Last night was the big night, we finally got to meet our little brother and little sister! We followed our case manager (Greg) over to their house, which is just a mile or so south of the stadiums. They live in a duplex house with their mom and two twin sisters who are 5 years old. Their house was really nice and clean, which I wasn’t necessarily expecting. They have a ton of fish, a cat and a hamster. Both Dominique and Bianca were very nice and polite when meeting them. Bianca seemed a little more shy at first, but she is only 10 (11 next week). We sat with Greg and their mom to sign all of the paperwork. Greg gave us some gifts for being matched up (t-shirts, water bottles, etc.) and even a football that we can use.

From there we took them out to Dairy Queen for some ice cream. We only had 45 minutes or an hour with them, so they recommend taking them to some place familiar or that every kid loves. All kids love ice cream, don’t they? We all decided on a blizzard and sat down on the curb outside to chat. We talked about their school, their summer activities, their family, etc. They both had a bunch to talk about, which made it easy for us. Once we were done, we dropped them off and made plans to get together again early next week. It was such a nice relief from the normal stressful week. I am really looking forward to this and should enjoy each day we spend with them.

If you couldn’t tell from the past two days of entries, it’s been a little boring around here. Kim has been up in North Dakota for the past couple of days, and I’ve been fairly busy at work I guess. Did you know that North Dakota is no colder than it is here? I just figured that it would be like highs in the 70s since it’s three states above Missouri, but Kim told me that it was in the 90s yesterday. That’s crazy.

In good news we have officially accepted our new Little Brother and Little Sister, and their mother has accepted us too! The only thing we have to go on are these bios that the case manager writes up about each of them. I’m sure that he or she also wrote up some sort of bio about both us as well. This is what I know about Dominique, he is a 13 year old african american male. He is soft-spoken, outgoing and friendly. He is struggling in school, but enjoyed playing the drums in band before his mother made him quit. He also enjoys sports but is not on any teams. His sister, Bianca, is 10 years old and is also outgoing and kind. She enjoys school and likes to learn, although she has been in trouble for talking too much. She is into girl things like helping to cook, and she really loves to shop. These biographies go on and on about their mother, their younger twin sisters, their home and neighborhood, etc. The really hard part about these is that they use abbreviations in place of everyones name, although I’m not really sure why. Here is an example:

APF is in Kansas City area. P states CL sees APF very little, once every few months, but CL claims he sees APF more often, at least once a month. There has been no response to APF letter at this point.

I’m really curious to see what my bio looks like. It looks as if we’ll meet up with them at their house sometime during the week of July 25th and then we are supposed to see them at least once a week for at least a year but it doesn’t have to stop.

Today I also got word that Greenstreet is definitely in for Pig-Fest! I guess I better come up with a name for this inaguaral event. What do you think about pigfestapallooza? Or maybe pigfestaroo?

I’m not sure what got into us but we went all out last night and I’m paying for it today. My headache has gone away, but I am extremely tired. I think I’ll take a nap under my desk after writing this.

Our night started off at The Fairmont for their Caribbean night. This hotel is the place to stay in KC. If anyone famous comes to town, chances are they are staying at this place. We (myself, Kim, Ashley and Christie) finally decided to check out this party after much encouragement from Todd. Basically it’s a way overpriced pool party. I believe that beers were $6 and cocktails were $8. Maybe if they lowered the prices a tad they would have more than 10 people there. At least we can finally say that we went and encourage others to not go.

From there we attempted to show Ashley and Christie the bars of the plaza. We started off at O’Dowd’s and after a couple drinks headed over to Tomfooleries for a few more. Our favorite cover band, Gov’t Cheez, was playing just like any other Thursday night. It was a good night out but as I said I’m regretting it now. Less than 7 more hours here…

In good news, we may have been matched up with a couple of kids through the BBBS program. Greg has found a brother and sister who are 13 and 9 who need to be matched up. We have their bios and I guess the next step would be to go and meet them in their house. Maybe we�ll do this next week�

Last night we had our meetings with Greg and Tonya from BBBS. I think these home visits are setup just to see where you live and get to know a little about you. Sounds painless enough and it was. Once again we were told that we cannot have one child together, but perhaps a brother and sister combo or maybe we’ll just have one of us do it and the other can tag along. We simply do not have the time or resources to spend with two separate kids when they want you to spend 2 to 4 hours a week with them. It wouldn’t be fair to us or the kids. Anyway, we have to wait and see if we are approved and added to the system first. We should know that within a week and then from there we wait until they think they have a match for one of both of us.

Work was so busy yesterday now that I am doing my job along with lots of things that my boss Steve usually does. The day did fly by though so I guess it wasn’t really a bad thing. My day today is moving right along again, so hopefully I’ll be out of here before I know it! We may be making our return to spinning classes tonight, so keep me in your thoughts and prayers. :)

Our “meeting” was not a meeting at all. Greg was not even there, or at least we didn’t see him. The receptionist of the place sat us down and had us sign one more paper while she copied our driver’s licenses. From there we were seated at a couple of computers to complete an extensive survey. She told us it could take anywhere from an hour up to two and half to get the thing done. My question is why don’t they have you do this on your own time? I would have been much happier filling out something like this while sitting at work, or during some down time at home. Anyway we finished it in about an hour or so. I guess from here Greg is going to contact to us to schedule a home visit. Sounds like he’ll come to our apartment to make sure we don’t have any weapons or drugs and then take some time to get to know us. I bet many of the things we talk about are the same things this survey asked, so why even take it in the first place? I guess they now have a hard copy of all our answers. Oh well, it is over and wasn’t really that time consuming.

Kim is heading to South Dakota today, or at least I think that is where she is going. I’m sure it will be an exciting time. I’ve got hockey tonight, so that will probably keep me busy enough until tomorrow.

Last night was the championship game in our men’s league. We played like absolute crap and lost 6-1 or so. The worst part was that the other team didn’t have a goalie for half of the first period. I guess we aren’t as young as we once were. This team is almost all 19-21 year olds who can skate really well. I’ve got a couple more Wednesdays of hockey and then the rink will be closed for 3 weeks so they can re-do the ice. I guess that means I’ll be heading to the gym even more than before. This reminds me that I need to pick up a gel ice pack to use on my hips. They feel better most of the time, but I should probably use an ice pack on them after each run.

I put the old router up on eBay. No bites on it yet, but it’s still up for another 5 days plus.

We have our meeting with Greg of BBBS tonight. I think this is a chance for him to learn a little bit about us so he can match us up with a kid (or kids).

We have a meeting with a Big Brother Big Sister person in a couple Tuesdays. I guess we’ll find out then what situation will work the best for us. Speaking of meetings, that pretty much sums up my last few days. We had a full staff meeting on Wednesday to hear about a conference that some of the big guys went to. We also learned that that the company is going to match 50% of our 401K contributions from last year. This is down from the 100% they matched the year before, but still really good. Note to self: invest more in 401K. They are also supposed to put some sort of profit sharing in or something. We’ll see how much is added in the middle of May. We also learned that we would be switching health insurance companies. This brings me to my next meeting on Thursday with a lady from the new company. We had choices between 3 different plans that would all deduct the same amount from each paycheck. I won’t bore you with the details, but I found out today that the amount taken from each check is going to be close to double what it was before. Why the hell did we switch then? Oh well, either way it isn’t much for a single person on the policy.

We haven’t done much with our nights, watched TV mostly. Today I sat in two meetings before lunch, just had a long lunch, and now it is almost time for me to leave and head back to Cincinnati. I got a whole bunch of nothing done today!

Good news, we have an official Pig-Fest date and it is August 13th. Hopefully everyone who wants to go can make it, I know I’ll be there.

Well we went to the meeting and filled out our applications. We were told that we could not be a big couple since we were not married, instead they could try and pair us up with a brother and sister combination. I think they are just trying to reduce their waiting list. :) We now have to wait for someone to contact us, and then we go in for some sort of written interview. Sounds like this whole process can take up to a month, so I’ll keep you all updated.

Word on the street is that Kim’s brother Chris wants to race us this Saturday in the flying pig 5K. Chris ran cross country at St. X so I told her good luck and that I would race Chip, her youngest brother, instead.

Kim and I are going to an orientation meeting for the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kansas City tonight. We’ve been talking about this for a long time, but we are actually going to go this time. Mike has been in the program since shortly after he moved out here. He and Legend (his “little”) go out all the time and seem to have a good time. Kim and I are looking to be a “big couple” for a special little kid. :)