Hope you guys had a fabulous Valentine’s Day! As I have been updating you on my blog, things really rocked on this side of the globe! New relationships are taking its first steps and we all hope that nascent love develops into strong, unifying bonds. With this positive note in mind, let’s begin our weekly roller-coaster ride…

The occasion demands a standing applause. I’m sure you guys know through my blog that Eleanor accepted Frank’s proposal. For those who missed out on that, you can check it out here. I was jubilant when I came to know about it. I have seen their love bloom. When they are on their way to getting hitched as an expression of their love, it gives me immense pleasure. It’s almost similar to someone who had seen a building being built from a heap of scrap and now sees the beautiful building standing in place, upright and elegant.

It was not a long time back when Frank was worried about Eleanor’s response. Losing her companionship was the worst that he feared. He wore a frown and his shoulders drooped for a while. But, after the big ‘Yes’, things have changed drastically. He’s more buoyant than ever before. He has youth sparkling in his eyes. When my friends heard of their decision to marry, everyone had a word of encouragement for them and a note of congratulations! They had seen Eleanor from close quarters and are really fond of her and her awesome cookies. Though all of them don’t know Frank personally, they all have a very high opinion of him from what they have heard.

His success at having won Eleanor’s heart was well received by Eleanor’s family as well. Mike, her son, took it with a lot of maturity and assured her of his support. Frank has been able to settle into their family well enough being the gem of a person that he is. His genuine concern for Andrew when he lay ill took up the respect he deserved to a higher notch. Mike is glad that there’s someone to take care of his mom as he stays away. He’s also happy that she has a companion, knowing well how she loves to have people around her.

Thinking about congratulating the love birds yourself? Write to me on the Facebook Group or Fan Page and I’ll make sure they get your messages.

Steve is a self-professed geek and he makes no bones about the fact. He’s never hesitated to mumble a reply and expect you to get that right on the first attempt. He doesn’t like repeating stuff and gets really cranky if he has to. I’m not much into the tech things and sometimes goof up on them! Steve comes to my rescue in those stressful times. With my effort to bring all my readers on the Group or the Fan Page taking up most of my waking time, Steve is having to handle more things than ever and that is translating into a lot of stress for him.

The other day he was bent over a computer which was trying to compete with the snail in terms of speed. He tried every trick in his quiver to solve the problem, but couldn’t really get over it. He was frustrated beyond endurance and suddenly, he sang out loud: “Twinkle twinkle little star!” The whole office looked up in stupefaction. I rushed out of my cubicle to see what’s going on. He was oblivious to the attention. He kept singing and doing his work. We thought he had lost it!

After the deathly silence came the murmurs. Everyone was curious to know what the reason was for his seemingly lapse of sanity. I noticed that our colleagues, nice that they are, didn’t laugh or smirk or make any off-color comments. Rather they were genuinely concerned about Steve. They know that Steve is one of the best colleagues and friends to have around. They know his level of concentration and dedication is not easy to match up to. They also know that stress does a lot of funny stuff to people.

It was a shocking reminder to us all who are workaholics. We really need to take a break to recharge our batteries once in a while. Otherwise it won’t be long before you end up singing nursery rhymes in your office cubicle. Sorry, but on an afterthought, the scene was a riot! What do you think? How do you handle stress? Write to me.

Valentine’s Day is not a one-day event. Before the day arrives, there is planning and anticipation. The day leaves behind a sense of vacuum. People in our office seems to be very sensitive towards that! To dispel the gloom, the ladies in the office, led by Donna, got banana bread for all of us for a post-Valentine’s Day party. I was not really fond of Donna’s cooking skills but she made a wonderful job with the banana breads. I think she picked up this recipe from someone in the office, because I thought her bread tasted exactly similar to someone else from the office! I know it’s perfectly normal for two banana breads to taste similar, but the similarity seemed too, well, similar!

I wanted to ask her privately if she has been taking cooking lessons from someone in the office or outside, but then decided against it. I mean, the banana bread was excellent, why ask questions about how it was made? The party was fabulous too. To be fair to the definition of a party, it was not really a party. It was just a small get together at lunch. We have all been stressed out for a few weeks now, and wanted to have a nice time together, even if for a short time. Having such get-togethers do a world of good to the team spirit.

Do you know how to make banana breads? I don’t but I really want to. I picked this up from someone in the office that you can also have a delicious time with stale banana bread. You just have to smear it in butter or egg and milk or any other add-on that you want. You can also fry it up like a French toast. Do you like banana bread? How do you like it? Write to me with the recipe.

The buoyant Rick decided to take Kaitlin to New Orleans to celebrate Mardi Gras. Yeah, you cannot really keep Rick away from a festival where there will be a lot of drinking! Kaitlin was hesitant initially but when she saw Rick getting all excited about the festival, she gave in. But she made him agree to certain conditions before she stepped out the door. The conditions, though valid, looks terrible hard for Rick to stick to and still have the fun that he’s expecting to have. His drinking has been limited and he’s been made to promise that he will behave himself and be more attentive towards her.

Now that is a boon and a curse with Rick. He gets engrossed in what he’s doing and forgets everyone around him. Now that drives people up the wall sometimes. If he’s fixing his car, he keeps at it even if you died beside him. The good part is, with his single-minded focus, he generally achieves a very high level of excellency. But that applies to him when he’s drinking as well! He drinks as if there’s no tomorrow and sometimes goes over-board. Kaitlin does not like that. No girl would want her man to get drunk and jump about.

Last heard, Rick has given his consent, primarily because he had no other choice. You may feel that half his enthusiasm is out already with all the restrictions on his head, but he’s cool with it because he knows Kaitlin is a kind soul. She may just as well let him off leniently. He’s trying to keep Kaitlin happy with a steady stream of roses everyday. It maybe working because they have not had a heated argument for some time. No, don’t get wrong, I don’t want it! But they are so much fun when they fight that the evil New Yorker in me wants to see that once in a while!

Did you read my blog where I wrote a post about having heart-to-heart conversations with your friend? I don’t know if you learned from it, but I surely did! It was with some effort that day that I got up in the morning. I had a bad headache. I desperately wanted coffee and as soon as I stepped out, I saw the living room full of leftovers and other stuff. Adrian forgot to clean it up! It was his turn last night and either he got lost in his thoughts or he simply dropped off to bed. I’m no cleanliness freak but somehow I got spiked that morning.

I wanted to scream and yell. But that wouldn’t make a difference because he was not around then. The whole day this thing kept bothering me and I really wanted to sort this out with him before I went to bed. But, towards the evening I began to calm down and by the time I reached home, I was ready for a discussion, minus the anger that was there in me till very recently. I waited for him to get back home. When he got in, he was whistling to himself. Love!

He knew I was waiting to talk about last night. He began, “Look Bob, I fell asleep and couldn’t do it. Hope ya didn’t mind…” He went on to say why he fell asleep and how he has been stressed about his career and all. I could understand actually. I mean, what are friends for? I know he is worried and all but so are we all. I talked to him at length about taking stock of the situation. Then we shared a lot of stuff that we could not do because of our busy schedules and by the end of it all, it was like ol’ times again! I think it worked out really well, what say?

This week’s Zen quote had to be on insanity! This one is by one of the most intelligent men ever, Albert Einstein: “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” I don’t think anyone would differ to that, but I’d definitely like to know your opinion. Do leave a message.