thenerdguy
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- May 20, 2003
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So... I decided last month it was time to make my relationship with my girlfriend of 5 years official. An earlier plot of mine to propose to her had been thwarted when she began to suspect something, so on the train one day in December the following idea hit me: change gears and 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. I planned out all the stuff I was thinking on the train and got to work.
This was very opportune timing, as she told me a few months ago 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 used the following:
AMD Athlon XP 1700+
Asus A7S333 Motherboard
256MB DDR-2700
40GB Western Digital 7200rpm HDD
Apollo GeForce 4 MX420
Lite-On 52x CDRW
350W PSU
3Com NIC
Onboard sound
2 Cold Cathodes
White LEDs
White rounded IDE cables
Window kit
Some old Codegen case
I wanted to get it done ASAP to do it before Christmas so, sadly, there is no project log- just the final pictures. I ended up cutting a side window (which I hand etched with the words "will you do me the honor" with my trusty Dremel), a front window (custom crafted out of some plex I had- matching the curve of the case was FUN!) below the 5.25" bays (which I then attached a cake topper I purchased on the net in front of it), painting the entire case white (inside and out, as well as the PSU), vinyl dyeing the CDRW, wrapping EVERY wire with white wire wrap and heatshrink (and highlighting the wires with string pearls I picked up at a craft store), adding lace from said craft store to the PSU and side window, and as the piece de resistance, I created a fake 3 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 pics that I accented the case like mad 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-- unfortunately I have no pictures of that as the system is now at her job).
I was nervous as hell but luckily I surprised her when she came home 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 . Hehe now she can look at the PC at work everyday and be reminded what a nerd she is marrying... I figured it was representative of me, geekiness and all. Look at the pics below, let me know what you guys think!
So... I decided last month it was time to make my relationship with my girlfriend of 5 years official. An earlier plot of mine to propose to her had been thwarted when she began to suspect something, so on the train one day in December the following idea hit me: change gears and 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. I planned out all the stuff I was thinking on the train and got to work.
This was very opportune timing, as she told me a few months ago 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 used the following:
AMD Athlon XP 1700+
Asus A7S333 Motherboard
256MB DDR-2700
40GB Western Digital 7200rpm HDD
Apollo GeForce 4 MX420
Lite-On 52x CDRW
350W PSU
3Com NIC
Onboard sound
2 Cold Cathodes
White LEDs
White rounded IDE cables
Window kit
Some old Codegen case
I wanted to get it done ASAP to do it before Christmas so, sadly, there is no project log- just the final pictures. I ended up cutting a side window (which I hand etched with the words "will you do me the honor" with my trusty Dremel), a front window (custom crafted out of some plex I had- matching the curve of the case was FUN!) below the 5.25" bays (which I then attached a cake topper I purchased on the net in front of it), painting the entire case white (inside and out, as well as the PSU), vinyl dyeing the CDRW, wrapping EVERY wire with white wire wrap and heatshrink (and highlighting the wires with string pearls I picked up at a craft store), adding lace from said craft store to the PSU and side window, and as the piece de resistance, I created a fake 3 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 pics that I accented the case like mad 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-- unfortunately I have no pictures of that as the system is now at her job).
I was nervous as hell but luckily I surprised her when she came home 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 . Hehe now she can look at the PC at work everyday and be reminded what a nerd she is marrying... I figured it was representative of me, geekiness and all. Look at the pics below, let me know what you guys think!
