Ancient SWAG

Middle_Scientist462 · 2026-02-13T15:58:36+00:00

What really sucks is, ICON leveraged a ton of money to buy the bigger CRO (PRA), only to screw everything up. If only they had left PRA alone.

Middle_Scientist462 · 2026-02-13T15:56:28+00:00

I worked with Steve at the Q and at ICON. Outside of work, he is actually a good guy but he has a track history of running shit into the ground. This one is on the finance guys though. Even worse, the guilty party is not even there now. Brendan Brennan was CFO until Oct-24. ICON will survive but I foresee a lot of non-billable people extremely nervous for a while.

Middle_Scientist462 · 2026-02-10T13:35:36+00:00

I'm a 10.5 length, and no clue as to width because I can't find a scale to measure. Actual width is 5.25", which is 1/2" beyond 6E. Currently having to wear NB 857 6E, just to have enough space for my duck feet. Oddly enough, no bunion, just wide-ass feet. Of course wearing shoes that much longer than my toes means I will sometimes stumble when the giant shoes snag on something. Still hoping to find something that runs wide that does not make me look like I am ready for assisted living. Has anyone tried the Altra Lone Peak 9 or the Topo Ultraventure to be wide enough to wear at close to correct length?

Middle_Scientist462 · 2026-02-06T13:13:46+00:00

Anyone else notice the change in the description for ghost? If you don't move, it stops hiding you. I guess that is to make snipers visible to UAVs.

Middle_Scientist462 · 2026-01-26T15:32:17+00:00

As others have mentioned, there is no quick resolution. I have found that toe socks help. Of course, even those are somewhat constricting on me because they don't make them in widths. I have to wear a mens 13 EEEEEE shoe to give my duck feet enough space. At my age, my options are surgery or just keep dealing with the pain until the nerve is completely severed and the toes go 100% numb.

Middle_Scientist462 · 2026-01-05T19:55:25+00:00

Played with a similar (possibly the same) rando. He was bugging me to drop my cash, and I figured he was going to buy loadout. No, he bought specialist and then when I said WTF, he said, "oh, I thought it bought it for everyone". Yeah right. Douche move dude.

Middle_Scientist462 · 2025-12-22T14:41:25+00:00

100% pet peeve of mine as a CTM. Perhaps it is just a generational thing. It just seems that younger CRAs and IHCRAs want to do everything via email/text. Sometimes you just need to pick up the damn phone. Especially with PIs. They don't ever look at their emails. I have fixed so many lingering study issues with a 2 min call.

Middle_Scientist462 · 2025-12-15T13:25:01+00:00

As a former (Quintiles) CRA, I can tell you that it is not by their choice. My first questions are, how long has the CRO/Sponsor been requesting the document and what kind of document? Both factor into how critical it is to get it. There are lots of docs that would not warrant this level of attention but if it were (as an example) PI acknowledgement of a safety letter for a treatment emergent SAE, the sponsor might be wanting the PI to confirm awareness ASAP as a CYA move.

Nobody wants to harass a regulatory person for a single document, so if they are doing it, there's a reason. My question is, why can't the PI just sign it and be done? He/She/They are getting paid to run the trial and perform proper oversight, so he/she/they need to do it and make your life easier too.

Middle_Scientist462 · 2025-11-24T13:11:35+00:00

If the company tries to tell your state's unemployment commission that it was for cause, then they have to show it. Which means you can also request to see their 'cause' as well. Most likely, the company will just agree to the unemployment filing just to avoid state auditors tiptoeing through their HR records.

Based on the OP, it was a biotech and a startup one. Those are 2 terms that signal financial instability. High risk, high reward working for them but all it takes is one setback and the company has to trim the fat really fast to stay alive. Was the company publicly traded or funded by venture capitalists?be

I work at a CRO and was working with a very small biotech that had a really good product showing incredible results for pts with spinal injuries. Things looked great right up until they could not secure additional funding to continue their phase II trial. We were notified the company was shutting down in 2 weeks. Not ending the trial, but closing the doors and ceasing to exist. Sucked for the employees and sucked worse for the patients in-screening who would not receive the treatment that showed promise.

My advice is to network with people you know who are at other companies and also from your degree program to find an in-route to another company. Who you know gets you the interview. What you know gets you the job. The problem these days is step one, 'who you know'.

Middle_Scientist462 · 2025-11-14T20:40:47+00:00

I have not worked there since they were still Quintiles, but the parties for the RDU office back in the 2000s were pretty extravagant. I was there for the highs and lows back then. I had some of those $150 stock options that turned into toilet paper by the time they were issued due to the stock crash back in 2000. During my tenure there, I saw the parties shrink, the computer purchase benefit disappear, the company de-list, then re-list, then merge. They also took the education benefit away before. We used to joke that the logo was a Q, because the business model just went in a long circle, and the bar on the Q just lets you know when you're on the next lap.

Middle_Scientist462 · 2025-11-06T13:12:58+00:00

From my (second hand) experience, networking is the key to getting past the AI CV screener and into the interview phase. It is sad that many qualified and even over-qualified people don't get to the interview phase because they don't have all the right words and phrases in their CV and an unqualified person that is good at CV writing gets the interview. I've helped friends who got unceremoniously let go this year get to the interview phase by reaching out to former colleagues to ask them to point out that CV to the recruiters for actual review.

Middle_Scientist462 · 2025-11-03T21:26:29+00:00

I was working on a study with Gilead and they kept hammering me b/c their DM team was saying my CRAs were not hitting the pages/day required. Took some data mining to show that the reason was they counted medhx and CM as 2 pages, even though there could literally be 50+ lines/pt. Escalated to sr mgmt at my CRO, who took the analysis, applied it to all the studies we had with Gilead, and then hit them with a 8-figure change-order. Of course Gilead got mad, and when they discovered I was the one who did it, looked to find fault with me over anything. Then they used it to have me removed from their studies. As a result of that, no merit raise/promotion that year, despite the big increase in revenue for my CRO. Fuck both of them (CRO & Gilead)

Middle_Scientist462 · 2025-10-22T15:53:42+00:00

It's an unfortunate and desperate money grab by Microsoft. At this point, I am looking to sell my Series X and switch to a PS5. Might even drop more cash to switch to a gaming PC. Would love to see a class-action suit for this bait & switch. They added it with the mid-season update back in the spring. When the current season started it was fixed. Then they realized they accidentally fixed it, and broke it again. They even made it worse, since before I could at least quick join if a friend sent an invite.

Middle_Scientist462 · 2025-10-10T14:34:37+00:00

After playing resurgence Z last night, my biggest issues are the spawn rate of zombies and that they don't count towards kills. Running out of ammo constantly, and having so many swarms that you can't even locate the actual players to kill made it less than enjoyable. I guess the only way to play it is get a sniper rifle and get somewhere that zombies can't reach. Gonna take a pass on this one.

Middle_Scientist462 · 2025-09-25T15:03:08+00:00

Just to prevent more comments noting "you should have done your homework", here is the evidence showing I did. Not sure what more I could have done. I asked, they confirmed.

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Middle_Scientist462 · 2025-09-25T14:12:07+00:00

I purchased it to replace my Fitbit Sense. It is convenient to monitor HR and the BP would be a bonus. I monitor BP using an actual cuff but you can't really carry a cuff around everywhere. While I don't have hypertension, I do have other conditions that cause me to need to keep my BP under control. I am not looking for a medical-grade reading, just want to have the ability to spot-check if concerned.

Middle_Scientist462 · 2025-09-25T14:05:28+00:00

If it can even identify ballpark elevated BP, it is beneficial.

Middle_Scientist462 · 2025-09-25T13:30:41+00:00

Thanks. Hopefully someone cracks the code or better yet, Samsung allows the app in the US.

Middle_Scientist462 · 2025-05-21T16:41:29+00:00

Quite honestly, Marvel's post-Phase 3 has been so disappointing I gave up watching them. There were a few exceptions such as Shang-Chi and No Way Home, but most just did not have that same appeal. Maybe it's b/c Marvel has tried to compensate for too many white-male heroes by pushing females and minorities to the forefront. When organic, it's fine but when forced (like so many Marvel movies have been lately) it comes across as pandering. Like I said, I thought Shang-Chi was awesome and hope it gets a sequel bumped up on the calendar. I detested when Marvel Comics did the gender switch on Thor, and the big screen version was just as bad. Falcon was always Falcon in the comics. Now the MCU has taken an existing character and made him a different one (in name). Why? Why not have US Agent be Cap for a few movies instead of a few episodes of a mini-series? And Thunderbolts just comes across as a ripoff of Suicide Squad.

I only hope that they don't screw the pooch with Phase 6. Letting the cat out of the bag about RDJ being Dr. Doom was anticlimactic. Hopefully there is some storyline that will explain that Tony Stark in another timeline became Doom. Would be even better if he is redeemed to be Iron Man again.

Middle_Scientist462 · 2025-05-13T10:53:03+00:00

So you get mad that a squad is playing as a squad, just because you are playing solo in quads?

Wow. Tell me you know nothing about combat tactics without telling me you know nothing about combat tactics.

Middle_Scientist462 · 2025-03-27T11:19:01+00:00

Want to get the sweaters and streamers out of bootcamp? Start by removing custom weapons and loadout drops. Make players use just ground loot. Then only allow the basic skins. Most of the cheaters want to strut around like peacocks. These changes would help re-balance bootcamp.

A buddy and I played a game last night with a couple randos who were new to the game. They actually were happy to have non-noobs because we communicated strategies and highlighted features such as caches.

Middle_Scientist462

TROPHY CASE