I pointed at the building across the street, where big strange white boxes were flying across the building. It was mysterious, but clearly patterned. Then it stopped, and in giant letters across the building we saw this:

2 years, 2 months, 27 days, 20 hours

7 months, 19 days, 9 hours

It was how long we had known each other and how long we had been dating, respectively. As I narrated the display, Joni realized what was going on. Next we saw words that reminded us of places we had been, things we had experienced and other things that we have shared: Munich, 1L year, Punkin Chunkin, etc.

This is the building:

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Next, the side of the building turned into a re-enactment of a conversation I had with Chris Landrigan just a couple days before I asked Joni out for the first time. It went something like this:

Chris: yo – so you and joni should go out

me: wait… what?

[...]

me: i definitely don’t want to miss an opportunity here by letting it pass

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So with “I LOVE YOU JONI” in giant letters, music playing in the water park, and among the trees, I got down on one knee, presented a ring and asked Joni to marry me. She managed to get the first two letters of YES! out.

We couldn’t be happier. This has been a long time in the making, and I’m so glad to be at this point now. Joni is amazing and I look forward to getting married next year!

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How did I do it? With my iPhone, I sent the command to a computer on my balcony to start the show. The computer was connected to a projector, which displayed everything on the building directly across the street. You can see the outline of that in the diagram at the top.

What’s the plan now? Joni and I both graduate in the Spring and will be moving back to Las Vegas, where we’re both from. We’ll take the bar exam and then get married soon after that. We both have jobs with law firms and will start sometime after moving back. It’s going to be a big year!

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