A chance meeting turns into a chance of a lifetime: Jennifer Hsu and Brent Dearth tried in vain to get friends to accompany them to a lecture by inventor Ray Kurzweil at Sixth and I Synagogue. So each went alone. Two years later, they were married.

After hearing that inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil would be appearing at Sixth and I Synagogue in conjunction with a documentary about him, Jenn invited several friends to come along.

Brent Dearth got the same response from his buddies. On March 10 he showed up, early and alone, to get a good seat.

“So,” he asked her, “what are you going to ask Kurzweil?” On their first anniversary, after dinner in Chinatown, they took a sentimental walk past Sixth and I. At the spot where they had first met, Brent dropped to a knee and proposed.

When Ray Kurzweil returned to Sixth and I for another discussion in November, the couple stood in line to thank him for giving them the opportunity to meet. Kurzweil sent them a signed collection of his books as a wedding gift. […]