"[The engagement] is unofficial. He bought me a promise ring, but ring or no ring, it's the same thing," she says.

No marriage date is set, but Baker passed up plans for a high-powered job to move to the Caribbean after graduation to be with Lin.

"I was going to go to some high-tech consulting career, because that's what I thought I was supposed to do, but I've been really burnt out," she says.

Baker stresses that one should be careful while meeting people on the Web, but she says that for the sincere, there is love in virtual reality.

"The Internet has a really bad reputation, but I think that's exaggerated," she says. "There were some really freaky people, but there were a lot of genuine, nice people."

Tie the Twist

Rachel M. Kadel '98 was not content to settle for the conventional ring.

After she and fiancée Nico Garcia, a 35-year-old MIT graduate, had been dating for almost a year, Kadel decided the two should tie the knot.

"One day, while we were cooking dinner, I worked up the courage," she says. "I grabbed a twist tie to use for a ring. He didn't say yes or no at that point. He said he would tell me on our one-year anniversary."

One month later Garcia agreed, as the two celebrated their anniversary at a North End restaurant. They will be married June 13 at Memorial Church.

The couple met at a mutual friend's house when they both arrived to watch the screening of a science-fiction television show. According to Kadel, the two "fell in friendship" at first sight.

"I thought he was a very nice guy who gave very good back rubs," she says.

The two were reunited over the Internet, where they were both involved in a newsgroup dedicated to discussing problems with the Church of Scientology. When a fellow newsgroup user (who was actually a member the Church) declared them "suppressive persons," Garcia organized a dinner to celebrate their new status.

It was their first date.

Rival Romance