For nearly my entire 27-year career, work has almost always come first. It’s just me. For whatever reason(s) I’m driven that way. It’s one reason why I think I’m addicted to Twitter. Even though I’m tweeting directly to a little more than 5,600 people, I’m still very competitive with other biopharma journo twits about being first. I’m the same way on air. Just ask anyone at CNBC who has seen me sprint down the stairs to our studio when there’s breaking news. The day I lose that edge and that adrenaline rush is the day I’ll know it might be time to move on.
And so, I’m kind of torn over the fact that I’ve decided I won’t be going to the annual American College of Cardiology meeting in Atlanta about a month from now. It’s not because there aren’t going to be some newsworthy scientific studies coming out at the typically must-cover conference. Wells Fargo med tech analyst Larry Biegelsen has been alerting clients since last Spring, for example, about an Abbott Labs versus AstraZeneca cholesterol drug study that he recently flagged as a high-profile late-breaker at the ACC.
Big drugs, big stocks. It’s right up my alley. And I’m sure there’ll be other stuff, too.
But my dad’s 80th birthday party is that weekend in my hometown of LA. It’s on Sunday night. And I’m not going to miss it. Life’s too short. And, especially at his advancing age (he’s a very young 80, though) you’ve gotta celebrate the good stuff. I still have some guilt over not jumping on a plane a day earlier to be at my mother’s deathbed a few years ago. While my flight was sitting at the gate back East, my sister called to tell me my mom had passed. I had decided to work one more day. My bad.
Some people are irreplaceable. I might like to think I am, but I know I’m not one of them. I and my producer will make sure CNBC is on top of whatever it needs to be coming out of ACC. My dad, on the other hand, is irreplaceable.
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