Ryan Thomas Goodenough

Over the next couple months, I will be attending a few conferences to finish up my Certificate in Direct Marketing from the DMA. As a result, I will have a good opportunity to meet some nice, interesting people. Unfortunately, I’ll also meet my share of bad conference people. Among the many candidates, my least favorite conference attendee is the “Mmm Hmm!”-ers.

So who are these people? These are the people who have to verbally agree with whatever the presenter is saying. Even if they have no idea what the presenter is talking about, even if he or she is sharing a personal story, even if the presenter is telling an inside joke–they have to say “Mmm Hmm!” Of course, these are also the same people who will laugh at any joke the presenter makes, even when it’s not supposed to be a joke.

Thankfully, these people will certainly be in the minority and, in many ways, they make the conference more enjoyable. Not because I enjoy what they do, but because I love to catch everyone else giving them bad looks. It’s nice to know that you’re not alone in getting annoyed. Misery loves company, I guess!

My last post is a great example of this. I should be sent to Mars for pointing out the problem with the FedEx, UPS, USPS, etc. situation without offering any proposed solution. Everyone can clearly understand the problem–people work from 8 to 5 everyday and can’t be home to get packages and other important mail. They can try to sign the paper forms left for them, but this only occasionally works. Carriers are worried that they can be held liable for damaged or stolen packages that they leave behind.

So what’s the solution?

I didn’t offer one, so I should be sent to Mars.

What’s the reason for my wrath today? Like I noted previously, package carriers hate me. This week, it’s trying to locate the mysterious Best Buy gift card that needed to be sent by UPS and requires a signature, in person. Signed the Info Notice–not good enough. Now I’m waiting for them to call me back so that I can drive 20 minutes to pick up the darn thing.

I’m not home any day until at least 6:00. I’m out the door by 6:45 am. I’m just not here during the day and I really doubt that I’m the only one that faces this predicament. However, while I’m certainly not alone, there sure doesn’t seem to be too many people complaining about this! Come on! There’s got to be a better solution than this. I understand that UPS, Fedex, and USPS workers need to get home too, but can’t we come to some sort of compromise?

Argh, too frustrating…

Sunday night at 9pm, only on NBC: the second episode of “Quarterlife.” Well, actually, make that Bravo, not NBC.

After dismal ratings last Tuesday, NBC decided to move the new show “Quarterlife” from NBC Sundays to Bravo Sundays, which is just about as good as canceling it. Of course, I don’t receive Bravo, so I couldn’t watch it.

This is not a new trend. I stick by what I said before–shows should be given 6 episodes on the same day, the same network, and at the same time. If after that trial period the ratings are still bad, then cancel the show. But otherwise, let the audience watch the show and grow to like or dislike it. It’s stupid to spend all this money and not give a show any chance. If someone had to determine what type of person I was based on just one day in my life, I’m not sure if I would like my chances. We all have bad days. Of course, Quarterlife’s first episode happened to be a great one–meaning that everyone else was just having a bad day.

While Emily, Kira, and I greatly enjoyed the Matchbox Twenty/Alanis Morissette concert we went to last night, it wasn’t perfect. Submitted for the court, evidence #1.

There was nothing really wrong with the acts; rather, there was a problem with the people. Specifically, the four drunk idiots in front of us. Not to say that people shouldn’t be allowed to drink at a concert, but everyone should follow these simple rules:

1. Thou shalt remain mostly quiet during the concert.
2. Thou shalt not stand up unless others have stood up.
3. Thou shalt be careful not to spill beer on other people.
4. Thou shalt not constantly make out during a performance.
5. Thou shalt not grope others in public.
6. Thou shalt never sing along so that others can hear thou.
7. Thou shalt not keep drinking beer if thou cannot hold it.
8. Thou shalt not use a cell phone more than 1 minute for every 2 hours of the show.
9. Thou shalt not yell/whistle/scream as if it is a sporting event.
10. Thou shalt never attend a concert if thou cannot follow the previously stated rules.

As requested by Chris:

“A little more notice please, a lot of us work full time and have to schedule things in advance.”

I’m always annoyed that some people think that the world revolves around them. This particular individual thought it was necessary to write in (rudely) and complain about the timing of a free newsletter that PASA sends out to students. Of course, we had mentioned the free event of which he was complaining well in advance. But instead of looking in his deleted folder for verification, “Billy” thought it was necessary to write a jerky email about something that he was way off base on. It seems that some people just like to complain about everything*.

*So says the person who has a regular post called “People who should be sent to Mars.”

In this edition of (Things) Who Should Be Sent to Mars, I would like to propose that most forms be sent to Mars. Why? Because I’m tired of filling out forms where it’s very clear that the person who designed them never tried filling them out. You know what I mean–those forms where there’s enough room to write your zip code in 20 point font, but only enough space to write your email address if it happens to be “joe@i.com.”

Having to fill out all these forms for my official move to New York is a pain and I’m tired of the fact that no one has done any editing of them. My favorite example? On my application to become an in-state student, UAlbany thought it was wise to have a section called “Current Address” with “from” and “to” headers. No, it’s not a list of all previous addresses, just the current one. So why would you ever need to fill out the “to” section? Clearly, it’s my current address. “To” is today, morons…

Anyway, I’m almost done with these forms, but I really want to pack them all into a rocket and send them up into space.

In the spirit of the holidays, no one should be sent to Mars. Happy Holidays everyone!

Don’t get me wrong, I like Best Buy. They just have some really annoying policies. For example, they won’t take their own coupons unless the items aren’t already discounted. Seeing that the original price on tech items is ridiculously high, most products are already discounted. As such, you can’t hardly ever use these coupons. Very frustrating. Another example is that the staff seems to be trained only to do the one specific function that they’ve been given. So, even if there are 200 people in the TV section and only 2 “TV” employees, the employees in the other sections won’t help out at all. Great policy…

Having way too many papers to write over the past couple weeks means that I’ve been spending a lot of time in the school library. One thing that I’ve noticed is that there are a lot of really weird people that come into the library. Some of them are probably crazy, others should be locked up. But more than just being weird, some of them are just plain annoying. Take, for example, a guy who showed up on Friday. Even though there were plenty of seats available, he thought it would be best if he sat directly next to me (there’s a rule about things like this–guys may understand it if you think of the urinal rules in pubic restrooms). Of course, as soon as he sat down, he thought it would be best if he stared at my screen for a while…creepy. After a little while longer, he thought it would be good to eat an apple. A loud, lip smacking, saliva slurping activity. Mmmmm… Immediately after he ate his apple, he decided that he needed to send out a letter. Of course, to send it out, he had to seal the envelope. Which meant putting his apple-covered tongue all over the envelope, spreading his saliva all across the envelope. After he was done with that, he decided to go, leaving me with no appetite and no longer thinking that envelopes taste good.