Earrings

I don't know, you tell me ... is this romantic or just over-the-top geeky?

Computer programmer Bernie Peng is in love with Tammy Li. Tammy loves playing "Bejeweled," a video game that started off as an online diversion but has blossomed into one of the most popular video games on or off the Internet, and has spawned dozens of similar games.

Last December Bernie hacked into the code of Tammy's video game and reprogrammed it so that a ring and a marriage proposal would appear on the screen once Tammy reached a certain score. She did and it did and she said "yes" and the couple plan to wed over the Labor Day weekend.

The company that created "Bejeweled" - PopCap Games - is surprisingly supportive of the New Jersey couple and plan to fly them to Seattle as part of their honeymoon, plus give away copies of "Bejeweled" as wedding favors.

By the way, you can play "Bejeweled" here.

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As a features writer for our local paper, one day I was interviewing a jeweler for a story I was working on about giving new life to old jewelry. I asked him to tell me about his most memorable client.

"I once did some work for a divorced woman," he related. "She had me take her old wedding band, which was inscribed, and carefully cut it into two pieces and make her a pair of earrings from it. Because of the inscription, one earring read 'With all' and the other earring read, 'my love.'

"When I asked why the woman had specifically wanted it that way, she answered, 'To remind me that the next time someone says that to me, I should let it go in one ear and out the other.' "

[selected from the Top Greetings website]

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WONDER for YOUR WEEK: Why do some people put more effort into the wedding than the marriage?

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