Pharma Bros and Bachelor Woes
Lots to discuss in this post. First, I want to give a shout out to The Tipsy Pig (http://www.thetipsypigsf.com) in San Fran for making me a fantastic cosmo last weekend. I can always tell a good cosmo before it even touches my lips. It’s all about the shade of pink. If it’s red, send it back. If it comes in a tall glass with ice (that happened to me once in Charlotte, NC), send it back. If it looks like the one to the right, sit back and let the smooth sensation trickle down your gullet. They also have amazing burgers and aioli on deck. Unfortunately, this is not a paid advertisement, but an unsolicited endoresement.
Send it back. (Charlie's in Bay Head, NJ - amazing drinks aside from the Cosmo)
I am so hungover and I only had one glass of wine last night. I guess the amount in the wine glass equates to like 2.5 glasses, but I’m not a scientist. In honor of International Women’s Day, I would like to dedicate this blogpost to Becca K. What a CLASSY lady. She handled her public dumping with such poise. I would have started WWIII. He would not have seen the light of day again. Also, whoever appeared in the finale playing the banjo… hot diggity damn. I really hope she has enough sense to bring him to the fantasy suite whilst she is the Bachelorette. Anyway, I think she really dodged a bullet with Arie. Again, I only watched the two-part finale, but the guy is definitely a closeted serial killer. Also, some information fell into my lap today and Lauren has actually been engaged thrice, not twice as she previously stated. Apparently she stole her ex-fiancé’s dog and money… I also heard that Arie’s last two girlfriends had to hide from him because he’s a psychopath. I saw both nuggets of information in Instagram posts, so who actually knows if it’s true. Since I watch Vanderpump Rules, I have come to believe every single rumor I hear, because it always ends up coming true. Where there’s smoke there’s fire. I’m curious to see how this will play out in the coming months. As Jax Taylor would say, “There’s milk in my fridge that has a longer shelf life.”
Second, I would like to discuss my encounter with convicted felon, Martin Shkreli. When I was living in New York, I rented an apartment in Murray Hill. It was conveniently close to my office and I do not like commuting. The building was nice and it had a gym and that’s all I really needed. As an added bonus, my building came complete with a man who amassed his fortune at age 29 and infamously raised the price of Daraprim, a drug used to treat various infections and to prevent toxoplasmosis infection in people with HIV, from $13.50 to $750. In 2014, he also raised the price of a kidney drug called Thiola to $30 from $1.50, a 2,000% increase. Shkreli actually was fired from this company, Retrophin, a few weeks after this price increase. After his departure from Retrophin, Shkreli founded Turing Pharmaceuticals, the company that acquired marketing rights to Daraprim and subsequently increased its price.
I had heard of Martin Shkreli first in 2015 when I was interning at a bank and Shkreli was there for a meeting. I remember I was sitting with my boss at the time when Martin walked by. He turned to me and said, “Mark my words. That guy’s going to end up in jail within three years.” I hope he put money on that because he was spot on. Martin was arrested in December 2015 for securities fraud. Essentially, Shkreli lost money for investors at his hedge fund and stole money from Retrophin to repay them. Ultimately, neither the investors nor the shareholders of Retrophin lost money, but fraud is fraud. The rich got richer and the people relying on life-saving medications were victims of price gouging, and they still are. Regardless of the actual convictions, I think we are all aware of the real issue here.
Anyway, after signing my lease in New York, I saw a photo of Martin’s arrest occurred outside of his building, and happened to be the same building I just agreed to live in for the next 12 months. I sent out the following Tweet and actually received a response.
Our Twitter interactions were often and he slid into my DMs on multiple occasions. I no longer have access to those after he was banned from Twitter for harassing Lauren Duca and subsequently offering $5,000 for a lock of Hillary Clinton’s hair. He obviously has no qualms about saying whatever the hell pops into his head on the internet. Meeting him in person, however, was an entirely different experience. Our encounter was brief and incredibly awkward. We both got into the elevator and he asked if I was Casey. I said yes and extended my hand. He told me he couldn’t shake my hand because he was just coughing into it. At least he was honest about that. It was clear that he created this online persona because he struggled to interact with others in person.
After I Tweeted about being stranded in Charlotte over the 4th of July, he even offered to send his private jet to come pick me up. I politely declined, but that was probably the only chance I'd ever have to ride on a private jet so a small part of me regrets this.
In conclusion, I lost 2 juul chargers this week and I am pissed. I even have a handy contraption to charge my juul and other devices at any time and any place.
Well, tomorrow is Monday. That really sucks. I have to go to Charlotte on Wednesday and I really hate Charlotte. I also hate the Spring Forward portion of daylight savings. Morale is at an all time low.
Bye.