It's a marshmallow world in the winter...

It was the first week of my last semester as an undergrad. I live in Hattiesburg, Miss. and as you know round these parts, it doesn't ever get to be negative degrees outside but it does get to be about 30 degrees and with the wind it feels downright frigid. So I'm walking home from a challenging (especially for the first week of school) day of school alone. It's cold. Wind blowing and obviously my jacket is too thin since I'm shivering and I'm only about thirty steps out of the warm interior of the College of Business. I'm walking across parking lots trying to make a bee line for my dorm when I look up and a Gatorade cooler and two guys sitting on the curb. My first thought was, "Oh God they're going to try and sell me something. I don't want to stop and talk to anyone since it's too cold to be walking outside in the first place." Since they were directly in my path, there was nothing I could do to avoid these potential nuisances, so I keep going. As I get closer to them I try to think of the best (yet polite) way to avoid these men. Whether it’s as simple as not making eye contact or giving them a wide berth I couldn’t decide. As I get closer one of the guys gets up and picks up a Styrofoam cup. As I'm passing he says simply this, "Have you had some hot chocolate today?" Then he hands me the cup and says, "Have a great day." At first I was like..."Great, now I have to drink this and it's probably not sweet and it’s probably not hot and..." and this list of negativity went on and on. This steady stream of negative thoughts persisted until I took a sip and discovered that this small cup of hot chocolate had mini marshmallows in it. Suddenly my outlook on the whole exchange changed. Suddenly I was happy that on this miserably cold day, someone stayed outside with the sole purpose of giving out hot chocolate with marshmallows to shivering passersby. Suddenly, I was grateful and happy and definitely warmer. I finished my walk home and by the time I got there I felt a lot better and a lot less stressed about my day. Why is it that my natural instinct was the think the absolute worst about these Christian (they were members of the Wesley group on campus) men? Why didn't it occur to me that they were just trying to do something small to help people deal with the long walk in the cold?

And why is it that marshmallows just make hot chocolate so damn delicious? Is it that they melt and their sugary deliciousness spreads throughout the whole mixture making it that much sweeter? Or is it that it makes it more fun to drink since they are floating on the surface? Whatever it is about those marshmallows, that is what caused me to look at this situation in a new light. It is so easy to project a bad mood or stress onto a benign situation. Why isn’t it equally easy to project happiness onto negative situations?

Since it’s my last semester I want to make the most out of it. I realized from my own negative initial response to this pleasant encounter, that I need to step back and not let my own personal stress dictate how I relate to other people. I’m going to fight the urge to project negativity on things and instead, enjoy the marshmallows.

It's a good thing I'm about to graduate since I'm losing all my WISDOM

Now before you jump to conclusions about me doing something stupid the title here refers to the pending doom of getting all four of my wisdom teeth EXTRACTED. And when I say extracted I don't mean sitting in the dentist's office with him going at my mouth with some pliers. I mean the whole shebang. I'm going to an ORAL SURGEON (yep, I said it, surgeon). Now I know that people do this all the time. I'm by no means the first or only one of a few people to have this procedure. It's actually one of the most common oral procedures that people my age and younger go through (kinda like braces only worse I'd imagine). So I'm gonna do it. Even though I'm not excited (AT ALL) I'm going to bite the bullet and go through with it.

SO you probably think I'm being a baby right? Whining about a simple procedure that bazillions of people have to go through at some point in their lives. But haven't you ever been afraid or apprehensive about something imminent and unavoidable before? I mean trust me, this isn't the only thing in my life right now that has me on edge. I mean listen up- I'm graduating in five months and after that it's going to be up to me to get my behind in gear and get a fabulous job and embrace adulthood. Now at this moment (with my oral operation a mere two days away) I'm much more worried about my teeth, but believe me, that whole growing up thing is always looming on the edge of my thoughts. But I know one thing. God's got a plan for me that's going to prosper and not harm me. So I take comfort in that. But this is where it gets hairy. Faith is a hard thing to do. It goes against that human desire to want to control EVERYTHING when in reality, I can't control ANYTHING.

Do I believe that I have the talent and skills needed to get a super awesome big girl job in marketing? Absolutely. I haven't been working hard the past four years for nothing. That's my goal. But I know also that I've got to continue to trust that everything is going to be taken care of by the big man upstairs. He's got my back and even though I freak out (about every ten minutes) that something will go wrong with the anesthesia or my face will swell up like a chipmunk or that I'll be one of the failure to launch kids who still lives with their parents at age 30, but I've got to just give that to God.

Now I've just got to man up and go to the doctor and let him take my teeth out of my skull. And after that- all I gotta do is find a J-O-B. woo hoo!

I guess this is what growing up is. Doing things that you don't necessarily want to do but that will in the long run help you (like not letting your impacted bottom wisdom teeth make my other teeth decay) and not letting fear get in the way. I'm going to let this guy cut into my gums, break two of my teeth into three pieces and pull them out of my mouth. Yay. It's gotta be done. Gotta do it. Gonna do it. Wish me luck.

You should be slapped in the mouth!

Ok so I was a home taking a break from the college life and at my house we have this nearly archaic invention that some people forget exists sometimes: a landline phone. I know what you're thinking, who has a land line anymore? But I'm here to tell you that they do still exist! Anywho one of the many joys of a land line is that they are often listed in phonebooks and telemarketing lists and I'm sure other things that make it easy for people to call you and annoy you. So let me paint the picture for you: Its Saturday night around eight and my mom and I are having a pleasant conversation about pleasant things when all of a sudden, the phone rings. From that new-fangled contraption called caller ID we can clearly see that it's either a) someone we don't want to talk to or b) a telemarketer (but really what's the difference in those two options). Anyway so this time we decide to not let it ruin our lovely conversation and we ignore the call. A little while later, maybe ten minutes or so, the phone rings again. I recognize that it's the same kind of number and I decide that maybe it would be better to just handle the person on the other line so they wouldn’t continue calling and interrupting my mom time. So I answer the phone, not in the most polite voice but still not rude, and this is how the conversation goes:
Me: "Hello"
Telemarketer: Hello may I speak to Ms. Hoontay?
(Clearly this is not how you say my last name)
Me: May I ask who's calling? (Note the correct grammar and politeness here as this is key to the story)
Telemarketer: This is Linda from MedTech Advantage
Me: (to my mom but still into the phone) Mom, do you want to talk to Linda from MedTech Advantage?
Telemarketer: (before I could get an answer from my mom) Well you're just a rude child aren't you?
Me: (stunned into silence) hangs up

As I'm relaying the outrageous comment that a telemarketer who called and interrupted my lovely Saturday evening conversation with my mom, the phone rings yet again. Seeing that it is again Linda from MedTech Advantage I answer the phone again.

Me: Hello (much ruder than previously)
Linda from MedTech Advantage: You are a rude child who deserves to be slapped in the mouth!

Again I am stunned and in an effort to not express my true feelings of distaste for the whole idea of telemarketers, so I hung up again.

Now, am I the only one who thinks this is a bizarre thing to have happen? I mean how many of you have been called back by a telemarketer much less insulted by one? I don't know about you but I was very upset (to say the least) when this happened. I thought about calling up the company and complaining about appalling customer service and I thought about a long list of things I could have said back to Linda from MedTech Advantage but then I started thinking about Linda.

I know that every telemarketer is a person and that their job probably sucks because they get hung up on all day, but is it really necessary to lash out to an innocent potential customer like me? I mean obviously Linda from MedTech Advantage was having a bad night but hello? Why take it out on me? I get it I do. I know what it's like to work at a job you don't like and have to deal with customers on a daily basis but still, lashing out does nobody any good.

So what's the point of me telling you this story? Well besides the obvious- it's hilarious and crazy I thought I'd try and give you some nugget of advice or a life lesson and here it is. Even if you're having a bad day DON'T take it out on someone just for existing especially if you are representing somebody's company. I don't recommend it when you're only representing yourself either but ESPECIALLY when you're on the clock. Don't piss off the person who pays you. That's never a good plan.

It's been a whole two days since Linda called my house and I still can't believe that that happened? Got any crazy telemarketer stories that can top this one? Please let me know!

Can i get some cheese please?

Ok story time.
Today I was hungry so I decided I'd hop in the car and go get some delicious food from my local Sonic. Yay Sonic. Super. So I pull into my space push the button and wait to give my order. I say clearly into the speaker "May I please get a number one with cheese no onions no pickles with fries and a strawberry watermelon slushie?" So I'm waiting for my meal hoping it’s going to be as delicious as I've been anticipating and like five minutes later (quick for sonic in my experience) my food is being delivered. yay! So I get my food and drive away. I get all the way back to my house and open my burger only to find that my cheeseburger is only a hamburger. Almost like mistaking sprite for water, biting into a hamburger expecting the delicious cheesy flavor to massage your taste buds only to discover that that cheesy deliciousness is nowhere to be found, is a shocking disappointment. For those of you who know me, you understand the love affair that cheese and I have. Cheese and I- we go way back. Cheese grits, cheeseburgers, hash browns with cheese, grilled cheese, cheese sticks, blocks of cheese- whatever kind of cheese I'm usually down. This cheeseburger with no cheese was a huge disappointment to me. I can't say that I threw in down in disgust or marched back to sonic demanding that they provide me with a delicious slice of cheese for my burger (I actually just ended up eating it) but this whole situation made me think. Now I understand that people who work in the fast food industry have to deal with picky customers like me every day and that mistakes are bound to happen but how difficult is it to actually listen to what someone says?

In our society today how often do you give anyone enough attention to actually hear what they have to say and understand what they are saying? Texting and email and even phone conversations all contribute to our shortened attention spans. Listen to yourself have a phone conversation with a friend or a relative? How often do you interrupt or are interrupted? How often do you just have to say something even if the other person is finishing up some story they just had to tell you? You know that feeling when you think of something you want to say and you want to be polite and let that person finish what they're saying before you just jump in there with your own story? you’re sitting there thinking about what it is your going to say instead of listening to the end of that story they are trying to tell you right? Think about it.

Another time that we are famous for not listening to people is when we ask for opinions. Imagine this situation: you go to a store and find a fabulous dress (sorry fellas I’m a girl) you try it on and you look hot! You’re sitting there twirling in the mirror admiring how good your butt looks and then comes the time you put it through the friend test. Say you’ve got two friends. You ask them what they think, one says "eh...it looks ok" and the other says "oh well that looks alright" what you hear "It looks great buy it!!" instead of actually listening to what your friends said, you just hear what you wanted to hear. While sometimes your friends are just haters and can’t recognize your awesome fashion sense but most of the time they’re just looking out for you. If you would listen more carefully, you could potentially avoid buyer’s remorse or worse- not looking as cute as you thought you did.

So here is the point of my little rant. Listen to what people are saying. Don’t just project what you think they should say or what you want to hear on what you think they are saying. Pay attention to people. I mean real attention. Put down your phone. Stop texting or checking your email or playing some game. Look at the person (eye contact is preferable) and actually listen to what they have to say. Communication is one of the most basic parts of our society and even though we now have all this technology that's intended to improve communication, our attention spans have deteriorated thus breaking down our ability to communicate effectively.

Get with the program people. Listen and pay attention to what’s going on around you. You might actually hear some good stuff.

To TXT or not to TXT? That is the question...

Ok people I know that text messaging is becoming a primary means of communication especially between teenagers and college students but enough is enough. By now you should realize that it's not always the best means of communication. Here is Eyslyn's guide to when you should NOT send a text message:

1. When you have beef with someone. Angry texting never leads to anything but you getting even angrier. If you're already mad. Call instead.

2. When you are trying to give directions. TEXTING WHILE DRIVING = DANGEROUS so why would you put your friends at risk? If they're trying to find you, or if you are trying to find your friends, call them instead. It’s much easier to get directions if you’re actually speaking to someone instead of trying to balance reading street signs and text messages. Don't do it.

3. If you are bad mouthing someone. Gossiping is bad enough on its own but if you must express a negative opinion about someone you know, don't do it in a text message. That’s like writing a nasty note, signing your name to it, and trying to deny that you said it. Sure there's a chance that the person your bad mouthing won’t see it but there’s a chance they will. So just don’t do it.

4. When you’re trying to be sarcastic. I'm a huge fan of sarcasm. It's funny. Admit it you like it too. But it doesn't always come across as funny in a text. Connotation is difficult to tell when reading a text message. Text messages are left to the interpretation of the reader. Take it from someone who knows, a sarcastic text can lead to angry friends just because of a misunderstanding.

5. When you want to sweet talk someone. There’s an art to persuasion. It’s much more effective you try to persuade either in person or at least on the phone. Then you can use that sweet persuasive voice you’ve been working on perfecting over the years. Don’t act like you don’t have one. :-)

6. WHEN YOU ARE DRIVING! As mentioned previously in number 2, texting while driving is dangerous. It's not made up. Don't do it. Wait till you get there or call. Your life is more important than sending a joke or a smiley face to your BFF.

7. When you're trying to be professional. There's nothing about an lol, idk, rofl, that's professional. If you want to talk to someone in a professional manner, call them! Send an email, not a text.

This list is not exhaustive. There are many more situations when texting is inappropriate but use this as a guideline. Be smart about it. Just because you can text doesn't mean you should.

I hate change...wait...what? Scratch that.

Change. How many people are like oooh I love change? I mean how many of you like to come home to find your furniture all rearranged or how about when your favorite bath soap is suddenly "new and improved" with a new smell that's not exactly as wonderfully fruity and clean smelling as before? I know I don't and I'm willing to bet that many of you feel the same way.

Today while I was off in class learning about how to be a better marketer, workers came to the house I live in and repainted all of the exterior doors white. Previously, these doors were a nice shade of brick-ish red. What was wrong with that color? It was comfortable. I've lived in this house for a year and a half why change it now? And I realized as I walked through the newly painted white door that I was upset. Over what? Some paint. What does that paint have to do with me? Does the fact that the door is white damage the function of the door? It still opens, closes, and locks which is the reason for having the door in the first place...so why am I mad that something- even something as small as the color- changed?

I've been mulling this fact over in my head all day and I've come to the conclusion that it's because it is something that was out of my usual routine. I mean couldn’t tell you how many times a day I go in and out of that door and every time that I went through that door it was the nice familiar comfortable shade it had always been until today. I felt like my personal space had been violated. Am I such a habitual creature that I can't even accept that minor changes like painting a door may in the long run lead to better things? Don't get me wrong. I'm not seriously bent out of shape about this door; I'm just using it to make a point. And the point is this: we have become so accustomed to the familiarity of everyday life that when minor changes happen we take it personally instead of realizing that our little world that we are so wrapped up in is only a small, tiny, piece of the real world.

There’s nothing wrong with routines. There’s nothing wrong with habits. Having routines helps us save time and be more efficient. I mean, think about your morning routine. What’s the first thing you do? Which hand do you squeeze the toothpaste with? What piece of clothes do you put on first? If you think about it you'll see that your routine is practically identical every day. I personally like that I do the same things in the morning. When the morning routine goes smoothly I feel as though that’s a good indication of how the rest of the day will pan out. You know what I’m talking about. it just seems like days when your hair falls just like it’s supposed to that that day is a little better than the days when you have Alfalfa hair.

In the world today however, things don't stay the same very long. I mean look back a few years and you'll see how rapidly technology has changed. The iphone came out and it was supposed to be the top of the line, best product out there and already we're on the iPhone 4. Computers have gotten even smaller with netbooks and iPads. How can we afford to stay within the comfort of our routines and habits when the world is forcing change down our throats at every turn? If we want to maintain any sense of competitive advantage we have to not only be open to change but to embrace it!

This isn't something that comes naturally to me. But hey- I’m working on my flexibility. Take my current situation for example. I'm looking for a job. I tell this to people and the question they always ask is "doing what?" My standard answer has become "Marketing communications of some sort." this answer is broad and includes a bunch of stuff that I find extremely fascinating but it also shows that I am open to the opportunities that may present themselves.

Flexibility and adaptability are two of the most important attributes of job seekers today. It's vital that I don't get caught up in the redundancy of the routine that I’ve created to make myself more comfortable. I have to be willing to step out of my comfort zone and be willing to try new things and accept new things so that I don't lose sight of my goals. I know that being comfortable is something that is often taken for granted, but right now is probably one of the only times that I can say that being a little uncomfortable is the best thing. Being unsure of what's coming is going to keep me on my toes. Hopefully it'll lead to a super awesome job in a great city. I'm keeping my options open and taking advantages of the opportunities that present themselves. I can't let a simple change in paint color make me lose sight of what's important.

Primetime TV Wars and the headache of catching up online

So this week marks premiere week for the big networks- ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX. I don't know about you, but the reason i get hooked on most series like Law and Order SVU, House, NCIS and the CSI's is due to their syndication on great cable channels like USA. However, if you've watched any of the channels that feature these popular shows in syndication, you're probably aware that you no longer have to watch re-runs anymore because this week everything is all new! And I'm here to tell you- I'm excited.

I read an article in Friday's USAToday (yes I do realize it is Sunday, and I'm two days late but still) and it got me really pumped about these new seasons. I guess the point of the article was to promote the new series like The Event, Lone Star and Hawaii Five-O and 20 other new series slated for the fall, but really the article just got me pumped up for the series I already love- House, NCIS, and Glee. I was very distraught when I discovered that two of these beloved shows will be aired at the same time. NCIS and GLEE both come on Tuesday's at 7. What am I going to do? Be forced to watch episodes online.

Now I know that advertising is a part of life. Hey- I am even considering it as a career path so this is not in any way a diss to the advertisers. But advertising during online shows is getting ridiculous. I know that there are tons more commercials when you actually watch the shows, but on top of commercials during the online re-runs you have to deal with buffering and skipping and other annoyances that are unique to TV viewing online.

Today I wanted to watch the season re-cap for NCIS and so i got to cbs.com and click on the link. First it shows me a long animated version of a Clorox 2 ad. Then there's a whole thirty-three second ad for the same product. Then I have to click to continue and the advertisement for Clorox 2 surrounds the video box. So I was forced to endure 6 minutes of exposure for Clorox 2. I know that it's supposed to be great at getting stains out of colors without fading the clothes, but am I going to go to the store and buy Clorox 2? Probably not. Why? Besides the fact that I'm a huge fan of the smells-amazing Apple Mango Tango Gain detergent, I am plain annoyed that Clorox 2 had the balls (pardon my...English?) to force their product on viewers that much. It's like pick one form of Internet annoyance. Go with the commercial or the banner ad not both and definitely not both plus another ad. Come on now.

People do everything they can to avoid advertising. As an aspiring marketer, this is something that really interests me. Why don't advertisers understand this fact? I mean think about it. When do you go to the bathroom? During the commercial breaks. Want something to snack on? Wait for the commercial. Then you won't miss anything important. DVRs have opened a whole new door for TV viewers who hate ads. All they have to do now is fastforward through those bad boys and hey! There's the show again which is what they wanted to watch in the first place.

I personally enjoy some commercials. I mean there are some really entertaining ones out there like the Old Spice ads, Cheeze-its, and I even get a kick out of some of the Geico ads (NOT the cavemen ones the ones with the cute lizard). I'm not going to say that there aren't times when I wish the commercials would just go away (and when I do have the luxury of a DVR I skip those annoying suckers) so I can get back to my show but watching commercials on TV is totally different than watching them online.
I like that you are given an exact time that the commercial will last. That's a plus. But again I find myself distracted from the ad I simply watch the countdown.

Perhaps I'm being too hard on advertisers. With the increase in the number of TV viewers watching shows online it is understandable that advertisers want in on this market. However, they need to realize that people who watch TV online are probably trying to avoid ads anyway and therefore advertising shouldn't be forced down our throats. Just be nice about it. There's no reason to show three different types of ads BEFORE the show even starts. Keep it simple.

So if you're like me and you also like NCIS and Glee its going to be a long season of alternating between watching on TV and watching online but hey these two shows are great and I'm willing to put up with a little extra advertising to keep up with them. It all starts tomorrow. Get excited.