A lot of things went wrong with Anastasia Gladysheva's computer back in 2004, but the guy who repeatedly repaired it was just right.
Anastasia ordered a personal computer from someone she had met through a hiking group.
Dmitry Nedosekin was also a friend of the man from the hiking group.
"I worked with that guy," Dmitry says. "Everything was purchased for her, all the software had been prepared accordingly, set up, delivered. And she was happy."
Dmitry was at her flat for 30 or 40 minutes the day he delivered the computer, Anastasia says, and he showed her how everything worked before he left.
Not long after that, Anastasia, who was a tax accountant, discovered that her computer had stopped working just as she tried to meet a deadline. She called the company and Dmitry was dispatched to check out the problem.
"The Windows had been [corrupted]. So everything collapsed, and I had to delete everything from the hard drive," he says. "We had to reinstall everything, so it took a couple of hours. And we did it right there at her place. I ran a couple of tests to check for the hardware problems, for the memory problems, for the CPU problems and everything was perfect. Then, she called us again."
Dmitry returned to Anastasia's Moscow home a third time, replaced another part, assured her it was repaired and left.
"I told her you will be able to do whatever you want," he says. "But you know what? Three days later she called again. In all, we had to come in six times to fix the computer."
On the sixth time, when they discovered that the computer's screen had fried, Dmitry and his colleague told Anastasia they were cutting their losses.
"We told her, 'nope, we will just return you the money, take whatever is left of the computer. And then we'll just leave you alone,'" Dmitry says.
They suspected by this point that there may be an external factor at play. Anastasia's brother-in-law, who also worked in the technology field, was angry that she had not ordered the computer through him, and he may have sabotaged her machine.
"When we finally told her that she can't have a computer from us, that was a devastating blow to her," Dmitry says. "She cried, and I tried to comfort her and tried to reassure her. And I suggested, let's go somewhere for a walk and talk about that."
Anastasia went with Dmitry to a park, where they spent half the day walking and talking.
"Fast forward about three months and she called me and asked for help to deliver a new computer that she bought from a different company. That's how we started dating," Dmitry says. "I suggested we go somewhere else."
They both enjoyed hiking, they learned, which made sense since the mutual friend who brought them together was a hiker.
Dmitry was pursuing a doctorate in analytical chemistry when they met, and his studies made it challenging for him to travel extensively. But they hiked several trails together over the next couple of years, sometimes taking multi-day backpacking treks through the mountains.
"We moved in together after quite a romantic trip to Slovenia," Dmitry says, who was there for a conference.
They got engaged as a result of his spending eight months in Germany on a research trip.
"She came over there to live with me for maybe a month. And at that point, we decided it was probably time. So I proposed, and she agreed," he says.
Dmitry had no doubt she was the one for him.
"She was funny. It was always interesting together with her, and she was the driving force in my life," he says. "She was the one making my life interesting, entertaining, and she moved me forward quite a lot."
Anastasia and Dmitry were married on Nov. 11, 2007, in Moscow.
"It was a cold, rainy day," Anastasia says. "We had a lot of problems with our friends being late to the registry office (aka wedding palace). I was really concerned about my wedding gown that was too tight in places and was at risk of getting dirty on the way there."
There were two parties to celebrate their wedding -- one in the forest for their hiking buddies.
"Friends of ours were able to set up a tent or whatever and join us at the campfire with songs and things like that," he says. "We had another party for our family. That was a boring restaurant party."
Dmitry and Anastasia moved to Little Rock in 2010 when he got a postdoctoral position in research at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. He's a senior medical student at UAMS now. Anastasia is a nurse at UAMS.
The Nedosekins have two sons -- Vasily, 12, and George, 9.
Dmitry wasn't able to sort out the problems Anastasia had with that first computer but they are doing what they can to create a happy life since it brought them together.
"Maybe that was a bad hand, with her sister's husband," Dmitry says, "but it worked out well."
If you have an interesting how-we-met story or if you know someone who does, please call (501) 425-7228 or email:
More News
The first time I saw my future spouse:
She says: “He looked at me and I thought, ‘Wow, he has really black eyes.’”
He says: “We brought a computer to her place and she and her friends were trying to figure out the math for splitting the cost of some train tickets.”
On our wedding day:
She says: “When everything was over I was happy and relieved. The ceremony was not important. The fact that we got married was.”
He says: “I was excited. I just had a feeling that it was supposed to happen and it finally was happening so I was happy.”
My advice for a long happy marriage:
She says: “Always let your spouse follow his wishes and dreams. I have followed my husband to the U.S. when he got a position in research at UAMS. Then I supported him when he had decided to go to medical school. He also has stopped all of my crazy ideas and that is how we are happy after all these years.”
He says: “Respect the wishes of your spouse. Try to find out see why your spouse wants to do this or that because sometimes you don’t feel like it and it could be a big mistake not to listen.”