Thank you, I appreciate the feedback. What do you make of the bit about not being overly thankful for people's "time?" It's often a controversial idea that you shouldn't thank someone for their time.
I completely agree with you and I find myself saying things like "thanks for taking the time to go through that" or similar things far too often. Unless somebody is going well out of their way I don't think you should thank them, now, don't be ungrateful either but my point stands. Generally I would think that if you're learning from someone the goal is to make their lives easier in the long run, so why thank them for that? Or if it's a meeting then it's likely something that directly impacts them and they are there because it's their job, just like it's your job. It's hard to feel like we're equals at times.