How are you doing? Did you see the Super Bowl? Was that a great game or what?! I mean, check out all those passes, man! I gotta give it to Eli Manning though, the man knows how to be a team player! But talk is cheap, so lets get to what’s up with moi…

Remember Kaitlin, my new friend, the redhead? I met her after I dropped off Aaliyah. We went on a date last week. I know a couple of you wished me luck with her and some of you warned me that I was totally on the rebound. Well, you’re right–thanks for knocking some sense into me. It was on the date with her that I realized I should take it a bit slow.

We went to a nice seafood restaurant in Tribeca. The chef loves me there because I eat everything–so the desserts are always on the house. The evening was going well and we were learning about each other. By the time we were done with the appetizers, her phone rang. Now, I know that it’s rude to listen in on people’s conversations but she said, “I’m with my boyfriend now. Gotta go.” Boyfriend? I mean, I must’ve missed that email because I thought we were on our first date!

So when she got off the phone, I jokingly asked her, “So, we’re already going steady?” Unphased, she answered, “Ya, anything wrong with that? Oh, by the way, we’re going to an all Valentine’s dinner on Valentine’s Day with my friends and their boyfriends and fiancés. I’ve already set it up for us. All my friends can’t wait to meet you. One of my cousins is going to be there, too.” I saw that she had already taken the job of my PDA. I was trying not to react badly. “But Kaitlin, I have some other plans…”

“What?!” she freaked out. “I thought we hit it off really well the other day. I thought you were really interested in me.” Her voice was getting a little bit louder than normal. She took a breath and said, “I had plans for us, you know?” “Um… plans? What sort of plans?” I was just trying to contain the situation at this point. I felt bad but it seemed to me like she had plans for the rest of my life. I lost my appetite and didn’t even finish my baked salmon. Maybe she had too much wine? I don’t know. Maybe my luck is really that bad with the ladies now. It’s kinda daunting for a guy like me when I’m not even fully back into the dating scene and there are already “plans.” Ya know what I mean?

I kept quiet and sipped my wine for the remainder of the night. I didn’t want any part in making it worse. I just waited until she was done with her dinner and asked for the check as soon as I could. We got out of the restaurant and walked in awkward silence towards Broadway. She got a cab there and left. I know you guys had high hopes for Kaitlin, but I don’t think I’ll be seeing her again.

The next day I took Irina to the poetry slam. It was a big spoken word fest in honor of Black History Month. I wanted her to make a new friend and meet Frederick. I also wanted Frederick to meet Irina because they are totally on the opposite sides of the political poles but hey, that’s what they call ‘diversity’, right? It was fantastic to see the two of them together.

They had a couple of arguments about the Super Tuesday primary vote between Hillary and Obama. “Hillary Clinton shouldn’t have been so factional. She shouldn’t have attacked Obama on the Social Security issue–which we all know was false,” said Frederick. “Obama’s way out in left field. Just because you hang out with the Hyde Park crowd and mobsters, doesn’t mean you should lead the country,” retorted Irina. To which Frederick responded, “Man, just because the brother’s creating some waves and making change doesn’t mean he’s out in left field!” Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea, two opposing poles meeting. I was glad another performance started. The poem was about history and change and living the American Dream.

“This is going to be a historic election for America,” said Frederick. “We have a chance to have the first ever black or the first ever woman president. This could signal to the world that we are changing our views. We can be the change that we want to see in the world. Dr. King’s dream could come true.” Irina agreed and smiled and said, “And I can tell my grandkids that I was there!” Frederick laughed at how innocent Irina looked. Historic indeed, imagine a person like Irina all of a sudden working just to see some change. Are you anticipating change too? What’s your take on this whole election?

Talk about security, Megan’s computer crashed. She thought it was a virus attack and she didn’t know what to do. Steve was out of town on a trip to meet his geek friends at MIT so she called me up. And boy, rescuing data from her computer was a big mess. Megan’s one of those people who saves everything on the desktop. No wonder she couldn’t find anything! I had to help her clean out her computer.

We put her files in different folders so she can be more organized. For a person who is so organized in real life, I thought she’d be organized on the computer too, but her files were all over the place. It turned out that her file wasn’t missing–it was just saved in a folder that she didn’t know about. Sometimes we’re so busy with life that we can’t even take time to keep track of everything. It happens to me too, it happens to the best of us. What I do is take some time off, or find some free time while I’m working and clean out my files every now and then.

Organizing doesn’t end with the files on your desk or computer. Is your mail organized, too? I’ve been getting some mails from some of you asking why the newsletter is not arriving anymore. Are you finding it in the bulk or junk folder? Do me a favor, put newsletter@123greetings.info in your contacts list or address book. You’ll get it straight in your inbox. If you’re still having trouble, shoot me an email. My friends, if you don’t receive my mail, who else is going to?

I got home, and guess who was waiting on my stoop? No, not Kong. It was Jeffrey! He wanted to find out stuff about Kate. Ya, I was weirded out at first, too. I thought it was some kinda stalker scheme. What he really wanted was my advice and my help for a Valentine’s Day surprise.

I’m not going to divulge too much info here because it’s supposed to be a surprise. Kate usually doesn’t read my newsletters anyway so I’m going to take some liberty and tell you guys. Jeffrey wanted to know Kate’s favorite color, food, flowers, and if she liked candles–the whole works. He wanted to set the mood for Valentine’s Day. “I don’t want it to be on the day of, that’s too predictable and she might be expecting something already, so I’m going to surprise her this weekend,” confided Jeffrey. That’s not a bad idea actually. All you tough guys, take note! Are you ready for V-day? You know she’s going to be expecting something, right?

He had some really great ideas and we talked about it for hours. I needed to take my mind off my date anyway, so I indulged in his mushy conversation. (Things we do for friends!) It was almost midnight when I was saved by the bell. I was getting tired and ready to kick Jeffrey out of my place. Adrian was giving me weird looks and smiles when he came in. He had already branded me as the “Love Doc” at our Chinese New Year Dim Sum fest. The phone rang and it was Irina. She invited me to an Anti-Valentine’s Day party. “You’re going to be my single guy friend,” she said. Oh thank goodness! No plans. No commitments. No mushy stuff–especially after I helped brainstorm ideas for Mr. Romeo in da flesh. I was in serious need of some light-hearted Irina humor. When I hung up, Jeffrey took his cue, thanked me and left. Hey, don’t complain now, wait till next week and I’ll tell you how the big V-Day surprise went.

This week’s Zen quote comes from the fortune cookie I got at our Dim Sum feast. It said, “Your greatest fortune is the large number of friends you have.” To me, it’s not necessarily the quantity, but the quality of those friendships, friends like Megan, Steve and Rick… they certainly enrich my life. Take care and see you next week!