The Prodigal Son has returned. I know, I know, I’ve been such a slacker at writing on the blog. It seems that I should do much better being that I am the one who got us started with the PWW all those years ago. Well, I have no excuses, for we all know what Benjamin Franklin said about excuses…………..don’t we? Okay, so I didn’t know either until I Googled excuse quotes, but here’s a pretty good one: He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. Therefore, I won’t make an excuse, only a promise to do better.
That said, a lot has happened in my life since I blogged last. In fact, it just took me about a half an hour looking for my last post. I’ll save you the time, it was in February. Jodi has kindly posted a few of my emails since then, but I promise I’ll be better from here on out. Especially since I won’t be too close to all of you for a spell.
As you all know, I graduated from Business School at BYU in April. The last two years of my life have been amazing years. I really learned so much and made some amazing lifelong friends. I’m so grateful for the opportunity I had to study there and for the opportunities that that experience is providing for me.
Since graduation, I’ve done my best to fill my life with as many things to do as possible. I kind of thought I’d be bored once school got out, but as it turns out, I’ve been pretty busy. I ended up getting Lasik surgery the week after graduation. I had planned to wait until after Lake Powell, but that didn’t work out with my Philippines departure date. As you probably all know, this was a very traumatic moment for me. I feel that I grew quite a bit in my 20 minutes on the operating table. I realized that if I can face that, I can really face anything. I made it through and I’m seeing great now.
The next week I went to Lake Powell with a bunch of friends from school. It was a great trip even though I couldn’t get in the water the whole time. That was quite the sacrifice, but well worth it now that I’m seeing 20/15. One of the greatest things about the Lake Powell trip was a girl by the name of Emily King. We had a great time together and we’ve spent a lot of time together since the trip. Turns out I might kind of have a crush on her. You’ve all met her now and I hope you approve. If not, you probably shouldn’t mention it to my face. I’ve got some video footage that shows you what I’m capable of. Thanks to Matt for capturing that priceless moment in the back of the van.
After Lake Powell, I spent a week moving out of my place in Provo and running back and forth from Provo and Centerville. Then I spent an amazing weekend on the Pacific Coast. Adam Lynn, Darren Seegmiller, and I drove out to San Francisco. We met Jason Madsen out there, but he just spent a day in San Fran with us. After seeing Alcatraz, riding bikes over the Golden Gate Bridge, and hanging with the street performers, we were ready for more excitement. We spent the next three days driving up the California and Oregon Coast. We really saw some amazing scenery. We camped a night in the Redwood Forest and we took a zillion pictures. The road trip was a ton of fun, even though we spent 43 hours in little Myrtle (that’s my car). Then we came home and I sold her. I sure do miss that little beauty.
Well, that brings me pretty much up to date. Oh yeah, I’m in the Philippines. I’m out here working for the Academy for Creating Enterprise www.creatingenterprise.com. It’s a non-profit organization that teaches 25-30 Filipino returned missionaries every 8 weeks about what it takes to start a business. The stories of what this academy has done are amazing. They’re really doing a lot to teach these people how to be self-reliant and how to think like businesspeople. I’m going to be teaching some classes and doing some consulting with them in various areas of the academy. My main project, however, is putting on the Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. In October, they’re having an awards ceremony to recognize many of the Alumni of the Academy throughout the Philippines that are now running successful businesses. I’m going to be traveling throughout the Philippines letting people know about this event. I’ll also be speaking at some firesides. I’m thinking about a talk that I’ll call “First Date, First Kiss, First Love”. I plan to incorporate something that I like to call “The Poll’s Passion Profile, the Plan for Populating Planets.” I know, it’s creative, but that’s what it takes to succeed in this line of work.
I’m sure I’ll post more about the Philippines in the upcoming weeks. Let’s just say we’re not in Kansas anymore. It actually reminds me a lot of Chile in many ways. The people are very wonderful. I’m not picking up much of the local language (Cebuano) so far, but I’m pretty fluent in English and so far I’ve been able to get by on those mad skills. Anyway, I think it’s about time to sign off. If you’ve read through this entire post, you deserve an Oreo. I left some at Mom and Dad’s house.
I love you all. Thanks for being the most wonderful family a kid could ever imagine. I thank Heavenly Father at least twice a day for all of you.
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