Remember rushing a cake frosting once? Second try always wins.

Wait, has anyone thought about the sugar itself being the real trick? Your neighbor had you test with warm water and sugar, and the sugar is what feeds the yeast so it wakes up and bubbles. I keep my yeast in a small mason jar in the freezer and it lasts forever, but honestly I wonder if the pinch of sugar in the dough is just as important as how you store it. Dead yeast won't bubble no matter what, but sleepy yeast needs food to get going, and a lot of cheap bread recipes skip the sugar and then wonder why the rise is so slow. Maybe try adding a teaspoon of sugar to the dough itself on your next loaf and see if it rises faster than the plain batch.

Did you see how much water he was dumping on it those first few weeks? That's the part people skip and then wonder why the sod dries up and dies. Sod wins if you prep and water it right, but seed is way cheaper and catches up fine by year two if you keep it damp. For a small bare patch I'd just seed it and save the money.