About Janice and Rich
Janice Tsai and Richard Sharp started dating their junior year at Northwestern University after being in the Experimental Mathematics class together. Janice had known Rich's roommate Mitch since her freshman year, frequented the North Side Coffee Shop below his freshman dorm, attended Philharmonia orchestra concerts (where Rich played viola), and actually met Rich his sophomore year while stopping by to see if Mitch was around. (Rich does not remember this.) Janice passed Rich by in class one day and noticed he was cute. She thought it would be a good idea to try to set up her roommate Julie with Rich, but that didn't happen. After a drive to Midway Airport to pick up Mike Vea, Janice and Rich started dating in the Spring of 2000.
Janice is currently a Technical Solution Architect at IBM who enjoys carpooling. Her favorite color is blue, so naturally she works for Big Blue. Bikes are Fun!
Richard is currently a graduate student at Princeton University. He is in the Program for Applied and Computational Mathematics. He likes wine, smelly cheese, and art films on Thursdays.
The Engagement Story
The original date that Rich and I had wanted for the wedding was August 9, 2003 (2^3, 3^2, 2003). Last summer, my friend Mark got married at the Patrick Haley Mansion in Joliet. He recommended it, and I started calling reception locations around July just to check on availibility. I figured having a year ahead of time was plenty of time to choose a reception site.
On Friday, July 12, 2002, I discovered that most sites in Chicago were already completely booked. The Newberry Library had two dates open, July 5 and July 12. The woman I spoke to asked us to come on Saturday evening to see the location and to decide if we wanted to book one of the remaining days. Rich and I went in the morning (we had the L.A.T.E. ride in the evening). We walked into the foyer of the Newberry and immediately put a deposit down to reserve it. We figured July 12, 2003 was a good of a date as any (2^2 + 3, 2^2*3, 2003). That evening, as we were passing by on our bikes, we stopped in to see how everything would look when it was decorated for a wedding. The events planning women informed us that we had come just in time; three other couples had stopped by after us to book the same date! We were very lucky, especially since we had only decided to book something the previous day. Rich went back to New Jersey after the bike ride.
At this point in time, Rich and I were not yet officially engaged, but we had secured a location for our wedding. I figured a proposal would happen in August in Maine when I would see Rich next. The weekend after we booked our reception, I had Chris and Shelly's wedding reception to go to in Milwaukee. Shelly emailed me that week and asked if I could pick up her cousin Tom from the airport to bring up to her reception. I said that I could.
At O'Hare that Saturday, I was waiting for Tom by the the arrivals drive-through area. I call Shelly and ask her about Tom's flight. She acted disconcerted and didn't say too much; I figured she was just stressed out because it was the day of her reception. Moments later, Rich walked out of the baggage claim area. He had bought a last minute flight on United and conspired with Chris and Shelly to surprise me. I couldn't stop asking "What are you doing here?" We then went up to Milwaukee.
Rich had bought us tickets for Ravinia that for Sunday night. We had dinner in Evanston at the Roxy Cafe and a very nice time listening to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra play Gershwin. After the concert, Rich took me out onto the rocks at the Lakefill at Northwestern and proposed. Admist the tears and hyperventilation, I said "Yes."
Contact Us - We're married now!
