Mediaman proposes

On Friday December 10th. I proposed to my girlfriend Rachel.

Backtrack a few years ago. In a conversation with a few friends Rachel says "He'd better get around to it in three years...by five he'd better have done it."

Fast forward to August 2004. In a dinner conversation with friends they ask "When are you two getting married?" Same joke comes up again and I sluff it off by saying..."If I were going to do it...it'd take me about 2-3 months to put together."

Fast forward to October. I make the decision to propose. It's funny how your mind goes sideways when you finally get your head set upon a target date. All of a sudden you get easily distracted. Your mind wanders while planning how you are going to propose. It wanders at the most awkward of times...like driving.

So I set about the task of how I would propose. Now I'm a producer in Television so I have access to ...well...tv things. I set about to produce the proposal as a movie trailer. Yes...graphics, sound, music, big balls announcer...the whole nine yards. But how to get her to watch it...without getting wise to it.

So I create a DVD. Rachel and I usually watch movies on Friday night to wind down from the work week. But the weekend of the 10th. was a busy weekend. Also...the 12th. of December marked our 5th. year anniversary. So...remember the line "he'd better have done it by 5 years."?

The 12th. it today, Sunday, but we held our annual Christmas party at our house on Saturday night. Now if you think I'm going to be "the host with the most" at a house party with a ring burning a hole in my pocket...forget it. (You know...that distraction thing). So that meant it would all go down Friday night...so she'd have the chance to bling the ring at the party in front of her friends.

Providing, of course, if she said yes.

Rewind a few weeks...I picked out the ring and brought it home but where to hide the rock? Last time I hid something in my office she found it in seconds. I hid a birthday present in a drawer under a whole bunch of tech papers. What did she do? Oh...she needs some paper...so into the office she goes and straight for the drawer and rifles through it looking for blank paper...and what's this? A present?

I didn't want to take that chance again. The only place I figured she wouldn't have the slightest chance of finding it was if I hid the ring box inside my PC. Yes...tucked it up on top of the DVDRW drive inside the case behind the bezel door. She'd actually have to take the PC apart to find it.

I figured the odds were pretty good that I wouldn't come home to find here in the middle of a pile of PC parts looking at me saying "I needed a pen."

Back to the story.

From time to time I've been known to come home with the occaissional "advance copy" of a movie. So I decided I'd use that as the vehicle to fool her. I created a DVD with menu and trailers for The Polar Express. I come home early from work as she's got the day off and find her just sitting down from her chores of preparing for Saturday night's party.

She babbles at me about her day and all I'm hearing is that Charlie Brown adult voice. You know the "wah wah wah wah wah" voice. (That distraction thing.) She's sitting down for a cup of tea and it's about 3pm.

Up I go to my office to fish out what I need.

Now...for those of you who've done this...you know the moments before you ask are like jumping out of an airplane. You feel like the red light just went green...they slid back the door...the wind is howling and some guy is yelling "Okay...time to jump. GO GO GO GO!"

That's how I was upstairs. I got the ring box shoved into my pocket...Had to remember to change into loose fitting jeans so there'd be no bulge from the ring box. (Nobody say nuthin about that.) And I tuck the DVD under my arm...and down I go.

She's sitting there watching the Food Network...starts talking to me...I'm hearing "wah wah wah wha" and I launch into the speel.

"Wanna check something out?" I say.

"Sure...what is it?" she says.

"Looky what I got" as I show her the DVD box complete with a mocked up Polar Express cover.

"Ooooh" she says "Where'd you get that?...How'd you get that? It's still in the theatre."

"I have my sources....just check out the first two minutes...it's cool...we'll watch the rest later."

Now...if you know my Rachel...to get her sitting still for more than 3 minutes at a time is a chance you jump on. Usually...you start the movie and she's "Keep watching..I just am going to use the bathroom."

Not what I wanted to have happen at this particular moment.

In the DVD goes and I had made a menu using the trailer we got in to the station. So...a bit of video from the movie rolls by and the it transitions to the menu. It has the PLAY. FEATURES. LANGUAGES etc. on it so it looks like a real menu.

Only PLAY works though.

I press play and the first trailer rolls up. I stuck in A SHARK'S TALE as she'd seen that movie and I wanted to set the pace to make it seem like a real DVD complete with previews before the actual movie begins.

I'm standing behind her with remote in my hand and she's watching. And I'm praying for the phone not to ring or someone to come to the door. It'd be just my luck for that to happen.

SHARK'S TALE preview ends and the next trailer begins...THE trailer. Up comes the "approved for all audiences" text and I'm screaming in my head.

"Oh god oh god oh god."

The trailer was complete with graphics, quotes from movie critics like "It's about time" says the New York Post and all that. About 40 seconds into the trailer it goes. "Nervous Film Studios presents a Doug Kronlund proposal...Will you marry me Rachel?"

At that moment I do the traditional bended knee thing with ring in box presented. She cried..or was crying and the first word out of her mouth was, thank god, yes.

I put the ring on her finger...and for a guy you're thinking..."sigh...that's my plasma tv on your finger." But she said yes...she said yes first thing and she was shaking like a leaf. For that matter...so was I.

It was all worth it. It is worth it.

And I did it before her joking ultimatum of 5 years....beat the deadline by 48 hours.