IT WORKED!! I couldn't say anything in these blogs about it because my parents read them regularly but for the last couple of weeks I've been planning to fly home and surprise them. They were feeling bad that they wouldn't see me for my birthday, but I assured them I'd be just fine. So last Friday I hopped on a plane to Calgary after work. Jeff picked me up at the airport on his way down from Edmonton and together we booted it back to Nanton. We got there only 10 minutes before mom and Terry (the rest of the family had been at an Arrogant worms concert). We didn't have time to hide the car so Jeff just waited for them at the kitchen table. They were surprised to see Jeff as he was supposed to be in Edmonton. Jeff talked to them calmly for a minute before saying he had brought home a surprise. That was my cue and I made my way up from the basement. Mom and Terry were speechless. They thought they were looking at a ghost. We talked for a bit until dad and Peter showed up. We did the same thing to surprise them. Jeff walked up behind dad when he was talking to mom and put his arm around dad's shoulders. Dad just thought it was Terry and didn't notice until Peter started saying "What the..." and Jeff said "Hi dad". Again, my cue. Peter saw me coming up the stairs and continued to say "What the..." at a little higher pitch. I thought he might hurt his neck looking back and forth between his two arrived brothers. Dad was still talking to Jeff with his back to me so I had to tap him on the shoulder. His jaw dropped as he turned around. So even though it was my birthday, it was the rest of my family getting all of the surprises. I just wish I had it on tape.

The rest of the weekend was packed. I watched one of Peter's hockey games, played some shinny, walked in the back yard, went to a club in Calgary and my aunt's in Springbank. Of course it was over in a flash, but it was one of the best weekends I've had. Oh yeah, and I'm 21 now. I was so happy to be home that I didn't even remember my birthday until Sunday was almost over. Time to cheer now: YEAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

The flight home was a bit tough. I left Calgary at 12:35 am Tuesday morning. Flew all night, not sleeping and got to Kingston at 9:50 am. Straight to work and over to the plant. I was very tired but had to get my thermocouples installed. My boss let me leave a bit early (he could see I probably wouldn't be much use until I had some rest). I carried my heavy backpack and duffle bag home and then crashed. I think I was asleep by 3:30 and didn't stir until 7:00. Feeling much better now. I've managed to clean my room, do my laundry, go pick up my cook book from the post office, and take some pictures of the place with the digital camera I brought back from home. I'll try to get those up on my website soon.

I know it's tough to read long blogs so I'll end it here. I can't wait until I go home again, but at the same time I now realize that it's not that far away and I can enjoy my time here. I feel like I'm on an 8 month vacation with a job to finance my fun. Rock on! Later peeps!