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When I decided it was time to
make my relationship with my girlfriend of five years official, I
couldn't think of a better way to pop the question than to use
something so representative of me. It hit me one day in December, to
somehow incorporate a mod into the proposal. I envisioned making an
all white PC with "bridal" accents for her, and using that as a
visual aid for the proposal.
This was very opportune timing, as she told me a few months
previously that she needed a new PC for work because her Pentium II
just wasn't cutting it anymore. There was no money in the company
budget to upgrade her PC so I told her I'd build a PC from the spare
parts I had laying around.
I wanted to get it done ASAP,
and ended up finishing it in about three weeks. I cut a side window
(which I hand etched with the words "will you do me the honor"), and
a front window (custom crafted out of some Plexiglas I had) below
the 5.25" bays (which I then attached a cake topper I purchased on
the net in front of it). I painted the entire case white (inside and
out, as well as the power supply), vinyl dyed the DVD-ROM, wrapped
EVERY wire with white wire wrap and heatshrink (and highlighting the
wires with string pearls I picked up at a craft store). I added lace
from said craft store to the power supply and side window, and as
the piece de resistance, I created a fake three tiered wedding cake
(out of those round wood boxes from craft stores) decorated with
mini ribbon roses attached to the top of the case (the top tier of
the cake removed to display the ring inserted inside). Also, you can
see in the pictures that I accented the case with the mini ribbon
roses and lacy wedding-ish stuff. Cutting the front window meant
that I would need to relocate the power button, so I placed it below
the window and attached a 25mm rhinestone to look like a diamond,
and when depressed, would power the PC up. I even went so far as to
create a desktop theme for her, with a wallpaper of her ring, and
matching icons (her "My Computer" was a ring, "My Documents" was
another view of the ring, and "Network Places" was a diamond.
I was incredibly nervous but luckily I surprised her when she came
home from work and she said yes! She was kind of fixated on the PC
for a minute or two until she realized that there was a hefty chunk
of ice waiting for her in the top of the cake. Now she can look at
the PC and be reminded what a nerd she is marrying... I figured it
was representative of me, geekiness and all.
I posted pictures of the
Matrimony Mod on a few websites, and it has generated a lot of buzz.
The response has been nothing short of phenomenal. It has been
featured as
MaximumPC's Rig of the Month for April 2004; I have
received a write-up on
Wired.com;
Bride Magazine will be running a
clip about it later in the year; I have submitted a project log to
Wiley Publishers for inclusion in a book titled "Going
Mod: 9 Cool Case Mod Projects" which
was published in November 2004; The Matrimony Mod has made the
front page of
[H]ardOCP.com, and I have received a spread in the
Mother's Day edition of the
local newspaper. There are even postings
on forums that I didn't originate! Not too bad for a guy that just
wanted an original way to propose!
Look at the pictures below, let
me know what you think!
mike@fury-pc.com
UPDATE: The Matrimony Mod is no
longer in my fiancée's office. It was a little too large for the
space, and it came in handy having it home for photographs. Instead,
I built a
modded Shuttle system
to
take the place of the Matrimony Mod.
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