Mary and Nick met online in July on 2021; well, on Skype for Business. They were both Software Engineers in the same work training and ended up connecting. They texted for a month before Nick moved to Houston, TX just in time for their first date. Mary has significantly increased how long Nick can drive for a roadtrip. While Nick’s increased Mary’s spice tolerance. They’re adventurous eaters who are always looking for new restaurants. Nick speaks Chinese (Mandarin) and Mary’s trying her hardest to learn! They attend DragonCon every year and usually manage to put together at least one cosplay.

Nick’s a software engineer who works on tracking airplanes. He grew up in Atlanta and graduated from Georgia Tech (Computer Science M.S. 2020, B.S. 2018). In his free time you can usually find him at the gym, playing video games, or cooking with so much chili it’s like he pepper sprayed the kitchen.

Mary’s a software engineer who graduated from MIT in 2018 (Geology B.S.) and is a board member on her local alumni association. She grew up in the mountains outside of Albuquerque, NM and brought Nick to his first Balloon fiesta in 2024. She’s also lived in Victorville, CA, Boston, MA, Oklahoma City, OK and now lives with Nick in Houston, TX. She likes extreme couponing and creative writing. Mary loves a weird adventure from tracking down the Hess Triangle in New York, to finding Victorian-era pee deflectors outside a bar in London.