My Free Dremel from the DIY Network: An Intern’s Story

This little Dremel started its life as a freebie from the DIY Network. I know it looks like a violation of our no-free-swag policy, but it was handed to me back in 2003—long before that rule existed—so its worn appearance is understandable. In fact, it predates this blog, my first house purchase, and even my relationship (I didn’t meet Sherry until 2004 and we didn’t start dating until 2005).

How did a single, 21-year-old, apartment-dwelling college student wind up with a free power tool from a home improvement network? The short answer: I was an intern. More precisely, I was a Television Media Buying Intern in New York City for the summer of 2003. For the non-advertising crowd, that meant I worked with the team that negotiated commercial placements and pricing with TV networks. Those relationships came with perks: lunches, event invitations, and the occasional branded giveaway. Since I was working for free, my supervisors sometimes handed off items they didn’t want. Enter the Dremel.

Here I am in August 2003 on my last day of that internship—the day before the big citywide blackout. I was clearly embracing my maturity by hugging the giant gumball machine in the building lobby. Our office was in the same building where the movie Big was filmed—the toy company set—so there was a playful vibe in the air.

By the end of that summer I’d collected a few odd tokens: a copy of E.T. on DVD, a History Channel beach towel, tickets to watch the Goo Goo Dolls tape a concert special for the Oxygen network, and the DIY Network Dremel. My team was mostly women, and apparently they figured their male intern would appreciate a tool. I didn’t have any idea how to use it—my picture of a Dremel was something used to whittle a chair or carve small trinkets—so, like many people who don’t use power tools, I passed it on to my dad.

Years later, during a purge before a move, my dad gave the Dremel back to me. I accepted it gladly—not because I needed another Dremel (Sherry gave me a newer model for Father’s Day last year), but because the older unit felt like a small, amusing symbol of how life turns out in unexpected ways. Maybe that battered little tool was an omen of a future I couldn’t foresee as a gumball-loving college senior.

It’s a stretch to say a free power tool set my career path, but that internship mattered. It led to a full-time job, which led to meeting a copywriter named Sherry, and eventually to the life we share now. Even if a Dremel didn’t directly shape my future, it’s a neat physical reminder of an early summer when everything still felt possible.

Have you ever regifted a tool and then discovered it again years later? Or been given something seemingly random that later felt symbolic of where your life would head? I’d love to hear about those small, surprising threads that appear in hindsight. And yes—if you’ve ever hugged a giant gumball machine or lounged on a History Channel towel, you’re not alone.

Psst—I looked pretty tan in these old photos, but Sherry and I are now blindingly pale suburban parents.