The Build and a Little Miracle

Oh hi kid!

First, transfer news? How do you feel about it? You have to inform me in the morning.

This week was five days of the job hunt. Every morning I join the Active Job Search meeting that the Church employment missionaries hold. It’s run by these nice older missionary couples. We take turns giving our Me in 30 presentations. Think of that as a short professional introduction of ourselves. Here’s mine: 

"I’m an experienced Creative Director with a proven track record of elevating brand presence through innovative campaigns, cohesive storytelling, and strategic leadership. I’ve led multimillion-dollar projects, directed teams of 25+ creatives, and successfully managed global rebrands and high-impact events for audiences of up to 15,000. My expertise spans creative strategy, production design, and cross-functional collaboration, delivering measurable results like 30% sales growth and $2M in cost savings. I thrive on leading end-to-end creative processes that drive engagement and ensure brand consistency across all platforms. I’d love to connect and explore how my background could benefit your organization or tap into your network for further opportunities.”

The majority of the attendees are men like me in their fifties. A couple of guys in their forties, a couple of younger guys who really need more confidence, and the occasional lady, they are rare though. I have gotten a few good pointers from it, and everyone is super willing to help with a contacts and other things. Mostly I like it because it gives my day a start, and some structure. Last week one of the older guys got a job, he must be in his 60s. It really lifted everyone’s spirits.

I did get a pretty good lead this week that I’m hoping to get an interview for. I had just done another revision of my resume with the help of one of the employment missionaries, so I was anxious to put it to the test. I found a listing for a creative director at this online nursing school in salt lake. The description is a very good match for my skills and experience. The only thing missing was that I don’t have any contacts there. Well, after dinner Ben and I were starting to work on our guitar builds in the garage. I got a text from a friend and a link to that job. He suggested I apply because he had a friend there in the marketing department. I’ll tell you kid, as I read that text it felt like a gift, like a direct answer to prayer. The next day I reached out to that contact on LinkedIn. I responded quickly and said he would put in a word for me. Later my buddy told me this guy would get me an interview. Friday that guy posted on LinkedIn that his company was hiring, so I took that as an opportunity to send my resume directly to him. After all this I’m hopeful for an interview. I’ll keep you posted.

Back to the guitar building project. Ben has asked me to help him build a guitar. I had a piece of wood left over from the fireplace mantel. It’s too small to make a body out of, but we may be able to make a neck or use It as a center piece for a body that we can glue some other wood to. That wood was super dense and difficult to cut, so I put a ripping blade on my table saw. That made all the difference from the 50 tooth finish blade I had on before. I also started to sand down the leafs from our old dining room table. They are nice quarter sawn red oak. The way the wood is configured in the should give me 1 3/4” chunks that I can reglue into a slab. Basically, I’m turning a 1 inch thick board into a 1 3/4 inch thick board that I can use for a blank. So far, Ben has spent about $180 on wood. I’ve spent $7. I plan on building mine along with his. I’m mostly planning on using mine as a practice piece that we can work on before we make delicate cuts on his expensive pieces. I doubt that I’ll get a finished guitar from mine, but it would be cool if I did. Maybe I’ll at least get a cool blank that we can hang on the wall  maybe I’ll make a clock out of it for the music room. 

Friday mom had a big interview for a district job that she’s excited about. I gave her a blessing Thursday night. Friday after her interview I met her for dinner at chick filet. It was a fun little mini date. She left for the temple and I went to go visit aunt Stella and uncle Temmy. Aunt Stella had a doctors appointment for her nerve pain. She’s going to need surgery. I helped her with some of her financials then I visited with uncle Temmy for a little while. I love my aunt and uncle so much and it’s hard to see them get old. They are so sweet to me, they make me feel like their little boy.

Saturday morning we went to help grandma with a few chores around her house. The lights in her garage were burned out so we replaced those. The boys changed her furnace filter. Uncle David had clogged her bathtub, so I made your brothers try to unclog that. All they got up were some nasty chunks and hair, but not the main clog. I’ll go back on Tuesday with some better plumbing tools to fix that. If you’re good, I’ll mail you some uncle David goo. 

Afterwords, she took us out for lunch. I always feel guilty when she does that because of the expense, but she always seems happy to do it. Your cousin Juelynn joined us. She’s a fun person.

We came home and watched the Utes get beat by Oklahoma State. I’m ready for the Utes to have a new coach. 

After the game, Ben and I went to the woodworking store. We came home and started milling Ben’s lumber. We made good progress. The first board he bought is gorgeous, with a ribbon like grain running through it. It will make a great guitar. The problem is as we mill it down to size and try to square it up, the pieces warp, a lot. After a while, we decided to let it sit and rest. Hopefully it will be usable. We spent a good four hours at the table-saw, jointer and planer getting parts milled. He’ll be gone Saturday so I’m going to try to get caught up with him with my lumber.

Yes Ben, Thursday he’s going on his visit to Connecticut for his Yale visit. I can tell he’s excited.I am so excited for him, and super proud. Truthfully though, I can’t tell you how much I’m going to miss him. As we all will.

Oh yeah, Jacob has been officially accepted to the U. I can tell he’s happy, I am too, and proud that he’s going to follow his family legacy at the U.

Next week is the Super Bowl, chiefs vs eagles again. We’ll be having our traditional party, though I was tempted to cancel. Then I’ll have to go pickup Ben at the airport, so I’ll probably have to write to you in the morning or on Monday.

That’s about all I got kid. Remember how much I love you. Be safe and please take care of yourself.

Pops